From Tohvri to Karuskose

Andres had recon'ed a riverside and came back with news that river at Tohvri is essentially impassable without some serious saw action. This left us only one option. All the dugouts had to be carried about a 100 meters across the moonscape that once was bottom of the artificial lake, up the steep slope, to the trailer and to the bridge about a kilometer downstream. So this is what we did after breakfast. It took us quite a bit of time and effort and when we got going we were already good 1,5 hours behind the schedule. And river did not get any easier, at least for a while. In some places it was so narrow and meandering so tightly that bigger boats had trouble cornering. Trees where everywhere. As our forward team tried to saw us through all of the group was waiting and thus stayed together.

There was zero inhabitation on the riverbanks as we were now reaching Soomaa - lowlands where rivers flowing from Sakala heights slow down and create biggest swamps in Estonia. This is also home of Estonian dugouts as annual floods and numerous rivers made such a boat an essential tool for everyone and this is how that ancient boat type survived well until the end of the 20th century. There would not be much of an inhabitation this day - except for 3-4 farmhouses here and there.

In about 3 kilometres we reached a place where Raudna and Kõpu rivers meet. We now had more water and bigger river. OK, 4-meter stream becoming a 6 meter stream does not sound like much, but it was still some progress. This also meant less obstacles, but sun now shone relentlessly and in some places we had to go against pretty strong wind. River was also slowing down, even though in some places the current was still quite good. We had a lunch at Poldi having paddled little more than 12 kilometres. Group had spread out again and only as the last boats arrived we heard that we now had losses, even if temporary. Two ladies had got a sunstroke and we had to abandon one of canoes. Another lady saved herself from said fate right there, missing the step while coming out of the boat and earning herself a pre-lunch swim. Smart move.

We still had 13 km to go until Kuusekäära bridge, where our good cook promised some food and refreshments, and then 5,5 km more until Karuskose, nice farmhouse where Aivar has a headquarter of his dugout and canoeing operations. These numbers did not create any enthusiasm. From now on obstacles were few, river slow and everyone was doing hard work at ones own pace. One attempt was made to gather us together but in the end everyone laid their hopes on Jaan coming behind and helping everyone out and so we struggled on as deadline was becoming more and more of a problem. There would be lots of people waiting for us in Karuskose and being hours late would not be a good plan.

When we finally got to Kuusekäära bridge sun was low, my back was aching (there is no back support whatsoever in a dugout), my arse was in fire, my feet were wet and burned because the boat was still leaking from some places and the enthusiasm was totally gone. I laid down and rested. Even ruhi (still older boat type compared to our 'haabjas') that was going to join us here for a test ride could not arouse any interest. All I understood was that for some reason there will be no food here. I heard some others talking about leaving. It was obvious for all of us that last boats will come with huge delay and we still had our duty to Karuskose people who were waiting for the party. So Aivar, Andres and Hannes decided to leave without delay, ruhi went with them. I guess I laid there 10 minutes or so, then finally decided that better horrible end than endless horror and decided to follow suit.

Lauri had been taking it easy for most of the day, even if he did a good job whenever we had problem with wind or in any other hard place. Now I needed him for full five and a half kilometres and so I told him. And he duly paddled. In fact he did most of the job from Kuusekäära to Karuskose. In a kilometer or so we caught ruhi. This is essentially a big treetrunk, carved empty, it looked unstable and painfully slow. I was quite happy about my so much more modern boat. Still, did not have time to ponder about technological progress in stone age, rather I was worried how they would handle some obstacles that we soon faced and which required pretty good limbo skills again.

Banks were full of beaver traces, there were many fallen trees, but especially after we reached a place were Lemmjõgi and Raudna joined the river was so wide that even the biggest trees did not pose much of a problem. Soon after we got a first taste of days to come - Suuremurru rapids was nothing dangerous, as high water level covered stones and essentially we had couple of hundred metres joyride. And right after that we got a glimpse of boats ahead. No way! We were gaining them! This gave us both a good purpose and those last two kilometers we worked with renewed strength. We lined up with them just as we reached Karuskose meadows.

Crowd was waiting. Soon a big fire was burning, there was music, dance. Sobriety test was replaced by brand-new suspension bridge that required some serious skill to use and local people had loads of fun. Most of our traveling band was tired, sunburnt and Margo had had a blackout in the very end, so we were not in a party mood. Those who tried usual "singing through the night" routine were soon attacked by gazillion mosquitoes. I do not know how this inequal fight ended as I was fast asleep and suggested that Lauri do the same. No convincing needed.