Now for something different. A paddle down the Hodge and Rocky Rivers in my Pyranha Micro 240 creek boat. It was an event organized by Hazen and enjoyed by the fours of us including Brian, Neville and myself.
It not the ideal boat for river paddling but it did hold me in good stead once we reached the much shallower Rocky River.
I waited at Markland while Brian, Hazen and Neville shuttled two vehicles to Colinet where the river would end for us. An hour later we were on our way in the fast flowing Hodge.
We took the right hand channel around an island in the river.
We started out under cloudy overcast skies but eventually the sun broke out to highlight our serene surroundings. Everywhere birds chirped serenading our float downriver.
The black flies were out so we looked for an exposed point of land with a bit of wind to have our lunch. The slight breeze kept the flies down so we could enjoy our lunch in peace.
The landscape took on a different, flatter look at an elevation of 25 meters from the 65 at the put-in, a drop of 40 over 20 kilometers.
As we neared Colinet we heard the roar of the falls where it dropped over the rocks. None of us were prepared to tempt fate by challenging the falls so we looked for a path away to the road where the shuttled vehicles stood. A bit of scouting and we ...
... found a path and carried the kayaks up to unload our gear and head for home.
It was something different for sure but it was fun to do It was a relaxed paddle where the current made our work a pleasure. Its not something that presents an opportunity very often. We needed a lot of rain, which we got, and we needed to get on the same page.
After some 55 mm of rain six days ago the river peaked at 120 cubic meters/second. We were looking for 30, the bare minimum on the Rocky River, and good weather. Today we got both. It was fun, not something I would do every day but a nice change of pace.
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