First Descent of Rocky Creek

This is a very late write up of a first descent we did on the 13th of December 2011. We had been hanging out on the West Coast doing local trips like the Upper and Lower Kakapotahi, Arahura walk in, Styx and the Toaroha. There was a big weather system that was about to hit the West Coast of the South Island. This river was one that GW boys Barny and Jordy had scouted out at low water and said it was good to go.

So on that information we waited for rain. We didin't have to wait long as late that night it started raining heavily. In the morning we waited a couple of hours for the rain to fill up the river before setting off for the small settlement of Rapahoe. We checked the flow at Seven Mile Creek which is the main river that Rocky Creek flows into. We left a vehicle at a carpark next to the ocean as our take out point. From the take out we drove North for two kilometres to a pullover bay and road with a big (locked) gate. This was to be the start of our walk.

The walk was a little bit dodgy to say the least. We were on DOC land but it was also a combination of old mines, operational drilling sites and helicopter landing pads. We walked fast and kept our heads down. The walk took us about an hour and followed tracks most of the way.

At the put in the river bed was covered and was easily enough to float our boats. We pushed off, eager to see what was around the corner. The run had numerous clean rapids and just one portage around some trees. There were a few industrial hazards such as rope and wire across the river, which were marking tracks as they crossed back and forth through the river bed.

Jordy pushing off at the put in

(Photo: Jess Matheson)

Jordy running the first rapid of the day

(Photo: Daan Jimmink)

Barny on a nice slope to boof

(Photo: Jess Matheson)

Me on a really tight one

(Photo: Jess Matheson)

Skux loving the Tuna

(Photo: Daan Jimmink)

Daan lining up a clean boof

(Photo: Jess Matheson)

Skux probing a big ramp

(Photo: Daan Jimmink)

Daan ducking to avoid the tree, another nice limestone slide

(Photo: Jess Matheson)

Barny on the last slide of the day

(Photo: Daan Jimmink)

It rained the entire time while we were on the river but it didn't seem to come up much while we were on it. It would have been good if we had a bit more water, but in saying that it was a good first time flow. Rocky Creek meets Seven Mile Creek not long after the last slide, which meant good flows for a nice float out to the ocean and the take out. 

Skux forgot to take the keys with him which left Jordy and I running up to the top. A very smooth first descent - thanks to Barny and Jordy for scoping it out for us.

The Styx

Heading out to the Kokatahi, I thought the river looked good to go. On second opinion, Jess thought it was a little high. On third opinion (Barny and Jordy) it was on the high side of good. The outcome? A better option of walking up the Styx river. 

The Styx river is in the next valley over from the Kokatahi, and it usually takes about an hour to walk to the put in. We were driving up the 4x4 track to the start of the walk and had got most of the way up when our trusty Landcruiser managed to get itself stuck (who would have thought?). We tried for an hour to get it out but the 4x4 wasn't engaging and therefore we weren't going anywhere. Going paddling and leaving the truck where it was (waiting for the sun to dry the mud) seemed like the best idea. 

Well stuck in the mud

(Photo: Jess Matheson)

From the truck we walked the hour to the put in. The track has changed a lot as many of the side creeks have blown out in recent floods, making the track hard to follow. At the river, the flow seemed to be a good medium. Once at the put in I looked around to find Barny and Jordy - they were pulling a tree out of the first rapid to create a clean line. We got changed pretty fast to stop the sandflies from attacking us. From here we had a couple of very clean rapids.

Jess on the first rapid

(Photo: Daan Jimmink)

Barny with Skux in the background

(Photo: Daan Jimmink)

Jess in the good bit

(Photo: Daan Jimmink)

Jess lining up the boof for the camera

(Photo: Daan Jimmink)

Skux in the same spot
(Photo: Daan Jimmink)

 Jordy, wishing he had his Tuna...

(Photo: Daan Jimmink)

 Looking downstream

(Photo: Daan Jimmink)

After the first kilometre the river started to become pretty manky. Recent flooding seemed to have brought down a lot of sediment from the side creeks and filled up the main river. The river felt like it wasn't as steep and some of the great rapids on the run were no longer there. We were disappointed to say the least as the Styx has forever been a bit of a West Coast classic walk-in. Right now? All in all not really worth the run. Maybe in a flood or two... Who knows.

When we got to the truck the mud had dried a bit. Listening to the instructions from the team, I tried again to drive us out. All of a sudden every one was yelling and all I heard was to "drive backwards." Doing as I was told, I drove back and got the truck even more stuck. It was time to get help. Jordy was the chosen one for this task because he is the fastest runner (all that training Jordy). Everyone else enjoyed the cold beer and wine that we had left in the river.

Lining up the tractor

(Photo: Jess Matheson)

Jordy returned with a famers tractor that made light work of getting the truck out. It was now time for more celebrations before the drive to Barny's house.

Celebrating the extraction of the truck

(Photo: Jess Matheson)

First Descent of Toaroha Canyon

This misson started like most missions do when living in Murchison: through Skype. After a couple of chats to Jordy during the week, Jess and I decided to head down to the West Coast to paddle the two day Perth. We had completed most of our drive down to Hokitika when we got a text from Jordy saying "We are saving the two day Perth for another day and heading into the Toaroha Canyon". 

We headed to Zak's house to find out more. JV and Zak were in the process of cooking an amazing BBQ meal when we showed up. Over dinner we asked them for some more information about the trip... "Mostly grade 4 with about two hours walking to get there". We were keen.

The next morning was a bit of a slow start because of a few gins the night before. We met at the normal take out for the Toaroha run. The first hour of walking took us along a well formed track in the bush then up along the river bed. Before the track went away from the river again we had a bit of a break, making the most of the readily accessible water and getting ready for the next part of the walk.  

The nice gentle river bed before the uphill

Photo: Jordy Searle

From the river bed the track disappeared into the bush, climbing steeply. At this stage I was wishing for my carry system, which I had left at home (because we were going flying). I think we had also well passed the "two hours of walking" mark.

Jordy doing it the hard way

Photo: Zak Shaw

 Zak getting close to the end of the uphill

Photo: Jordy Searle

Once we were finished with the uphill, the hard bit started. Access back to the river was down a big slip; loose rocks on top of loose rocks making it very slippery. A few sections were very steep and needed the use of throw bags to lower the boats closer to the river. At the end of the downhill we were greeted with the roar of the waterfall, nice cool water for drinking and the committing gorge downstream. We spent a while contemplating the 50 footer at the put in, but no one was keen to go first.
 

The 50 footer and the put in

Photo: Zak Shaw

Once we were on the water the rapids just kept on coming. They were all very clean with one portage and funky seal launch. 

Keith Riley on the first rapid of the day

Photo: Zak Shaw

Kev England on the first clean boof of the day

Photo: Daan Jimmink

Zak Shaw following into the tight gorge

Photo: Daan Jimmink

Zak riding the wall of water into a tight slot

Photo: Jordy Searle

Tight and steep... The rapids stacked up around me

Photo: Zak Shaw

Riding the wall, trying to stay high and dry

Photo: Barny Young

Jordy and I with not that much space around us

Photo: Zak Shaw

Charging into the cauldron... A late boof will get you through

Photo: Zak Shaw

Keith clearing the cauldron

Photo: Jordy Searle

JV keeping his speed

Photo: Daan Jimmink

Barny, post seal launch around the portage

Photo: Zak Shaw

Keith Riley, with all cameras focused on him

Photo: Daan Jimmink

JV boofing like a champion

Photo: Daan Jimmink

Zak hitting a clean centre boof

Photo: Daan Jimmink

Enjoying some boogie water

Photo: Jordy Searle

Just another big hole

Photo: Jordy Searle

The rapids kept coming in pretty quick succession, all of them being scoutable (some with a bit of imagination). There was a high commitment factor with this trip because of the number of must-runs with sketchy places to run safety. We got to the big rapid of the day which dropped into a very tight gorge at the end (just for something different). At the entrance to the big rapid by back band broke leaving me a little looser in my boat than I would have liked.

Me probing the big one

Photo: Barny Young 

Barny on the big one, JV running safety

Photo: Zak Shaw

JV stonking the big one

Photo: Daan Jimmink

Me on the last drop of the trip, a funky lead in to a cleanish 20 footer

Photo: Jordy Searle

The Toaroha Canyon is an awesome addition to the kayaking of New Zealands' West Coast. The down sides: you have to walk for it, you have to commit from the start and that if you have a swimmer in there it might be difficult to deal with. The plus sides: it is a low water run, you don't need to fly, you can call it tramping as well as kayaking, the scenery is outstanding and the quality of the rapids is high.

I think it is a classic and can't wait to get back in there.

Cheers for everyone who canyoned the run earlier - very helpful to know that it was good to go. Thanks to Zak Shaw, Justin Venable, Kev England, Barny Young, Jordy Searle, Keith Riley and Jess Matheson for a great day out.

Three days in the Devils Postpile

After having an awesome time on Upper Cherry Creek (story to come soon) Jess, Matt, Shannon and I headed to Sonora for some well-earned R and R. Checking the flows online at Starbucks it looked like the Devil’s Postpile (Middle Fork of the San Joaquin) was the next big adventure. With a quick call to Taylor Cavin we now had a team of three – Shannon, Taylor and myself. We were still looking for another member to join our team but most people had work or other obligations. While we waited to hear back from other people, we had a daytime mini movie marathon. 

With a good night of sleep behind us, we met up with Taylor in Sonora. We decided to rally to Mammoth in one car after Jess kindly offered to do shuttle. The goal was to put on that evening but with the drive taking longer than expected, Dan Menton (group member #4) rallying straight from UCC and Kevin Smith inviting us to his house for a BBQ in Mammoth Lakes, the put on was delayed until the morning.

Flows still holding steady, we made our way into the Devil’s Postpile National Monument. We put on the Middle San Joaquin just above Rainbow Falls. This was a bad idea because the paddling took roughly three times longer than the walk would have, due to lots of wood in the river. After walking round Rainbow Falls we put back on the river.

A short section of whitewater and one rapid, called Mini Rainbow Falls, we started the biggest portage of the trip. It was about an hour, on river left, before we got back to the river. Once putting back on, the river felt very pushy. It was a tight gorge with boulders sitting on solid bedrock. We made our way down one of the best rapids of the trip – a clean 15 foot drop into a 5 foot drop into a 5 foot drop. The variety of rapids was huge. Small waterfalls, 300 foot slides, chunky holes and tight gorges all with beautiful scenery. 

Mini Rainbow Falls

Me on the first clean 15 footer

Taylor Cavin

Shannon Mast getting ready to keep his nose up

Dan Menton in a tight gorge

Dan still in the tight gorge

Seal launch into Crazy Fan Falls

Looking at the Crazy Fan and Dan

Start of the slide section

More slides

Best for last, the 300 foot slide into boof

While paddling through Waterfalls Gorge, Mexico Gorge and Boof-O-Matic Gorge there was very little portaging. The ones that did need portaging were all at river level and quite short. Once we exited Boof-O-Matic Gorge we arrived at our campsite for the night, just upstream of Fish Creek (a tributary on river left).

Entrence to Waterfalls Gorge

Perfect 20

 Boof-O-Matic from the ramp

One of the many fish caught on the trip, great fishing everywhere

It was a beautiful night, but an hour into my sleep I was awoken by Taylor and Dan when they found a rattlesnake. The snake was quite big and had 14 rings on his rattler. We spent a while chasing it out of camp before we could go back to sleep. 

In the morning we forgot to give Taylor a timeframe so at 10.40am we put on the river. Fish Creek came in quickly adding a lot more water than we hoped. The gorges opened up to a wider valley floor that gave things more of a big water feel. We had paddled about an hour when Barny Young and Blue Eyes Nick caught up to us. They had set off three hours earlier in the hope to catch us. The were trying hard to catch us after Charles King got his boat stuck the day before and they had spent three hours trying to extract it. The boat stayed, so Charles had to hike out which meant that their team was down to two.

An early boof on day two

 The rapids of the day were steep, bouldery and mostly good to go with a few river level portages thrown in there. Just after lunch we arrived at the entrance to The Crucible. The first rapid is a portage on river left requiring team rope work. It took us almost as hour for all six of us to be back in our boats below the portage. On second thought this rapid could have been portaged on river right starting upstream at the Miller Crossing bridge, which would have saved time and not been as risky. 

Team Portage

Looking into the Crucible

We paddled a few more rapids then got to a big one with a log in the middle. We decided to portage on the left. After putting back on we found ourselves stuck in the gorge with no good eddies and all the water going under some downstream boulders. I saw a crack upstream that I knew I could climb out of, but not with my boat. Barny grabbed my boat as I started to climb up the wall. Once at the top of the gorge I attached a rope to a tree for other people to climb out on. I climbed back down to water level and used my sling, attaching to the front of each boat, to hold them in place so each person could climb out and up without losing their boat. 

After a few more tricky portages we were exhausted but managed to find a good campsite. The downside to camping in the middle of The Crucible is that you still have the must-run rapids downstream which can make it hard to sleep.

Day two camp, fish on the hot stone

Learning from the previous morning, we gave Taylor a timeframe. Up at 6am and leaving at 8.30am, in the hopes of being on the water by 9am (we left camp at 8.45am). Within half an hour we were looking into the crux of the run. Barny and I managed to run a sneak chute on river right of the first rapid so that we were able to set up safety for everyone else. The next rapid was Broken Arrow, which had a good line down the middle. With a big pool and no real way to scout the next two rapids, Nick probed the double right line that ended with everyone getting backlooped in the bottom hole. The last rapid of the gorge was a pothole on the left – everyone got a good boof in and then we had made it out of The Crucible. We took a few moments to rejoice and take in the awe of our surroundings - one of the grandest places I’ve ever been

Rapids leading into The Crucible

Looking into the first must-run rapid

High flows, pushy water

 Shannon boofing the left line

Taylor above Broken Arrow

Boofing Broken Arrow

The first blind rapid, we went right

Second blind rapid, right again into back loop

From the bottom of The Crucible to the lake was a mixture of great rapids and obvious portages. The South San Joaquin and other tributaries were still flowing at a good level meaning that the last section was still very pushy. Taylor’s description for the line on one rapid was “Down the right and fight… There will be holes... Go for it, Daan”. Even the last rapid into the lake saw most people get tail-stood. 

 Just after the Crucible, water falls on river right

Taylor fishing

Such a beautiful place

More pushy rapids

Barny on Kidney Breaker

Taylor getting his stomp on

 Once on the lake there was a seven mile paddle out to the boat ramp. Barny spent the first half an hour drafting behind me and talking to everyone on a jet ski. After a few attempts he managed to get us a ride on some jet skis. Getting towed behind a jet ski was more complicated than first thought, so the jet ski drivers took us to their camp and upgraded our ride to a jet boat. The remaining hour and a half paddle out was completed in seven minutes. Shannon, Dan and Taylor weren’t as lucky so they had to paddle the seven miles unassisted. On the brightside, there was cold beer and chips waiting at the boat ramp for them.

The boat ride back

Overall the flow we had was high however it did fill in a few of the nastier holes and it gave a bit of cushion where there would normally be sieves. 

Next year Taylor and I are going to hold the first annual Devil’s Postpile Fishing Classic - a multi-stage competition including largest fish, best cooked fish and the most catch and release in an hour.

Cheers to Jess for the shuttle (a small feat in itself).