River Ericht – Part 2 of the Deferred Double-Header – 18/12/05

More plotting and scheming led to a return to the River Ericht by Bram, Amy and myself that Lucas again had to decline. The level was “significantly” lower than the scouting mission the previous week, but we decided to see if we had enough water the hard way, by paddling it anyway.

Rocks were visible in the stretch from the weir to the grade 5 hazard that most people don’t run, but lines were still evident through it all. Pins would be the biggest hazard, or perhaps portages, since more injuries happen on the side of rivers than on the rivers themselves. With me making attempt 2 in the Atom, I would only be marginally useful in a boat.

The get-out has a lovely car park above the well-groomed path to the old mills that line the river below and just above the weir. The get-in has a layby along the road, just past a bridge, followed by a hundred yard hike/bushwhack down a steep hill to the get-in eddy. Nothing like a fifty pound boat to make the hike even more precarious. Amy took a few pictures along the hike. A wee dusting of snow coated the trees, shrubs and detritus along the path down, forming exhibit 1 of why we were crazy to be paddling.

Amy and Bram tried their luck with the first wee stopper of the day as I got used to the idea of creeking with the occasional hint of control. After a few minutes of play, we headed downstream. I caught every eddy that looked inviting and a few decided to catch me. Ferry glides and breakouts to the left were easier than their right side counterparts. It was very much like my first few trips in my solo canoe, except that I felt less keen to try my luck with C-2 to get over the offside tentativeness.

Grade 1/1+ eddy hopping soon picked up to grade 2- eddy hopping. I found myself remembering a summer surprise trip on Clear Creek with Diann, Woody and Rick. Minus the forty degree temperature difference (akin to 65 degrees if your brain works in Fahrenheit), the intimacy of the canyon, the scale of the rapids and the complexity of the rock dodging felt quite similar.

One particularly rocky grade 2 rapid gave me my first swim from the Atom. I was doing fine negotiating the rocks. Amy took a picture of me looking like a stud just before a rock jumped out from nowhere and knocked me to my offside just past my point of balance. A high brace is really just high-siding if one omits the hip flick. I found myself upside down rather quickly and I fell out of the boat before I could make up my mind between attempting a roll and pulling the loop on the spray deck.

My cold swim earned me some soup and hot tea, and oddly enough, I felt more comfortable being in the C-1 afterwards. I knew I could get out. So I didn’t lose that confidence, I hopped back in and went straight back to ferry gliding and catching eddies. We continued downriver for more rock jumbles. Bram continued running scout and I alternated with Amy for second or last, usually opting for last. A few good rapids later, I continued feeling good in the C-1.

Based on the guidebook’s description, we found ourselves on the lookout for a broken weir as the next big hazard. Having no mileage/kilometrage as a reference, we could only guess at where it may be. Any still pool became old weir potential. We passed under the A93 bridge at the widest part of the river and all bets were on weir. The river constricted again with no weir, but at a convoluted rock jumble that Bram went ahead to scout.

Bram took quite some time to scout as Amy and I lingered in our eddies of choice. I decided I needed a look, too, if he was taking that long, so both of us floated down to join him. I had drived downstream into a big congestion of arm-height rocks, and required some creativity to push myself back into the current. As I looked at the rapid, Bram pointed to the top line that looked easy enough and then to the bottom options. Left good, right bad was the basic description. Right was clearly bad, as it was a fairly steep drop into an obvious stopper. Left was not clearly good. It had a more gradual slope, but the big boulder dividing left from right made left very difficult to see. I chose the far right portage, but first I would sit with a rope while Bram and Amy ran the entrance.

A wee accumulation of ice in the eddies formed exhibit 2 of why we were crazy to be paddling. Too late for that now. I continued my careful wade to the best big boulder to set safety. From this perspective, the first drop was fairly straightforward, but the second drop was still more of a mystery than a clear scout. Amy followed Bram and they caught the eddy below my rock. Approaching drop number two, Amy followed too closely and both appeared to do more bouncing off rocks and each other than actual paddling. They made it safely to the bottom and then helped me carry my boat. On that hike, I noticed the rather large pinning rock on the right side of the “good line” and felt better for my decision to portage.

A few more wee rapids later, after however many false alarms, we found the broken out weir that the guidebook warned about. Bram got out to scout and decided he could shove both Amy and me through the chicken chute rather than test our luck with the main jumble of rocks and water. He followed, and the quicker pace continued.

The constriction of water toward the left suggested we had reached the second to last rapid according to our previous scouting excursion. The mill on the right beyond the pile of rocks confirmed it. Bram decided we would drag rather than scout and run, which was easy enough. I used my towing harness for the first time to drag my boat most of the way over the rocks, feeling pleased with my ability to use it for its almost intended purpose.

The last rapid was another read, run and scrape pile of rocks and water. In case the sight of white and the low roar of fast water weren’t enough to notice the rapid, a large grayish blue pipe spanned the width of the river maybe fifty feet above. Bram and Amy ran ahead as I loped along in the Atom. At the entrance I realised I was sitting at a bit of an angle, so I had no problem turning to the left, even when I wanted to go straight. The rapid became a wee more stressful as I turned left “intentionally” away the best flow and had to figure out Plan B. There wasn’t enough water for a proper break-out. Plan B materialised as a scrape across a rock followed by a ferry glide across to another good line that turned out to be much more straightforward until I performed a perfect slow motion crash into the big boulder at the bottom. Except for that last bit, I think I hit fewer rocks than Bram or Amy. Definitely combined, but perhaps each. If hitting the big boulder doesn’t carry anti-bonus points, it should.

The downside of the get-out being above the weir is the long heavily-laden walk up to the car park. The upside is it offers a first opportunity to warm up with a wee cardio workout. Amy decided that boats need names, especially after, weeks ago, I dubbed Bram’s C-1 The Spud. She dubbed the Atom The Tank, since aside from self-sufficiency on the flat part, I needed help hauling it up the hills.

After changing, faffing and retrieving vehicles, we set out for Dundee to check out the pool with all the water slides, since Amy heard it might be closing down forever. Two Tesco’s, a bit of driving in between, and then a mall excursion, we found the pool was closed, perhaps forever or perhaps for it being a Sunday evening, so we retreated to Bram’s again for tea and dinner. This time, Lucas didn’t join us and Momo decided to prowl instead of lounge. Both missed out on a yummy vegetable stir fry and a cozy fire.