We thought the trip would be a lot of bump and scrape, but it turned out to be another superb day on the river. Andy LM, Tom D and I set off from the dip tank just above the old road bridge and eased ourselves into the season with a very pleasant trip.
We ran "Oh Fark Falls" down the two main currents, Tom and I on the right and Andy on the left - uneventful. The first drop into the gorge proved pretty scary as Tom and I committed ourselves to a line past a very significant syphon, with a large stopper next to it - this right to left line is one to be avoided at lower levels - just keep well left (as we do at high water).
The rest of the gorge was fast moving and interesting, but nothing untoward. We exited the gorge and headed off to the big rapid (the only one not run to date). Andy, being convinced that the next drop was actually "Andy's Drop", almost ran "Quadratic Conundrum". We stopped to scout the rapid, and once again decided to engage in the art of portage, due mainly to the two nasty holes, seen at the level of Andy's shoulder in the photo below.
This photo only shows the last third of the rapid, but the preceding section looked pretty runnable at this level. Here's a video clip of the rapid (sadly with no-one running it).
The water was too low for the left line at "Andy's Drop", so we bombed down the centre, which proved to be tricky. We started with an intimidating drop into the unknown, and then had to use a wave halfway down to get us back onto the line, which wound its way around the back of a large boulder before the final drop into the pool below.
"Wayne's four-FIVE-six" was a walk in the park, and the rock which causes the usual kick at higher water was well exposed. "Blind Faith" proved a little more tricky at this level and Andy opted for a difficult line left of centre, while Tom and I took the straighter line right of centre.
Ken had trouble remembering the access road to the takeout at "Blind Faith" so we'd agreed to meet at "Terminal Slide". This was a blessing in disguise as Andy and I decided to run the slide. I led the way, starting centre, almost getting flipped by the corkscrew wave, before following the main flow to the right. A sharp left turn down the bank, being sure to avoid the rooster tail on the far right, and I ended slightly right of the main flushing current in the stopper wave, which meant I was held for a moment, but managed to escape. The (faint) red line in the photo below indicates the line we followed.
Andy was less fortunate. The first wave flipped him, and he had to execute a shallow-water roll, which knocked him offline. He recovered pretty well and ended up in the centre of the stopper, flushing straight through. Here's a video clip showing the action.
In an effort to avoid the syphon under the large boulder in the centre, which had given me a good scare earlier, Andy managed to take a swim in shallow water. See the album for a photo.
We wanted to paddle on to the confluence of the Nyagui, but decided Ken wouldn't find us, so we opted to drive around and agree a take-out point for the next trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment