Day 11 Tuesday Middle Guil by Nikki A

The second river of the day, and we were upping the ante.

We drove up the Guil valley, stopping to inspect the get-out, the get-in and Tunnel Rapids. After much discussion and watching another group paddle Tunnel Rapids, we decided to get on below it and just enjoy the best part of the river. A non-stop Grade 3 with a harder Grade 4 section towards the end.

Five of us launched. Roy and Keith took it in turns leading the way, with Sarah following, then me, and Stuart bringing up the rear.

Deep in the gorge, we picked our way slowly through the rocks and waves, eddying out regularly to check the route. I tried to smile for the many photos, both on the river and from the bank or roadside high above, but I was too busy concentrating most of the time!

The further downstream we got, the steeper the river got. We relied on Keith and Roy to pick good routes down the rapids, but we kept our distance to give us each space to pick our own lines between the boulders, through the waves, avoiding the stoppers and reacting to whatever the river through at us, including all the must-make eddies. After one such eddy, I broke in to drop down into a small pool before the next rapid, but the river got the better of me and I found myself upside down. Rolling back up (yay me!), I hurriedly paddled for an eddy… just in time… we were at the top of the grade 4 section.

Stuart got out to have a quick look and gave us some brief instructions. Roy went first, followed by Keith. With both down safely, Sarah followed. As Sarah disappeared over the drop, Stuart said to me that Sarah had the perfect line. However, I couldn’t help but observe that Sarah hadn’t popped out the bottom the right way up. However, Sarah is never upside down for long. After taking a deep breath, I headed to my possible doom. I squeezed through the entrance rocks and dropped over the edge, trying to guess which edge I was going to land on and be ready with a brace, but I popped straight up and out and breathed a sigh of relief.

There was another harder rapid requiring us to navigate some big boulders and holes, and then we were onto easier water for the last 100m to the get-out.

A thoroughly enjoyable, if a little challenging, river section that kept me on my toes. Thanks, everyone.