Number 7

Gordon Gorge

This is a river that’s very hard to get to, but the flow isn’t a problem. Generally it gets run once a year, in the springtime, when a big crew can be organised. The reason it doesn’t get run often is basically remoteness. There is a ridiculously long shuffle (you definitely need a driver), there is an occasionally locked gate, there’s an hour long (or more) walk in with your boat and there’s a long stretch of flatwater at the beginning before you hit the gorge and at the end when you hit the lake.

This river is special because of the remoteness, the fun nature of the rapids and most importantly, the scenery. The river bed is made up of big boulders that have fallen out of the cliffs above, in several sections you can see the house sized and bigger boulders still resting by the water and the place where they came from evident in the cliffs above. The cliffs are a constant feature all the way through the gorge, with massive trees and boulders.

Overall this is a solid grade 4 river. At low flow sections of this river can be somewhat sketchy, with a few undercuts and sieves. At high flow sections of this river can be tricky, with big stoppers and linked moves. Both are still fun, and in between is very fun. The crux section of this drop features a sliding boof with a very serious stopper if you stuff it up, then immediately below that the river goes completely underground. It’s advised to walk that bit!

Once the river hits the lake you have about 5 km of water to paddle, which isn’t exactly fun, but on the positive side it is the most amazing scenery all around you. The drive out is also pretty stunning, with lots of cool things to see.

No photos sorry.

cheers

Harry