River East Okement - Upper section to Okehampton

[Mark R]

Read full River Guide

[pH]

Walked up from the A30 road bridge with the saw again today. The river is ALMOST clear of trees now! There is one about 100/150 meter's up from the gauge which could POSSIBLY be sneaked river left, or under depending on Levels. This was the only remaining tree below the waterfall today!!
Between the bridge upstream of the waterfall and the drop just above the waterfall there are 2 'points of concern'. The first is a two tree x shaped FULL RIVER BLOCK (probably chainsaw job) and the second is a tree growing out of left bank and down into the river, you MIGHT be able to sneak this one but you aint getting through the one further up! Maybe worth walking this section.
From the slides to the footbridge mentioned above is pretty clear but probable worth a look to check! There is a barbed wire fence running along the left bank just after you enter the copse. This would only be a problem if the river was at 7+ on the gauge and you tried to make the one breakout affected. About 200/300 meters into the copse is a large river wide tree. I spent about 2 hours clearing alots of wood from here and there should now be a sneak line straight through the middle! The remaining branches here are just underwater at too low to paddle levels (around 1 on the gauge) so there should be plenty of water between branches and boat at a paddleable level.
So its looking like 1 'tree' portage of about 150 meters now! All we need now is a load of rain to bring it up!

[justin-g]

PH you're a scolar and a gent!!

[jmmoxon]

River was running at 7 on the gauge at 9am & still at 11am & dropped only to 6.5 by 1.30pm. Somewhat more tree portaging required at this level!

Downstream of the viaduct/gauge there are 3 tree blockages before the sports fields at Oakhampton College are reached, we took out just before. The worst of which are on a small weir with a good flat pool above & a couple of hundred metres further down - only small eddies here.

Mike

[Ollieswims!]

Does anybody have pictures of this section?

Ollie.

[Mark Allen]

Theres very few photos about of the slabs as its so fast and its over in a matter of a few mins. There is a vidoe some where on here of a few of the drops below the slab.

See vids here.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=45024&hilit=east+okement

[Ollieswims!]

Cheers mark, I'll look at that.
If anyone paddles this or walks up that way, photo's would be appriciated. Me and some mates are looking to paddle it but have no idea what its like!

Cheers,
Ollie.

[R4]

If anyone walks/paddles this and comes across a set of carbon werners or a red Nomad (or part thereof!), would be great if you could let me know!

See viewtopic.php?f=32&t=57774

[justin-g]

Cheers mark, I'll look at that.
If anyone paddles this or walks up that way, photo's would be appriciated. Me and some mates are looking to paddle it but have no idea what its like!

Cheers,
Ollie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRbJ48c- ... re=related

Hard - lots of trees - tight drops.

[Ollieswims!]

Cheers Justin, Looks nice...
Is this the worst of it? Apart from that portage waterfall.

Ollie.

[justin-g]

No the section above the waterfall is very tight and steep and is pretty pinny. There is a fantastic drop right above the waterfall and then this slot drop is the hardest bit in the lower section - it's deceptivly hard - all the small drops before take all your speed off.

If you are going to paddle it I would suggest walking up to see if you fancy it first - and be well prepared for swimmers/pins.

J

[Ollieswims!]

Ok, What sized group would you suggest I would need to run it? Where do you suggest I walk from, and from which bank?

Ollie.

[justin-g]

River left bank - from the get-out walk across the bridge walk all the way up.

I'll let you decide on groups etc.

[Ollieswims!]

Sweet cheers Justin. Hopefully its a decent walk otherwise my dad will get in a pissy.

Ollie.

[jmmoxon]

It's a very wet walk at the moment! Was at 5 on the gauge from midday to 3pm today, although the rain had stopped before then, with hail/sleet as we left.

Mike

[pH]

Get In at 7

slides (some of) at 7

[Ollieswims!]

Oh nice!
Cheers pH :)

[jmmoxon]

Slide at put in (4 on gauge):



Drop above waterfall:



Mike

[hardy]

Did East Okemont today ,was just below 6 on the gauge under the viaduct.Higher than earlier in the week when Mike Moxon did it,but little changed,nothing to worry about (at least that is what Moxy said,he was with us).

Fantastic non stop paddling.Did some of the top section twice.Great.

Hardy

[pH]

Footage of the slides @6 on Fatherford guage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvvJdNWTv4Q

[Sharpen]

The "Access hassles" bit on the guide warns that you are on MOD land. Do not let that put you off.I am the Senior Rural Estate Surveyor responsible for Dartmoor Training Area. The land at the head of the East Okement is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, who licence it for military training. However, there are no military restrictions on public use of land outside the live firing danger area, even when training is taking place. Within the Range Danger Area, public access is excluded when live firing is taking place for obvious reasons. However, even when there is live firing on Okehampton Range, you can still get access to the East Okement at Cullever Steps without going into the Ranges.When live firing is taking place, you will be stopped at the end of the public road at Moorgate near Okehampton Camp - the civilian sentry will warn you about live firing and ask where you are going. Tell the sentry that you are going to park at the end of the track to Cullever steps, and carry your boat to the east down to the river Okement. Make sure that you know where the track is (although there is usually another civilian sentry parked there and a barrier across the road by the small road bridge on the tarmac road just after the Cullever Steps track. Once the sentries are sure they know where you are going, and that you will not drift into the training area, they will let you through.