River Dochart – 22/1/2006

Lucas has found a new set of the playmates on an open canoe forum called Song of the Paddle, named after the famous canoeing book. On Sunday, after another spate of rain, we headed to the River Dochart with Amy and Bram for another open canoe outing with some imaginary-until-now. Six boats made the trip. The tandem teams were Alan and Mutineering Maggie, Philip and Robert, Amy and Bram, and Lucas and me. Dave of Stirling Canoes and two-L Allan paddled solo.

The guidebook rated the River Dochart a 2/3 and gave vague descriptions of the river leaving Crianlarich, passing through two lochs and heading approximately east toward Killin and Loch Tay. The Falls of Dochart in the village of Killin are rated a 4/4+, but the SotP trip planned egress significantly above this point. It turned out, except for one rocky grade 3 rapid, the 2/3 designation was not appropriate for this part of the trip. The River Dochart was pretty well a flatwater trip between Crianlarich and the get-out above Lix Toll.

The River Dochart was an absolutely gorgeous flatwater trip. The river flowed roughly eastward with the snow-capped Ben More looming in the distance ahead. The Cononish becomes the Fillan and then the Dochart. The guidebook suggests we started on the Cononish, but the online version suggests it is the Dochart at this point. Whatever river meandered east into Loch Dochart. We took a quick break to inspect the ruins of a wee castle on the loch that was inhabited by monks in the 16th Century and is where Rob Roy MacGregor is rumored to have taken refuge during his outlaw days.

The upper loch (Loch Dochart) is channeled through a wee river to the lower loch (Loch Iubhair), which is in turn channeled into the River Dochart proper. Not long after the River Dochart emerges, some grade 1/1+ rapids appear. We had some fun attempting to surf and watching SuperDave pole. The river that followed was flat, with the occasional intricate grade 1 rapid. We eddy hopped and watched as Philip instructed Amy and Bram on how to turn left. As a result, their left turns improved dramatically and their right turns went to hell.

The Pakboat handling in the rocky stretches was odd. We had been warned that an unladen Pakboat does not handle as smoothly as a fully-laden Pakboat. Lacking the weight in the middle, the Pakboat forms a sort of anti-rocker. Canoe-shaped craft, not quite raft-like handling. I am not really sure how to describe the handling other than just odd. Every time we hit a rock, it felt like Lucas was jumping up and down in the back of the boat.

Stomachs and brains requested lunch so we began to search for a spot. Dave suggested we stop before the rapid since at the rapid, seating might be a bit awkward. Too late. The roar of the Corriechaorach rapid suggested we had run out of good places. We hopped out to scout. Several parties opted to run the rapid – a rocky grade 3 – and others opted to line along the bank. I opted for photo and rope duty at the bottom.

SuperDave had talked about lining, until Lucas had talked seriously about running. SuperDave went first, running a bumpy but clean line just left of center. Lucas came a bit later, having taken a moment to put on his dry suit “just in case”, and ran a nicer line a hair to the right of Dave’s (and pretty well exactly my fantasy line from the perspective of the bottom). Amy and Bram came last. They chose a line about two feet to the right of Lucas and Dave’s lines. Their line became exciting when they paddled straight over the rock that everybody decided would be good to avoid. The rock kicked them right, into a stopper that donated a few gallons of water to their canoe. Four digital cameras captured their surprise, Amy’s resulting air brace, Bram’s low brace and their eventual recovery. Philip and Robert enjoyed the entertainment during their portage across the river right rocks. Two-L Allan as well as Alan and Maggie took the portage route as well. We lunched on the big pile of rocks at the bottom of the rapid.

After lunch and tea, Robert decided he was too dry and tipped his canoe getting back in. He and Philip bailed as the rest of us loaded up to continue. Around the bend from our lunch stop, Philip and Robert decided they were both too warm, broached their canoe on a rock and took a wee excursion into the water. Swimmers, boat and all gear except a stuff sack were recovered in good order. The trip continued downstream.

We swapped seats around to the whitewater configuration, hoping to get better traction with the Pakboat. It changed the handling in such a way that now we had a more obvious excuse for being slow. Alan and Maggie zoomed ahead, we loped along in the back, alternating between last and second-to-last in the group. The group took a break in an eddy so Allan and then Amy could try their luck at poling. Amy also tried her luck with a headstand in the bow of the boat. We continued downstream.

Over the course of the 20km trip, the river alternated between little to no current, mild to moderate current and then back to little-to-no. Wildlife sightings included deer, whooper swans, dippers, mallards, goldeneyes, goosanders, buzzards and one long-tailed tit according to Mutineering Maggie. My eyes could identify a few – the swans, mallards and buzzards to be specific. I missed the deer. Not quite wildlife included sheep and Highland coos. In total, we spent about six hours on the water, and found ourselves knackered and ravenous at the get-out. Six hours of river trip in January coupled with a start well after sunrise meant that once again we were loading canoes in the dark.