The
Tons river flows through Garhwal, the western part of the
Himalayan state of Uttaranchal, bordering Himachal Pradesh.
With its source in the 20,720 ft high Bandarpunchh mountain,
it is the biggest tributary of the Yamuna, and, in fact, carries
more water than the Yamuna itself. It is famous for white
water expedition and rafting trips.
A low to medium volume, Class IV river, the
Tons was first run in 1980 by Jack Morison, followed by a
commercial exploratory trip in 1986, which ran the entire
length of the river. Since then, apart from a 15 km commercial
section, the river has hardly ever been challenged. The main
raft section is around Camp Lunagad, Aquaterra Adventure’s
summer camp, near Mori village.
The first Indian descent was made on the
hardest section on this river (Khunigad – Tiuni) in
April 2003. We followed it up by running the first fixed departure
expedition on the Lower Tons, an exciting 75 km journey down
this Class 4 section of the medium volume Lower Tons river.
In May 2005, the first white water rafting
descent was made on the entire Tons river since 1986, almost
a first descent as the river had changed considerably over
19 years.
This adventure kicks off from our base camp on the Tons river,
with familiarity gained on the 15-km-long commercial section
of the upper Tons near Mori. A short overnight hike into the
hills adjoining whets the appetite before we begin the 60
km expedition journey, down to Icchari, where the river is
dammed.
Below Tiuni, we encounter Foreplay, Premature Ejaculation,
a series of Class III+ rapids, followed by Afterglow, Channel
Rapid, Pillow talk, Thrice Bitten, Deadly Dedsu before we
reach the bridge at Atal, the village below which we camp
on Day 01. Day 02 begins with several Class 3 rapids after
which we flow into a gorge where we tackle the Lone Ranger,
Three Musketeers, and the Roaring Bagni. We reach our campsite
near Atal for the night, covering approx. 20 kms.
Below Atal, we paddle through a long gorge where we hear ample
chatter of monkeys and the call of cuckoos. The land takes
a more gentle and tropical rhythm from the upper, more alpine,
valley near the base camp. Palm trees grow at the edge of
cliffs and their roots drop 80 ft into the nourishing water
of the Tons.
The gorge opens out at the bridge near Minus and the river
flows gently for the next 7 kms till we reach Major Surprise,
the biggest rapid on the trip. Major Surprise is followed
by a series of big rapids before the river flattens out again
near the dam at Icchari. The river section till Major Surprise
is about 25 kms and depending on whether it’s a portage
of not, and the time at hand, we either camp there or continue
to reach Icchari.
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