Avonmore

Rathdrum to The Meetings

145 on the Avonmore House guage on Riverspy.
Fabulous surf waves at the get on. You could stay here for the day. Lots of sections throughout that can be played on. The whole river is read and run but it is moving fast so you need to be looking ahead for hazards. Lots of wave trains, playful holes, moves, moves and more moves. It has a nice Alpine feel to it. Ideal for experienced Lv3 paddlers. Not a great place for a swim as lots of the banks are tree lined and at this level you will cover a lot of ground while chasing a boat. There are also some submerged trees & branches.
The whole trip took 2 hours with lots of playing on features.

Trooperstown to Jacksons
Same guage level. Suitable for strong Lv3 paddlers pushing LV4 skills. The river is narrower and more technical. You could easily pin a boat in the boulder gardens if you miss your line.
First feature is short and steep. No issues.
Next big feature is a boulder garden. Read and run.
The second boulder garden has bigger boulders. It is read and run also.
After this the river widens and mellows out a bit. Up ahead it bends to the right, this is the lead in to Jacksons. You need to be catching eddys on river left so you can get out and scout the falls. Leave plenty of space between paddlers so everyone can get out.
I counted 4 eddys on river left after the bend that will safely hold a boat however the closer you get to the falls the smaller they get, the harder they are to catch and the trickier the river becomes. There are waves, stoppers and sneaky rocks that could catch you off guard. The last eddy is small and is just above the falls, if you miss this you are on a bad line for Jacksons so play it safe and get out early.
There is a path on the river left bank that you can follow to scout and portage Jacksons.
If you end up in an eddy on river right you can get out and walk along the river right bank to portage Jacksons but there is no path here.
Remember to check out Little Jacksons at the end of the gorge. If you are running Jacksons then you are running Little Jacksons too and this is an equally complicated feature.

Just below Little Jacksons you will see where the Glenmacnass river joins the party on river right. The get off is just below this on river right. Downstream of this is a small island with trees on in.
If you portaged Jacksons then you will get on in the pool on river left below Little Jacksons. You will see a wave just below you and downstream of that is a large rock in the middle of the river. Break in high and drive across the flow, you want to get in behind this rock so that you can easily continue across the river to the get off. You want to stay upriver of the small island. If you miss this you will be forced down the river left channel. Grab an eddy and wait for further instruction

Trooperstown to Jacksons

95 on the Avonmore House guage on RiverSpy.
Low but very runnable at this level. The troopertown rapid is fairly straight forward. Start river left and move to center. It can be easily scouted from the water. Two pools river left and right below it, safety is easily set up. You can get out river right and run it again if you like but there is better stuff further down.
Up next is the first boulder garden. Read and run again. Not a huge amount of options at this level but there are no major hazards on it.
Second boulder garden is read and run however the large boulders make it hard to see too far ahead. Pick a line and see what happens There is one place where a vertical pin is possible but it’s more of an inconvenience than a danger.
Up next is the rapid above Jacksons. At this level it’s a playground with moves everywhere. There are loads of eddies to catch before you reach Jacksons so don’t be afraid to challenge yourself here. There is a path on river left and I would definitely run laps of this section if I was here.
Next is Jacksons, the line is fairly obvious. You can see the flow running from center and pushing you to the right. Hop on this and keep your bow pointing to the right. You want to aim to ride over the kicker on the river right at the end of the drop. Safety can be easily set with one person on a line standing on a ledge next to the stopper. They can easily push a boat back into the flow or throw a sling to a swimmer. Avoid the urge to use a tethered rescue, it’s a bit OTT
After this is Little Jacksons. There is a nice line river left. You can just hop on it and follow the flow or for a challenge there is a fun double boof move here. At the top, drive your boat over the flow and take a right boof stroke to clear the small stopper below. After you land you are straight into another right book stroke to get over the next stopper and land in the eddy below.
You can get out river left and run Jacksons again or if you have had enough paddle towards the get off on river right. Keep to the right of the island otherwise you end up downstream of the get off and have to walk back up.
This river is well worth a day trip at this level. You could take one car, park in Laragh and hike up to the rapid above Jacksons and just session this section of the river.