A warm-up to the more technical downstream section, was the framing for today’s paddle. And it was just that. It had been a long while since Ben had paddled a single vessel on a river, so this relaxed section of the Mukawa, with punctuated here and there with some rapids to keep things interesting, was a perfect precursor to the Niniu section of the Mukawa the next day.
The water level was low. It was only late May, and it felt like the height of summer.
Soon after setting off, there was a shallow swift to contend with.
Very straight forward in the packraft, but had we been in the composite Prospector canoe, we would have left some gelcoat in the river. Boney.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at number one of two rapids of this upper Mukawa river section – the Old Road Rapids. Named as such because they run alongside an old abandoned road.
Haidee and I managed to run them fairly smoothly in the packraft.
Timbah, on top of a high-riding single ducky, with a much higher center of gravity, flipped his ducky a couple of times as he came to terms with how his borrowed vessel handled in faster moving water.
From the bottom of the Old Road Rapids to the next set of rapids 6km downstream, it felt like a good old-fashioned float. Just letting the water take us down stream, chatting…
The Bed Rock Rapids were a fun interlude on the relaxed paddle down the river, and a perfect spot for eating lunch and having multiple runs down the rapids.
My lack of photos for the remaining 2km or so of the paddle proves it was a straightforward float to our take out near Shimukappu Village.
Summer felt like it had officially begun.
