Packrafting the Picton and Huon Rivers – Riveaux Road to Southwood Bridge

Paddle Overview

On Monday the 21st of February 2022, Col and I packrafted the Picton and Huon Rivers from the bridge over the Picton on Riveaux Road to the Southwood Road bridge over the Huon.

• Distance:

  • Riveaux Rd on Picton to Tahune Bridge over Huon: 4km (1 hr)

  • Tahune Bridge to Southwood Bridge on Huon: 11km (3 hrs)

• Grade: 2-3 on Picton and 1-2 on Huon

• Time: 4 hrs

• Water level: 0.3m at the Tahune Bridge gauge.

Entry Point

With the water level so low, we decided to enter the Picton at the bridge on Riveaux Road. This makes it a 4km trip down to the Tahune Bridge on the Huon, while the entry point further up stream at Top Bridge would have made this section 9km.

Exit Point

The exit point for the initial 4km is the Tahune Bridge. To get out here, exit on river right, immediately above the bridge. After getting off the river, you will need to leave through the Tahune Adventures facility.

If continuing down to the Southwood Bridge, there are multiple exit points on both sides of the river at the bridge. We got out at the hut on river right, slightly above the bridge (just above where the Arve River enters the Huon).

This area around Southwood Road seems really sketchy. There were two separate burnt out cars on the road on our way to the bridge, so we ended up somewhat reluctant to leave a car there while we paddled. In the end, we left the second vehicle at Tahune Adventures and used a four-wheel-drive track from the hut at our exit point to walk back to Edwards Link Road. After hiding the boats in the bush, we then walked / jogged back to Tahune Adventures to get the car, after which we collected the car at the start and the boats from where they were hidden. The total distance from the exit point to Tahune Adventures on foot was 11.3km.

The River

The video at the top of the post gives an indication of the character of the river at this level.

The Picton, normally rated grade 2-3 was an easy grade 2 at this level. The Huon was grade 1-2, with some easy grade 2 rapids in the section after Tahune Bridge. On reaching the confluence with the Weld River, we had lots of flat water, which was a bit of a slog, with a final long easy rapid just before the exit point.