anyone out there paddled the Klein Jukskei before?

this little river can get pretty swollen after a good downpour, and as i found out sunday afternoon, can still be paddled even the following afternoon.

i wouldnt recommend paddling it during, or directly after a thunderstorm, as i'm pretty sure all the eddies will be gone, but give it an hour or 3 and you have yourself a nice 2 km section of creeking - in the heart of the city!!!

put in is at the Lesley Rd bridge in Douglasdale, in northern johannesburg.
take out is at the Witkoppen Rd bridge.

dont let the fact that it's only 2km put you off, the river drops substantially during that stretch, there are more than enough drops to keep you occupied, and the few flat water stretches dont need much effort from the paddler to keep moving.

the nice thing is that it is central, meaning that you could paddle before or after work. also, it doens really have any squatter camps upstream, making it reasonable clean, and all the rain we've had so far must have washed all the junk away by now.

the only criteria is that it NEEDS a downpour to activate it.

caution:
paddle the river at a low to medium level first, there are two or 3 logs that obstruct the river at various places. these dont really pose a problem, but could become lethal strainers at flood level.







the 2km strecth can be extended to 8km if one so desires.

on sunday afternoon i paddled the whole 8km.
the level was low but manageable (my own fault for not being on the water at dawn). this was not a problem as my main reason was to scout the river 1st, and return at a higher level.
there are quite a few nice rapids after witkoppen rd, and as the river widens out, there are fewer strainers etc., and a few more sections of flat water (nothing terrible). look out for one or two weirs, some are runnable, and some arent.

there is a big continuous rapid about 4km from the start which should be fun at a high level!
watch out for 2 huge weirs, about 2km and 1km from the end, which are definitely not runnable - unless you have balls

take out is at the Cedar Rd bridge,
or if you have time, as in a whole day, paddle it until it joins the big Jukskei after about a km, and continue all the way to hartebeespoort dam

i will post pics the next time i run it, and if anyone is keen to join me, they can contact me on my cell to confirm when there is a good downpour in the catchment are which consists of the randburg, bryanston, cresta, fairlands, weltevreden park area.

kobus
082 394 9575

here is a google link: \"klein jukskei river\" lat=-26.0424813039, lon=27.9849390303

Sounds good Kobus. I'm looking forward to some photos... I might join you one of these days. Might be fun!

ok, yesterday was a prime example of what this river is good at, meaning, after work and close to home creeking

we had a downpour at 3 o'clock, and by 4:30 i couldnt take it any more, i simply HAD to get out and paddle.
my stuff is always loaded in the car, so i just had to hop in and do the 15 minute drive in the traffic (the river is 500m from my house, but 10km from my work).

i got there and it was pumping!

the put in:


the section after the bridge:


looking back at the bridge:


first rapid:


looking back at rapid no. one:


rapid no 2:


rapid no 2 up close:


some flat water, well not really:


the over-grown river bank:


as seen from bridge no. 2:


a big drop that empties into a pool, then spills over a log:


me:


the submerged log:


a weir further down stream:



it was fun to be able to hit the river after work, with minimal driving required!
thanx to my fiancee nikki who took a lot of pics, and for driving the recovery vehicle


the river was about 3 times higher than the 1st time i paddled it, but i reckon it can take a lot more water before becoming a runaway torrent.
i think double what it was yesterday would be ideal, and it does get that full - ive seen it lap at the underside of that 1st bridge before
the nice thing was that many obstacles/portage points i encountered on sunday like logs etc, where totally runnable yesterday .
there where only three mandatory portages yesterday, but at double this level they will also be runnable.

FUN!!

I live in Jozie and a paddle after work sound good. I've never paddled the Jukskei so I'm putting you a speed dail. My # 083 700 3800.
There's a water release on the Vaal this weekend. You in?

bronchitis got me bad!
ive been coughing up a lung for the last 7 days non stop!
i'm on anti biotics now but will have to skip this weekend.

i'll save your number, where about in joburg are you?

work in newtown. stay in craighall park. U? sorri 'bout ur bronchitis.

work near cresta (robindale), stay on lesley rd in douglasdale, 500m from the river.

craighall hey? ever paddled the braamfonteinspruit?
some nice scenery to be had of joburg from the river.

there's a very technical waterfall between jan smuts and william nichol - it pumps at high level, and might even be runnable.

neva. went for a recce once after some rain. U r right it looks runable. Have you?

ive done the whole river in three seperate sections:
1. 1st ave linden to sandton field and study
2. sandton field and study to N1 highway
3 N1 highway to jukskei confluence (and on to dainfern, or get out just before on william nichol extension)

the 1st section is a bit boring, except for the stretch immediately above and below the waterfall. havent run the fall as the pool at the bottom looks a bit shallow at lower levels.

the 2nd section is much more fun, but with some boring flat water after bryanston drive.

the last section, starting at witkoppen rd / N1 is a lot of fun, and when the level is right will rival anything we have in a 1ookm radius. i can highly recommend it!
there is a lekker stepped rapid right after the confluence.
the water quality becomes a bit suspect after this point.

i still rate the klein jukskei as the no. one choice so close to home though!

next time you run it, i'm in 4sho. where else do you paddle? we ran the umzimkhulu last wekend. eva done it?

ive done the polela, umzimkulu, thrombosis, umkomaas various, hella-hella downwards, orange at hope town, vaal at parys more than i remember, zambezi (sjoe!).

still wanna do tugela, bushmans, ash.

planning to go down the orange from below augrabies to other side of richtersveld with my fiancee' in december in my double touring kayak - so sick and tired of the usual \"vakansie by die see\" in decembers.

i havent paddled any serious white water for about 6 years as i got side-tracked with paragliding, but want to get back into it in a big way. i also want get my fiancee' involved as she is just as adventurous as i am.
been teaching her the roll, and after 40min in the pool she is 90% there!

will be getting a fluid solo medium as soon as they hit the shelves!
the topo then becomes nikki's boat

here's a link to a trip we did to the gariep dam in the winter. the wind was so strong, the waves were like 4ft and hit us from all sides. pretty scary experience in a pig heavy kayak with 3km of open water on all sides!

playak.com/index.php?option=com_joomlabo...5&id=19108#19108