Most of the Mattawa River is a provincial park. The Ministry of Natural Resources has marked several points of interest along the river with signs and plaques (see "E" on the map). This is "Hell's Gate". A colourful name, but probably not what it was called in the days of the voyageurs. The plaque didn't mention how the cave got it's name.
Billy and Nadya climb up to the cave.
While the cave isn't very deep (maybe 20 feet) and doesn't have a horizontal floor, it could easily shelter 5 or 6 people. The entrance is well above the water line (probably even in springtime) but because there is no beach, getting out of the canoe and climbing up wasn't easy. And from the picture, it doesn't look like it's easy to get to from above.
Such geological features provided useful reference points to the voyageurs.
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