Tonegawa

With our first river under our belt we headed north for Minakami, a famous hot spring resort town and the name of a section on the Tonegawa known for some of the best class IV whitewater within easy striking distance of Tokyo. The spring snowmelt was at it’s peak and the swollen reservoirs were releasing the excess. The river was cranking and we were going to tackle the 2 km IV+ canyon section to start—this was going to be fun. Harry opted out on the canyon section, saying that he’d join us after we passed under the train bridge that marked the exit from the bedrock walls. Things started out well, but Megi took a swim and with no eddies in the canyon there was little she could do but hang on to Tadano’s boat as I gave chase to her gear for the remaining 1 km. Harry was ready with the throw rope as we emerged and with the yard sale collected back up we were ready to hit the rest of the run.

Harry had outfitted a kayak as a C1 and we hit the water with his unproven design. As we were blasting our way down the next III+ rapid Harry flipped in the wave train and his rolls weren’t looking good. On the third attempt open-cell foam outfitting—this was a real budget job—floated free from the boat and the thigh strap flapping in the current quickly told me what happened. Harry popped to the surface and gulped for air as Megi drifted into his boat, flipped, and then swam. Tadano and I had our hands full collecting up the gear and swimmers in the surging eddy but by some miracle we got it all together.

With Harry done for the day Tadano and I set off downstream and Megi decided she was still ready for more action. Our run took us through the center of town and some excellent III/IV rapids. We bobbed down waves trains and finally through the holes of the Devil’s Staircase at the end. It was a great run.