Trees in Erme Gorge

[Mark Allen]

There are three trees in the Erme gorge. Tree 1, Is river left on the second righthand bend drop (previously mentioned in posts) Tree 2, Is sticking out of the water in the pool below the same drop in the main flow and tree 3, is in the rapid below and is blocked accross the whole river. Trees 1 and 2, if carefull, shouldnt cause too many problems. Tree 3 is accross the river, at medium flows you can sneak past on river right but at high flows of low flows it may cause a bit of a problem. Most people inspect the gorge b4 paddling it so they all should be easlly seen from the river right path.

[Luke Edwards]

Yeah I saw them last weekend. We were gunna run it ut then decided not to as we hadn't run this section before. We just went down just below the viaduct.

[thetangoman]

We ran this yesterday when the level was low. We only had an issue with the last tree in the gorge, with one of our group getting pinned on it. She was ok but well wedged on this tree, requiring assistance in getting unstuck. None of the other trees came close to causing any issue at that level.

Andy

[trickywhu]

The first tree is easy enough to get round. I managed to clear the second tree out on Sunday and its now propped up on the banks so its now a clear route through!

[Luuuke]

this might sound like a silly suggestion but then again might not.

would it be totally stupid (and maybe ilegal) to just hire a petrol chainsaw and go to work on any obstructions there?

I know things are massively different over here but a friend who spent 3 months working in canada did this on a regular basis he also said its quite a fun little job to do on a sunday afternoon especially if any interesting rope work might have to be involved.

just a thought

[Simon Westgarth]

Be aware that a few years back I pulled out a scaffold pole that had been placed across the gorge at the viaduct. Hopefully it was placed there by some kids. However simply by lifting the trees onto the bank, do not expect them to stay especially as the town of Ivybridge is just there.