Date: Sunday, 19 July 2020
River: Picton River.
Water level: 0.38.
Participants: 20.
The first trip after months of no rafting due to COVID restrictions. We finally got back on the water and had a great day out bouncing and pushing rafts down the Picton.
The water level was juuuust enough to still allow us to make good progress with one purple, two blue Sotars and two even smaller rafts. The small rafts seemed to have little trouble navigating the rocks and shallows, whereas I ended up walking and dragging the purple Sotar a fair bit. Not recommended with bigger groups or bigger rafts. Trip took about 4h on river.
Given the water levels were rather low, we had a good look at what's in the Gorge. James and Michael managed to remove a few smaller logs by hand, but one stubborn dogwood tree remained stuck along the length of the Gorge. We ended up portaging on the day, but with a little more time the last log could have been removed too.
The cleanup was thanks to COVID restrictions a bit tedious, as everything has to get washed down with soap. Yes, even paddles, and yes, we washed all items in the freezing cold tap water we get at the sheds. Thanks for taking one for the team James and taking care of that.
Picture credit Peggy and Michael.