GUIDE TO THE RIVER ROY

(Upper section)

NAME OF RIVER: Roy.

WHERE IS IT?: Glen Roy, a long way up a single track road!

PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Drive up the Glen from Roy bridge for a long way (Braeroy road?). Put in at an obvious flattening of the river (NN 31330 89382) - you can see the river is flat off into the distance. Launch from the bank on the sweeping bend near the road. Take out above or below “Wish you were here” (NN 30075 87593), the first rapid of the Roy Gorge. The road is a bit of a slog up from here. There is a gate in the fence here that you can squeeze a couple of vehicles beside and another small area of parking 200m along the road at another gate.

APPROX LENGTH: 2.5km

TIME NEEDED: 2 - 3 hours

ACCESS HASSLES: Limited parking at the take out - don’t block anyone’s gate.

WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: If the Lower Roy is low but paddleable, this will be at a good level. If the Lower is high then this section will be quite continuous, but awesome fun.

GRADING: 3(4)

MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: Don’t miss the take out!

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The river starts out with some fun grade 2/3 eddy hopping building to grade 3 in a mini gorge. Several more grade 3 rapids follow before you reach Roostertail (grade 4), a rocky horizon line where the river s bends around rocks on either side. Inspect from the right. The river is fairly easy below here until you reach Wish You Were Here (grade 4). The river splits around an island with many possible lines - inspect from the island on the right. If you are not continuing on into the gorge, get out on the right immediately before or after the drop and slog up the hill to the car.

OTHER NOTES: This section is mentioned in passing in the guide for the Gorge, however it is a really good section on its own, especially with plenty of water. At lower levels it makes a good training run for intermediate paddlers.

CONTRIBUTED BY: Kirsten Rendle

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