Tam Ky River - Tam Ky Gorge / "Ong Chieu" Section
Section Length: ~ 1.5 km
Put In: Phu Ninh Spillway Complex Take Out: Unnamed Road [see map] |
Difficulty: Class IV - V (V+)
Est. Flow: 10,000+ cfs Paddlers: Phạm Đức Toàn |
The Tam Ky Gorge is a short but intense piece of whitewater tucked in the hills outside the city of the same name, that unfortunately only comes alive in periods of prolonged, heavy rains. It may only run once a year, and some years maybe not at all. But when it runs, the short stretch of whitewater is huge and should offer the expert boater an amazing kayaking experience.
If you do manage to find flows in this canyon, the meat is basically confined to two massive cataracts, one just around the corner from the put in dam, and another about 500 meters later. These two drops represent 90% of the water in the gorge, and both offer a plentiful amount of lines when they have water, ranging from class IV lines at lower flows to class V+ pro lines and lines that are where the gods go. There are some smaller rapids in the gorge as well, both between the huge drops and after the bottom one as well, but they are not in the same league as the twin cascades. However, what makes the cascades so much more dangerous is that they are basically unportagable- once you drop in above one, you are committed to running it. This is because the river flows at either flood levels or not at all, and when that happens, the river eats away at it's banks, resulting in large, vertical walls of dirt that prevent exit from the river.
Video courtesy of Phạm Đức Toàn.
The logistics on this are pretty simple. If you get there by moto, you can drive to both access roads, and it takes little more than 2 minutes to walk to the river at both. A decent put in exists near the bottom of the left-most spillway, where a trail goes down to the falls at the base of the spillway structure, and offers a nice safe place to enter the river, away from the chaos of the spillway release. There are a couple of possible takeouts. There is an access on river left between the first and second cascades, as well as again below the second cascade. There is another access that requires a long walk on river right below the end of the rapids.
Despite having only two rapids, this is a heavy piece of river. The drops are large and are not to be taken lightly. Extended and/or rough swims can be dished out by the massive flows it takes to bring this river to life. However, if you are seriously contemplating a run of this, then you shouldn't really need too much information from me. Look for this one to come around after sustained heavy rains. It really wont run until Ho Phu Ninh needs to spill, and then it can get huge pretty quickly. It shuts off pretty quickly too, and wont last too long.
Spillway Waterfall
If the massive flows and the gigantic cascades are just not enough to get you going, consider taking a look at the waterfall and the end of the emergency spillway structure. Here, the entire emergency release flies down a long ramp and then flies over a 3 to 4 meter vertical drop into the lake-like flats of the river. Amazingly, the hole at the bottom does not look too sticky, and it looks like with a good boof you'd clear everything pretty well. Send me a line if you end up running this.
The Map
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