ROUTE
Walk down to Colo River via Bob Turners Track, paddle down river to just past Colo Meroo, then walk back to Colo Heights via Cerones Trail
CONDITIONS
BOM gauge at Upper Colo reading 0.92m, steady
Weather: fine, sunny morning, becoming overcast later
DATE
April 10, 2011
First trip in my new Alpacka Llama. Left the car at the end of the firetrail section of Bob Turners Track, then a pleasant walk down to the river. Took just over an hour and arrived at 8.15am. Sunlight just catching the tops of the trees on the opposite bank, and a slight mist rising off the water. Inflated the boat and got going. First impressions? Two things were a nice surprise. First, the comfort – it’s like being in a big, springy armchair. Second, the speed – much better than I’d anticipated, almost as good as my sit-on-top kayak (even allowing for the flow of the river, which is very gentle in the deep pools on this section of the Colo).
Water was beautifully clear. Even when the river was 2-plus metres deep I could see lots of details on the bottom. Very pleasant paddling for 45 minutes, looking at the forested hills and listening to the birdsong, until the first set of rapids. They looked a bit obstructed at the bottom so I decided to portage. Riverbank, it turned out, was full of evil looking spiders sitting in webs like mozzie nets; but this at least was better than picking my way over wet boulders, which was pretty hazardous in my cheap neoprene boots (I put socks over the top, which made it a bit better, but still not good enough. Can anyone recommend a boot with a good grippy sole and some ankle support?). At least it was a short portage, about 50m. After another 45 minutes reached another set of rapids, and shortly afterwards the third and final rapids on the route; these were also short, and I portaged them too.
About 5km into the paddle, shortly before the river does a hairpin turn and swings north, there’s a lovely section where it narrows and hugs a cliff-face, with great views of a high ridge – Mailes Ridge – up ahead. The sun was getting pretty hot by this stage so I was glad for the shade I suddenly found myself in.
After you round the hairpin bend the river suddenly becomes much wider and shallower. Until this point I’d encountered only a couple of (very short) sections that were too shallow to paddle. Now, I was finding I had to hop out and pull the boat quite often; nothing too bad though – generally about a dozen paces before I could find water deep enough to float again. Usually I could find slightly deeper water on the outside bends, where the water flows faster. Also, I found that by manoeuvring my body so that my weight was distributed over the tubes, rather than on the floor of the boat, I could squeeze a few more centimetres of draught out of it. (For the record, I weigh about 85kg and had a small pack on the front of the boat) Doing this, I found I could get by in as little as 10cm of water.
Beautiful section of river along here. I found myself drifting along, often not even paddling, listening to the birds and the trees rustling in the wind. I found my boat has a strange habit: as soon as you stop paddling it turns quite quickly around 180 degrees, then it slowly pans back around so you are facing your direction of travel again. At first I thought this would be pretty annoying, but actually I found it strangely pleasing. Made me realise I don’t stop and look back nearly enough when I’m bushwalking. It was like the boat wanted me to take in the view. (Then again, maybe I’m reading too much into it.)
This long, shallow section was punctuated by a couple of shortish deep sections where I could suddenly sit up and get the blades of my paddle working properly. About 10km into the paddle, and nearing the end, the river swings southeast. I was looking out for Colo Meroo campsite on my right here, but saw no sign of it from the river. Another 1.3km on, I reached the end-point of the paddle: just below the firetrail marked on the Mountain Lagoon map as the “Cerones Trail” (I’d marked this spot beforehand on my GPS, and I’m glad I did; there’s not much around here in the way of landmarks). I reached this spot at about 1.30pm, after a leisurely 5-hour paddle.
After packing up it was a short, unpleasant bash through undergrowth, straight up the steep slope, to pick up the Cerones Trail; then an hour-long slog back to the Putty Road, mostly uphill but with a few nice views of the Colo. At the Putty Road I jumped on my bike (which I’d left locked to a post on my way in that morning) and rode back to my car. A great day out.