Gearhameen River
| Grade: | 3 to 4 | Rating: | ![]() |
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| County: | Kerry | Date updated: | 22/01/2008 | |||
| Section Length: | 3 Km | Version: | 1 | |||
Brief River Description
The river is mainly grade three with some grade four drops. There is a lot of flat sections, but these are broken up by great whitewater.Directions to the Put-in
The river is located deep in the Black Valley down past the gap of Dunloe.
Best directions are to head to the gap of Dunloe and drive past Kate Kearneys Cottage. Drive right through the gap and upon leaving the gap, you'll see the river on your left. Take the left after a farmhouse on your right, and the next sharp right hand turn towards the put in over a small bridge.
The take out is back up this road but continue on straight instead of back up the sharp turn. It is just over a bridge by a small house.
Directions to the Take-out
The take-out is the next bridge downstream of the put-in.River Description
The river is mainly grade 3 and relatively straight forward apart from a few main rapids.
The first rapid of note is a slot type drop, which needs protection in all water levels and is best always looked at.
It has a high potential for pinning. In higher water, 2 more channels open up at this drop offering a small ledge drop on the left of the slot and a rocky small slide on the right.
From here the river eases off until the main falls. In low water this is a relatively easy run down the middle but it gets meatier and might require inspection and chicken shoots in higher water, experience tells that if you hit the hole at speed you'll shoot through. This section leads though some more drops and a river wide stopper one should be wary of.
It's mainly class 3 wavey bits until the last section which is an overgrown bushy run under a bridge. A chicken line can be had on the river right arch but the river left arch hides a nice line over a sticky hole.
Take out is on the left after this and up to the road. The locals do not like folks taking out on their land on the river right bank.
River level gauge
Low Water - Paddle under the Bridge at put in.Medium Water - Must roll under bridge
High Water - Bridge is flooded, take care.
River Hazards
Major Pin potential on slot drop. Every time I've run the river I've seen pinning situations here. Lots of trees.
Very fast flowing in high water, possibly upping the grade.
Author(s)
Original Author: MickeyPlease add river details by adding to/editing the guide.

