The section of the East Kiewa between Lake Guy and Clover Dam is not a section that is often thought of as having good whitewater as it seldom seems to have much water flowing down its bed. Having no ‘natural flow’ the only time you will be able to paddle it is when water is released from Lake Guy. (the when and why they release is a mystery to me)
If however you have far more insight into the workings of the Bogong Hydro scheme, or are just lucky enough to be driving by and see it running, you are in for a treat. There is a short walk along a walking track from Bogong Village to the put in just below the Dam Wall, but you will hear it before you see it. The problem with put-in’s of this nature, thousand’s of litres blasting into a small pool, is that all that noise makes it quite intimidating. Not to mention the fact that probably the hardest rapid is the first one.
With a combination of; a very boily and turbulent put-in eddy (from the Dam outlet), willows and blackberries along the banks, being hard to scout, and the only good line having willow branches overhanging it, the first rapid makes any option hard work. (Although 10 minutes and a bow saw would see things improve somewhat)
Anyway with the first problem out of the way what you will find yourself left with is a very pleasant jaunt down a lovely stretch of whitewater. The first 1 ½ km will give you some intricate, bouldery Class III – III+, hemmed in by willow but with surprisingly clean lines. Just before a bridge at the 1 ½ km mark is a fantastic, slightly bigger rapid, with four very nice drops woven in amongst the boulders. After the bridge and a man-made rock weir another approx 800m of fairly steep, class III+ - IV will leave you with no doubt you have had a work out and a good paddle.
If this run ran regularly it would become a favourite, maybe someone out there has more information about when it runs?
Mark Langham July 25, 2011 - Happened to find that the Hydro was de silting on the weekend of July in 2011 that we paddled it, which meant they were releasing all water out of Lake Guy.
A great paddle however due to the de silting, was very murky and vision was very poor. Apparently they release water every year at different times for environmental flows but mainly for this de silting process.
