For the first 5km to Running Stream Creek the river passes through wooded grazing country and may be crossed by fences. The riverbed in this stretch is mainly made up of boulders large and small forming Immense block-ups which necessitate an almost continuous portage of about 3km. Fallen trees may also present problems. For the next 29km there are many shorter portages as the water cuts a narrow groove along a wide, dry, sandy, riverbed. In the "pools" between the block-ups the way is made difficult by the presence of quicksand, which in places may be thigh deep. The first reasonable campsite is at 12km with another a further kilometre on and two more at 15 and 2Okm. There are no further campsites until the confluence with the Wolgan River (at 29km) where there is an expansive site. Twelve kilometres from Glen Davis the nature of the scenery changes as a spectacular gorge is entered which runs for 64km. From the start of this stretch to Wollemi Creek (at 39km) there is prolific and beautiful vegetation and plentiful wildlife. At one stage (at 1.7km), in a distance of half a kilometre the river turns in a half circle, the cliffs forming an amphitheatre which encompasses a beautiful Blue Gum forest full of bellbirds. At 29km the Wolgan River enters on the right. This river is a major tributary and may at times carry more water than the Capertee. One kilometre past the confluence there is a large cave on the right, which makes a comfortable overnight stop in wet weather. Two kilometres past the Wolgan, Wollemi Creek enters on the left. Below this confluence the river becomes the Colo. From this point on the canoeing improves somewhat while the gorge takes on a substantially different character. The soft vegetation ceases, the valley floor widens and the whole scene takes on a drier, harsher yet still very beautiful appearance with a dearth of animal and bird life. There follows a stretch of water with many grade 3 rapids and numerous though not obvious campsites and camping caves suitable for large groups until Canoe Creek comes in on the left. The exciting 3km stretch from Pinchgut Creek (at 51 km) to Canoe Creek may take considerable time due to the tricky nature of the numerous rapids. At Canoe Creek the river makes a spectacular and extremely photogenic sharp hairpin bend. Here a track can be found which ascends up the western side of Canoe Creek to the high plateau. Downstream of Canoe Creek there are fewer good campsites and the grade of the rapids diminishes. An exception is the King Rapid (at 74.5 km) which is generally a portage best made on the left. Below this there are about 10 more good rapids and following the last rapid (at 84km) a stretch of flowing water with many sandbars leads to Upper Colo Bridge. The flow of water can be judged at Upper Colo Bridge.
 
Friends of the Colo have been running a wed control (mapping treating and monitoring) program in the colo gorge since 2000 and have made some observations about rainfall in the 4 sub catchment and its impact on the river level:Use the rainfall gauges linked to this section you will see there is a list of gauges for the Colo catchment but you also need to look at the Bilpin and Kurrajongs heights gauge on the Grose catchment so you can get an idea of how widespread the rain has been across the catchment. If you see rainfall of 30 to 40mm on most of the gauges on a day or over a couple of days the river should get above the 1.1m at Upper Colo. 1.2 metres at the Upper Colo gauge is the river flowing bank to bank i.e. covering the sand bars at upper colo. So the height above that represents how deep the water will be generally across the river. Once it gets over 1.4 the water will be flowing through some in stream vegetation and so anyone that capsizes may get tangled up in it. Above 1.5m the water starts to flow quite fast and finding a spot on the tree lined bank can be a little difficult and so people who have capsized might get tangled up in trees trying to get to the bank to empty their boat. A rough guide to how long the rain in the following gauges takes to get to upper Colo gauge is: Glen Alice          Capertee River      3 to 4 days Putty (Carpenter)   Wollemi Creek       2 to 3 days Putty Tea Rooms     Wollemi Creek       2 to 3 days Putty The Gibba     Wollemi Creek       2 to 3 days Colo Heights        Upper Colo          Same day Ben Bullen          Wolgan River        3 to 4 days Bilpin (Fern Grove) Wollangambe Creek   1 to 2 days Kurrajong Heights   Wheeney Creek       never