Upper Hoki

The Upper Hoki was somewhat of a capstone run for me in New Zealand. Some 48 hours after being in NZ I was standing next to a postcard rack at a gas station on the way to Murchison. On it was an array of typical NZ pictures: moutiains, glaciers, and sheep. Near the bottom was a card that had a kayaker paddling in the most amazing place I had ever seen. I grabbed the card and showed it a fellow boaters asking "where is this and how do i get there?." I was told the picture was of The Gates of Argonath on the Upper Hoki. I put the card back and made a mental note that I would see this place before I left New Zealand.

How any good day of kayaking starts, Nick and Benny getting ready to motivate.

The Hellocopter picked us up from the take out around noonish and off we went to the top of the run. The helicopter flight is a time of excitement; flying over the run looking and pointing at all the rapids and what not. The Uppper Hoki has two very committing canyons in it and on the ride up I got a feeling for what I had just singed up for. We came around a bend on the ride up and all I could see was whitewater coming out of what looked like a hole in the earth. Once over the gorge I could not see in for the walls were so high and gorge so tight that even when we were only 100 some feet above it I could not see into it. Once above I took a quick look back to see what the entrance looked like and all I saw was whitewater leading into darkness.

Shuttle

A few K's of warm up starts off the run, but soon after the river began to get very steep. For the next 4 some K's we did the steepest boat scouting I have done. There were five of us on the river and I was at the back and at no time could I see more than two other boaters. Somewhere along the way I decided to flip over and rearrange the riverbed with my hands and shoulder. I rolled up to find I had taken a fair amount of skin off all the fingers on my left hand and whacked my shoulder pretty good.

Ouch, it dose not look to bad but man they did not stop bleeding.

Just when I thought it could not get any steeper we found our self's in the eddy above the lead-in to Viagra Falls. The ever changing nature of NZ rivers had made all but the last drop seem reasonable so we started to portage. When I got out of my boat I noticed that I had a large amount of water in my boat. Very soon after I discovered that during my earlier underwater exploring I had riped a 4 inch gash in my spray deck right along the cockpit rim. Out came some dental floss, a pair of tweezers, and a safety pin. Nick proceeded tp work some magic and in about 2o mins we were back in business.

Nick and Benny giving the falls a look. Benny ended up running it and had a good line. The stuff behind them is all sived out and necessitated the portage.

Soon after we came to the entrance to the first gorge. It was at this point that the mood of the river and my self really started to change. What fallowed was the most mentally challenging paddling I have ever done. Knowing that once you slid off a give rock you no longer can go back up stream. you are walled in on all sides and had to run whatever you found around the corner. A swim, getting pined, a lost boat were not an option. It hit me for the first time that the only way I was getting out was with my paddling skills. There's no road, no trail, nothing just you and river.

getting ready to drop into said gorge.

Trying to figure out how it's all going to go down.

Looking back up, but the only way to go is down.

The run cooled off a bit before going into the second gorge. The entrance to the second was a portage and made life a little less stressful.

Walking into the unknown.

Nick running a very impressive rapid in the second gouge.

After the second gorge we made it to the Gates of Argonath and the moment I was waiting for. It really was a sight your eyes can't believe. Walls pointing to the sky, a waterfall coming in on the side, a huge fallen rock in the middle, it was breathtaking and very fulfilling knowing what it took to get to see such a place that few will ever see. Sadly my camera was out of batteries so no pics.

We ran a few more stout rapids and then were at the put in for the lower hoki run. We charged down and were at the cars in a little over an hour.

Sometimes the lines on the drive out are the hardest.

P.S. it should be noted that even though I have described this run and kayaking to be very individualist and in the end you have to paddle the drops. Nevertheless it should be noted that having a great crew of boaters to paddle with can, in the end, be what really makes the difference.