Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The Mighty Marsyandi

Our next mission was the Mighty Marsyandi River. We hopped on a bus bound for Lumle and then another bus to Besisarhar. North the road gets increasingly more dangerous and is strictly four wheel drive. We shopped around for a jeep but the only one we could find was way over priced. After a few hours of being stalled out we found a local gentleman with a John Deer Tractor who offered to give us a lift to our put in at Sange.

It seemed like a great idea, like a scenic tractor ride at the county fair. Will and I sampled the delights of our new shuttle vehicle as we went with the driver to the local gas station in preparation for the long journey up the rough road. We quickly realized our mistake. If you are ever offered a ride on a tractor for a 4 hour 4x4 ride on a sketchy road I advise not taking it.


We had to laugh at our situation. Four of us clung to various pieces of the tractor holding on for dear life. We were bouncing and slamming into various sharp and jagged pieces of metal. The other three were bounced around in the trailer as the kayaks slid around trying to launch you from the trailer. We all suffered bruises and and a few open wounds from our scenic tractor ride but we made it and saved at least three dollars each.

Awaking sore and tired and having spent so much time getting into the mountains we opted for a layover day in Sange and set off for a day hike checking out some of the locals that live in the area.

Just north of Sange a steep mountain trail winds it way up the hill side. This man had quite the large herd of Water Buffalo and we stopped to admire his beautiful buff.

Here you can see the KFC delivery man. Just another day on the job.


From Sange the whitewater is fast and continuos action. Most rapids are read and run with a few larger long rapids to keep you on your toes. The entire river is quality runnable action packed fun. (photo Will Stubblefield)

Toby on the run out of the first long rapid (photo Will Stubblefield)

Cooper looks on as Isaac paddles through the run out of the slip rapid

Just a few kilometers from our planned stop for the night we found this nice riverside hot pool to soak in. It started raining as soon as we got in the hot pools so we spent a solid 2 hours nursing our sore bodies and taking in the scenery of the Marsyandi. We paddled a few more k's and stayed the night just north of Bhullebule.

We stopped just above a large horizon line. Cooper getting the day started the right way just missing a large pour over.

Toby wasn't quite as lucky and took the brunt of the pour over in what can only be described as a controlled thrashing. Toby smiling after being released from good morning rapid.

Toby charging through another large rapid on the lower stretches of the Marsyandi


We finished up at the new lake formed by the power station that went operational last year. until then there was an additional 20 k's of excellent rapids. We flagged down a fruit delivery truck taking their weekly orders. They offers us a ride so we piled our boats in and climbed aboard for what turned out to be the plushest form of transportation we experienced.





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