Canada · CA

Ottawa River

The Ottawa River—Rivière des Outaouais, Kichi Sibi, 'the Great River' in Algonquin—is one of eastern Canada's water giants, and the pin on this page sits on its broad, island-studded upper stretch where it forms the Quebec–Ontario border in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality. At 1,271 km long and draining a basin the size of New Brunswick twice over, it is the longest river in Quebec and the largest tributary of the St. Lawrence, carrying more water than all the rivers of western Europe combined. Out here, far from the capital it eventually reaches, the river runs through boreal forest, granite highlands and a string of quiet river towns that have lived off its currents for centuries. What draws people to this part of the river is a blend of paddling, history and wilderness calm. The Ottawa is renowned as a whitewater mecca and a classic canoe route, fringed with sandy beaches and granite cliffs that hide ancient Indigenous rock art, while the Pontiac villages along the Quebec shore—Fort-Coulonge, Campbell's Bay, Bryson, Portage-du-Fort, Norway Bay—offer covered bridges, lumber-baron mansions and lock-and-island scenery that reward a slow road-and-water journey.