Question regarding Colo River lilo speeds at low water level

[ColoEnjoyer]

Hi all,
A friend and I are planning a 2.5 day trip to the beautiful Colo river, where we plan to hike down Bob Turners and Lilo down to Colo Meroo. I am creating a rough schedule of the expected durations of different sections but despite my best efforts researching, I can't seem to find info on the rough duration the lilo trip will take at the current water levels ~.75m

Has anyone completed this section before at roughly the same water level? If so, how long did it take you and what obstacles did you encounter with the lower water level?

The current schedule looks like this:

DAY1
- Drop one car off at end of Upper Colo Rd, before private property
- Begin Bob Turner's at 4:30pm
- Sleep overnight at river at the end of Bob Turners Track

Day2
- Lilo from Bob Turners to the big bend
- Stopping at the bend to explore nearby creeks
- Camp here overnight on high sandbanks

DAY3
- Wake up early and lilo the remaining river to Colo Meroo campground
- Walk back to the cars, finishing the trip at around 12pm

Any advice would be great! This is my first time planning a trip like this.

[tom_brennan]

I find that the water levels in the Colo are best treated as relative. At some points years ago they used to be around 0.30m, so 0.55m would be a good level to lilo at. At the moment, 1.00m would probably be quite good. You'd need to be watching them for a while to get a sense of what "normal" was.

I generally allow 1km/h for paddling lilos with low flow.

Your main issue will be that once you round the bend of the Colo, it's sand from bank to bank, and hard to find the deepest channel. You will probably end up getting off and walking at times as you run aground. You probably won't be running the rapids either at 0.75m.

For speed comparison, we were walking upstream from Colo Meroo to Tootie Creek at about 2km/h. Downstream, the going might be a little quicker (2.5km/h?), since if you're walking in the river, the flow is helping, and if you're walking on the bank, the vegetation is pointing the direction you are going. So you can always make up time just by getting off and walking!

You can see some recent pictures to give you a sense of river depth at: https://photos.ozultimate.com/Bushwalki ... colo-river

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

Reckon you'll be doing a bit of walking at that level (or a lot of bottoming out) but meh still be an awesome trip

Sent from my SM-S906E using Tapatalk

[Bron]

Ive liloed down the Colo from Bob turners to Upper Colo (bridge)
1m is a better level for liloing.
I dont remember the level when we did it but I remember it was really too low.
Bob turners to Colo Meroo can be liloed but you find it is easier to walk either in the river or along the road below Colo Meroo.
we camped at Colo Meroo and it has a great shelter but the Mosquitos were very ferocious

[johnrs]

HI CE
Your schedule is fine, paddle slowly down the big pools, walk most rapids, and float or walk the shallow sandy runs.
Its a nice trip.
Don't go when the water is seriously high.
Best wishes
John

[Bron]

I should add Bob Turners to Colo Meroo took 1 day on a lilo.

Colo Meroo to Upper Colo Bridge took 1 day walking in the river as the level was too low for liloing. It wasnt a long day (its only about 10km)
We would have started in the morning as dropping a car at Upper Colo is on the way to Colo Heights.

A few other times.
Canoe Creek to Bob Turners 3 days
Wollemi Ck to Canoe Creek 2.5 days, it takes several hours of rock hopping down Wollemi Ck to reach the Colo River.
Glen Davis to Wollemi Ck 5 days. I did that over Xmas-New Year and the water level was 1m. The car shuffle was really long but we were able to leave a car at Hartley rather than Glen Davis which helped on the return.
Below Upper Colo you can take a canoe but there are alot of shallow sandy sections between Upper Colo and Colo. It helps if the river is up 2 or 3metres