A group of us packrafters are doing a paddle on the Eucumbene River on the 11th Sept. It is a great grade 3 paddle (with one grade 4 section that can be portaged if need be). With snow melt the levels should be good. We will also be doing the lower Thredbo the previous arvo (10th) which is easy grade 2 paddling from the Trout Hatchery to the lake. All/any packrafters would be welcome to join us on either or both paddles. We will probably camp or van share at Lake Eucumbene on the Saturday night. Great chance to meet a few of the other packrafters, have a group paddle with plenty of fun and laughs and even become a Youtube packraft star . Any intrest, let me know, I will post logistic closer to the paddle date.
Steve - I take it your new rig has arrived ? I’m a maybe, will have to see what I can shuffle for work, been busy as fork lately with 6:30 starts and 7:00pm finishes for too long… makes a bloke want to get out into the real (outdoor) world. By at Eucumbene do you mean Providence ? I may be able to assist if you want something b/w the Thredbo and the Eucumbene, if ya knows what i means !
Anyone a possible who might be looking to leave on a Thurs or Fri evening from Sinny or the Gong ? Be good to share the drive and fuel and not leave the missus carless for a weekend.
Would be just fab to have you down for a paddle, pleeease come, has been too long and sounds like you really need it. The Dam Digs would be grand if your coming if not I was thinking Providence, mabye share a van (and a few beers and a some of Begas finest organic free range Berkshire Pork?). Peter and another Coaster (Mathew) are coming.
I think Duncan is in a few minds about coming down from Sinny, perhaps he may wanna share the drive/fuel. Ducan??
Looking forward to paddling the new raft design in the bubbles, the spray deck may even prevent a few of my usual swims
Hi Steve, I think I am going to struggle to get there
Here’s my river description of the Euc (based on about 6 runs down at various levels).
Starting at the bridge that crosses the Eucumbene…and pulling out at the camping area at then end of the dirt road (umm forget the name of this).
Takes (in a kayak) exactly 2 hours (moving pretty quick I suppose). The first half is all grade 1 and maybe Grade 2…fast flowing the hwole way, so its pretty cruisy with nothing to worry about…except Suicide Hole. SH sounds worse than it is…but it comes up pretty quick (about 5-7 minutes into the paddle). It’d be easy to get swept into it, if you blissing out at the scenery instead of whats in front of you. SH is nothing like the rest of the rapids encountered in teh 2 nd half of the trip (through the gorge part). SH is a sluicy, narrow thing. But I think its name is maybe worse than the reality of it.
After an hour (kayak time) the river swings sharply right and, if you arent paying attention, you’ll get swept into the first rapid, which is long, mid Grade 3, and starts with a 1m drop (the first picture attached). Its a longinsh rapid, and due to the nature of it (and the other rapids) swimming would not be eaps of fun (as it is a bit sievey). This rapid is a very good replicate of the next five rapids. These are the main gorge rapids, and are sort of the same, size, nature and difficulty of the first one. Better exit here if it looks too exciting to continue.
After the five or so rapids, it peters out for the rest of the trip, but only slightly. Its pretty fun Grade 3 all the way to the end (with it petering out a little more right near the end to Grade 2). Having said that, a few larger rapids spring up just as you are starting to relax (you can see the gradient rise up a little), but they are all pretty clean.
Give me a call if you want any more info…AND…have GREAT TIME!!! Looking forward to the trip report!
Hey Chris, thanks for the heads up (great pics), shame you can’t make it. I will let you know when we book up the next paddle (prolly Tuross) , hope you can join us then. I will give you a call before we paddle the Euc and get a little more detailed heads up on the river. Do you think Euc is too difficult for a new paddler?? (we have one guy that has not paddled before?). Happy to portage stuff though, are they easy walk rounds? If it looks like being too high we may go up and do the Tooma as we have done that before and know what we will get for our money there.
The first bit would be sweet for a beginner. If you had time, check out the dirt road off to the left (heading upstream toward the put in) right near the hut (the new one on the left as you are heading north). This road winds down to the river, above the Gorge. Leave a car there, drive to the put in., and get going. Get the beginner to pull out there at the car (which will be visible from the river), and have him/her drive to the bottom…leaving you to run the gorge! A beginner in the gorge could be a bad experience…expecially if its cold (which the water certainly will be). To walk around the rapids would not be impossilbe, but a little time consuming…meaning a cold wait for everyone else. Worse still, swimming the gorge rapids, I reckon, is a bit fraught, as it is a bit seivey I reckon…and its moves pretty quick, so a swim could be a long-ish one. It should be great! PS I would love to do the Tuross!
Thanks for that Chris, I might put this one off as I am a little concerned about the grade 4 stuff with the amount of rain we have had (and are predicted to get) plus the snow melt. Better to be cautious. Euc may be a better paddle when it warms up a bit and the levels are below medium. There are numerous other waters we can paddle instead, I will post an update.
Have you had your new raft in the water yet?
Tuross is good at at between .9 and 1.4 http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDN60234/IDN60234.569026.plt.shtml
I have done it several times from .85 up to 1.35 and it is perfect packraft water. Keep an eye on the level and give me a yell if you can get away when it’s right.
I’m interested, depending on where you’re going to paddle. There’s some good water for beginners around Tom Groggin, it’s easy to do multiple runs in a day there as the car shuffle is quite short. The Swampy Plains River through Devils Grip Gorge could be worthwhile, though I haven’t paddled this before.
Will be coming from Victoria so if anyone is interested in sharing a car then let me know.
At the moment we are looking at the Tooma River (10km walk in and a continuous grade 2/3+ paddle out with a flat water strech at the end back to the begining) or the Tuross River which is a good 23km grade2/3+ paddle with a car shuffle. We will decide when we get a bit closer depending on water levels. Have three possibly four starters thus far.
fishdejour - I think craig will be right. It’s not usually opened before the LWE, and even then if it requires an effort to clear it they leave it shut. Maybe call Parks at Tumut ? Our last few paddles and walks have been after the LWE.
It is not looking like we will get enough rain for Tuross at this stage altgough it is sitting at .8 so it would not take much…I forgot about the closed roads up Tomma way, bugger. I guess there is a problem getting over to the TG’n (Murray R) with roads over the top from Thredbo?
Naaahhh, Alpine Way will be fine. Will legally be required to carry chains if not in an 4WD though. If I can manage a lift I reckon we can go Casa del Euco.
Yeah and don’t worry about paying park entry either, just ask for a transit pass at the gate as the NPWS ticket inspectors rarely venture past Thredbo.
The Tuross sounds pretty sweet if the level gets high enough. Where are the put in and take out points?
Jules, Duncan is not coming down from Sinny so you would have to find your way down to Cooma? I would pick you up there? It is not looking likely that we will get the rain required to do Tuross. If levels stay low and we get no rain then the Euc may be doable still and we could get Mathew to walk any bits he is concerned about paddling.
Craig what are the details on the Swampy or the Murray paddling?
I will chase the GPS co-ords for the Tuross for you, the access is a bit sketchy as it is in the middle of nowhere on creek junctions with the river, I know where it is but it is hard to explain other than gps points. I have done Tuross about 4 times now and it is a fantastic packraft river well worth paddling. We are planing to do from the falls down later in spring, a section not previously done.
Steve, for the Indi (Upper Murray) you put in and take out in the vicinity of the Tom Groggin picnic area, around 25km west of Thredbo. There are two options for the put in; a 2km walk in from the Alpine Way on an old vehicle track, or put in at the southernmost point of the picnic area (accessible by car). Take out is at the bridge providing access to Tom Groggin Station itself. It’s about 4km of river, with an optional extra 4km with the walk in. Car shuffle is 5-10 mins each way for either option.
We paddled the river last year in a big raft, it’s fairly straightforward (grade 1/2 max) but should be fun with beginners and packrafts, which make the wave trains fun! There is one good clean grade 3 rapid just before the take out.
Further downstream of the take out you can paddle through to Grassy Flat (another 4-5km downstream, then 1.5km walk out) or Murray Gates trail (additional 3km past Grassy Flat, then 2.8km walk out). Whilst the river is quite scenic in this section, from memory it doesn’t offer any decent rapids so I suggest we’re better off sticking to Tom Groggin itself, and doing a couple of runs if desired.
Downstream of the Murray Gates trail is the Murray Gates itself. This is serious whitewater and not something to be undertaken lightly (grade 4 rapids in a very remote location). Best left to another day.
Craig, sorry about the delay getting back, busy weekend. The Indi (Upper Murray) looks like a good one for a mixed group. I think we should aim to do it on the Sunday? lower Thredbo on Saturday arvo.
Sounds good Steve. What time do you want to meet up on Saturday?
Btw, does anyone happen to have a spare raft lying around (long shot, I know)? One of my mates would be interested in coming if he could borrow/hire some gear.
. Any intrest, let me know, I will post logistic closer to the paddle date.
