River crossing rules of thumb ?.

I remember reading an article about the drowning on the Milford track, one of the men who survived the drowning, said words to the effect they had to get to the hut they couldnt turn back. they were close to the hut, so to them it seemed like the best option at the time they could have turned back , although they'd have doubled their mileage and had to do the best part of 15k back to clinton hut. they'd made it that far... there is a shelter i think its right at that stream crossing where she drowned. or they could have gone to the nearest guided walking hut which was closed but they may have found partial shelter there. you never Have to cross a water course.... if in doubt wait it out or turn back..

Ive retreated from a crossing 3 times. First the Orongaonga. It was fine and dry in Wellington but it wasnt at the humpback. Its the only time Ive seen that river flowing amongst the trees both sides. Any attempt to cross that would of seen you half way to Chille. Second time same river not far from Papatawai hut. We took the unmarked unofficial wet weather track instead. Dont know how people that dont know about that track will get on as the river doesnt have to come up much to be impassable by our standards. It has to come up a lot less for a lot of users of that hut. 3rd time made for a very short tramp. Burn hut has 3 streams on it Weather was extremely wet and the firt stream looked angry but crossable with effort. Consensus of the group was the second stream is the hardest of the 3 so we could get there find it uncrossable then get back to the first and find it had risen as well. 2 and a half hour drive each way from Wellington for 10 minutes total tramping time.

i've been swept down a river once... i wasnt crossing it,,, i was walking down it to avoid bush bashing thick bush and undergrowth on a steep hillside, it was going ok for a while. then i was walking in it next to a rock wall. it was raining and teh river was brown.... then i stepped into a deep hole i couldnt recognise.... as I sunk in the water up to my chest, pack buoyancy held me up from hitting the bottom and the current took me out into the middle of the river.... river was semi flooded, i wasnt prepared, face down with pack on top... on instinct i was going to discard my pack , i didnt have a strategy prepared for getting swept down a river like this, but it was obvious my pack was floating.... so i juste rolled over on my back.. the river was in flood, but it wasnt that dangerous to float down.... and i was making faster progress, so went with it, but i didnt know the river and what was ahead,,,, when the river bank flattened out again i made my way towards the edge of the river till it was shallow enough to stand without too much effort... i didnt attempt to pack float again,,, it was mid winter and i didnt fancy my chances with hypothermia...

I've retreated many times, particularly from the Otira down by Aickens. Luckily there are options nearby where river crossing doesn't feature. However during a trip I've often had to sit it out and wait for rivers to drop. Staying in a hut makes it a lot more pleasant of course. A strong current against the thighs is a good sign of the river being a no go zone as well as the obvious culprits of rolling boulders, trees floating down in grey water, being unable to keep up with a stick thrown in and not hearing a large thrown stone hit the river bottom. Many's the time we've planted sticks by the water level or small stones on boulders to indicate whether the river level is rising. Yet another reason why folks need to carry adequate shelter, thereby avoiding the temptation to attempt a crossing rather than wait it out. Tramping club river crossing courses are highly recommended.

I`ve had a few scares but still respect `the New Zealand Death` which was rampant in early days in NZ.I`ve been taught, & practice,that if the river is flowing faster than walking speed or you can`t see the bottom,don`t cross.If you carry a fly there is no pressure to `have` to get to a hut.Strongly recommend a course,it will give you skills & bolster your confidence.

An eye opener for me was a river trip down the Otaki from Penn Creek to the end. That trip breaks many river crossing rules but you prepare for such a trip with good dry bags etc and expect the odd swim. First swim was 50 meters down Penn Creek. The Otaki is more than 2 meters deep at all crossings so every crossing was a swim some in water traveling above that walking pace. The big one though was a rocky outcrop with the current coming straight into it and rapids directly above it. I was going to go back upstream looking for a cross point when the trip leader worked his way out the rocky outcrop until the current tore him off the rock round the corner where if bobbed back up some 20 meters downstream. It was probably only 5 meters but that was the way round this which included full submersion for everyone. It was a fun trip but cold. First 4 hours in the river before the sun got in there even in summer.

got to Waingawa bridge in the tararuas, had a fat labrador with us... it absolutely refused to go across the swing bridge, first time ever she started snapping at me when i tried to push her across. so that was that, had to get her to swim, which she obligingly did when summoned from the other bank the river was in flood. as the dog got out toward the middle the current shot the dog downstream rapidly, and round the corner,,, me and my mate were thinking it might be the last we saw of the dog.... while me mate was looking down the river i started yelling at him, to look behind him, the dog had in fact made it across and was standing behind him, wondering what he was looking at down the river.. no way in hell a person could be guaranteed to safely cross that day...

Re dogs. Similar experience at Crow hut. No netting on sides of bridge & dog said no way boss I'm going the river way. Watched her disappear round the bend over a small waterfall, backwards. 2 mins later she's standing beside me wanting told how clever she is for getting across. If only we could swim like that. Re swimming: That said swimming used to be one of my preferred crossing techniques. Much more certainty of whether I can swim a stretch of river than wade it. Just down to current, flow direction & runout. Riverbed & depth which are harder to assess are not an issue. But having trouble getting a pack I can swim in lately. Packs seem to have got thinner & taller lately & make keeping head back & above water a challenge.

I don't recommend trying it at all. but some of the old govt deer stalkers would wade into a high river and walk downstream with the current at the current speed, and gradually make their way across.

Shades of Charlie Douglas and Betsy-Jane! I watched a dog in Mongolia very carefully run up and down for minutes assessing a glacial river with pressure waves which was high enough to wet our feet in the stirrups when we crossed it on horseback. Eventually he jumped in and we saw his wee head occasionally amid the waves. He got spat out on the bank right where I'm sure he'd planned to end up and his mate ran down to touch noses with him as he emerged. They ran off together joyfully. I was surprised he'd made it across.