Coxs River – Packrafting trip

The Coxs River is an ideal river for a packrafting trip. Its too difficult to access via canoe or kayak as the easiest exit place involves a 15km bushwalk. It can be visited by lilo. I have done two lilo trips down the river – both in high water and both quite scary and probably dangerous. This was my first packraft trip down the river – and it didn’t take long to work out that its also the best way to see the river.

It is essential that the river level is quite high. We had a river height at Kelpie Point (below White Dog – our exit place) of about 0.35 m according to the BOM website. I think this level would be too low for liloing – too slow for the paddling sections, but it was certainly quite nice for packrafts. You would probably not want it too much lower – you may scrape too much on rocks over the rapids.

The three of us – Rik, Wendy and myself started off from the Dunphy Campground at Carlons Farm and walked via the old Tinpot horse trail to the Coxs River near Flaggi Clear. The trail has recently become quite overgrown and hard to follow along the lower part and it took us longer than we expected to reach the river – about two hours from the carpark.

When we arrived at the river, we had lunch and then inflated the rafts and set off. Rik and myself had nice Alpacka packrafts – which handle very nicely in white water and are not too slow along the still sections that require paddling. Wendy had her cheap ($17) Kmart raft – which went surprisingly well. She was lower down than we were. The Alpackas have an inflatable seat that protects you from rock impacts and also being higher makes paddling easier. Good paddling is essential for control in rapids. The shape of the Alpackas makes them track better as well.

The rafts when deflated fold down quite small and light and are easy to fit inside a pack. Then there are paddles that come in 4 or 5 sections to fit inside and camping gear and food. No room left! That meant that we had to carry our PFD’s on the outside of the packs for the walk in. But once on the water – this all changes. the raft is inflated, the paddle is put together and you wear the PFD. Plenty of room now in the pack and it can be made quite small and tied on the front of the raft.

The river itself was perfect. Plenty of fun rapids and not much in the way of long still sections. It was really one rapid after another with a short section in between to get your breath back. Nothing too technical – it was all grade 1 or 2. Some rapids did require scouting out – early on there are boulders and low overhanging trees to avoid. Some had rapids that took you very close to logs. We did portage one or two. But most could be inspected from the rafts at the top of the rapids and a good line chosen. It was exhilarating fun! The good weather helped too!

Where we entered the river  at Flaggi Clear was an ideal place to start – the end of the open farming country and the start of the wilderness section. Soon the river leaves the granite of the Megalong Valley and enters quartzite country. Beautiful and majestic bluffs  tower overhead. The section down to the junction of Harrys River is great. The section from there down to Breakfast Creek just as good. A nice river with a series of magical rapids. Great fun.

Breakfast Creek was the first place we had considered exiting. But only if the river was too slow. It had only taken is two hours to get there and we had no desire to stop. We carried on through the Merriganowry Gorge. The large rapid just above Merrigal Creek was no problem for the packrafts – we went straight through without pausing. We camped on the side of the river a km or two short of Kanongaroo.

On the Sunday – we carried on downstream, past Kanongaroo, and then through the Gangerang Gorge. It was again good rapid after good rapid. The Alpackas were perfect for this type of river – easy to control and steer through the rapids. Wendy found it harder with her craft – and got caught on a log in one rapid and almost lost her pack. She also got  a few small holes in her floor that had to be repaired with gaffer tape. But overall – her cheap raft held up well.

Once at Kelpie Point – at the water board gauging station and flying fox – it was time to stop for lunch, let the rafts dry out and then pack them in our packs. The hard part of the trip was the walk out – up a big hill (White Dog) and the to Medlow Gap and then more road bashing to Carlons Farm – in all about 15 km.

One unexpected highlight was the amount of wildlife seen from the rafts – we saw fish jump out of the water after insects, a dingo walking along the bank, a couple of feral pigs, a few snakes and plenty of birds – ducks, shags, kingfishers and an eagle.

How much river did we paddle? I would think about 26 km in all.

I think the short video shows the fun of the river better than the still photos –