Namangosa Gorge overnighter, Ecuador

A yellow pick up truck just dropped us off on the rocky riverbeds of Rio Upano, just below the car bridge to Macas. The capital of the province Moran- Santiago, Macas sits on the west side of the Amazon basin and at the feet of the Andes Mountain range.

Tucker and Gonzo are two friendly guys from Montana, USA. Meeting both of them in Ecuador a month ago we now plan to paddle the Rio Upano. The goal is to paddle from the car bridge spanning the river in Macas to a unknown landmark called the Puente (bridge) Yucuiantza some 80-90 km down river. Our kayaks are loaded with overnighter gear and enough food to last us 4 days. The hope is we enter the Namangosa Gorge on the third day to experience the “river of the holy waterfalls.”

A few days before our launch, a Google session revealed an article proclaiming the Namangosa Gorge and the Upano one of the greatest overnight river trips in the world. The Rio Upano itself flows for hundreds of Kilometers deep into the jungles of Ecuador and Peru. Running steep and constantly replenishing from the many side creeks and cascading waterfalls entering the valley, the river  is a significant tributary to the Amazon river.

With no trace of doubt, we enter the put-in day excited.  We walk our heavy kayaks to the water and put on. The first couple kilometers reveal a very uninspiring valley. Then suddenly like an entrance to a park, the flora and fauna deepened and river suddenly becomes an almost magically beautiful jungle scene. Little huts where the local people lead simple and happy lives scatter the banks. The whitewater proves relatively easy but the waves big. Perfect to get used to our loaded kayaks. We pass a few bridges and slowly the jungle starts closing in from both sides. The walls get bigger and we paddle a few more gorges.

In the afternoon we find a great beach for camping. On a small fire we cook noodles. Around 18.30 there is not much daylight left, the rapid darkness brings the stars to life. While our day ends, the jungle is just waking up. Its makes you aware that your not alone. With the hot temperatures forcing us to sleep out of our sacks we sleep laying on their ground protected by only our skins and bug repellent.  We pray only that the insects, snakes, mosquitoes’ and tarantula spiders leave us alone. The night closes with the sights and the sounds of the jungle.

The next day a combination of morning sun and swarms of sand flies wake us to the colors of the jungle. Inspired by the flies and their gringo meals, we settle into our own breakfast and morning routine.  It’s no long before we lazily, but with efficiency, cram the kayaks with gear and continue down river.

The loaded boats feel less heavy today, maybe we are getting used to them.  Due to the many side creeks the Upano continues to rise. And with the rivers growth so do the rapids grow. We spend much of the morning enjoying endless wave trains. Soon however, the water begins to darken. The now deep brown river also seems to be collecting more and more driftwood. Uneasy, we check the current water level with some fishermen on shore. They inform us that the river is indeed rising but still is a low to medium level. Every river in this region comes out in Rio Upano, it has a huge drainage. For a river that runs on 20.000 cfs (cubic feet per second) it’s quite hard to develop an eye for the constantly changing water levels. This “roll of the dice” guessing on CFS is hard to swallow. Three days before, our research of the gorge also found that a successfully run was only advisable at low flows. So naturally a desire to know the unknown became a priority.

A bit later we reach a beach where a crowed catches our attention. A group of locals have gathered around a very colorful and long snake. The snake is hurled around the circle with a stick like some sort of game. The kids jump up laughing just before it lands on their feet. We reluctantly come closer but soon the 10–15 locals move their attention from snake to gringo. They begin asking us all kinds of questions and show great interests in our kayaks. We ask a few kids if they want to give the boats a whirl, they look at us with great fear and respond with a quick “no gracias.” They explain the dangers that live in the water and school us in the lore of the Anaconda. They explain that lurking in Upano are the biggest snakes on earth.  In Tucker’s words, “Giant tubes of muscle.” In the local’s words, “Man Eaters.” We didn’t want to know anymore and air on the side of ignorance. We continue paddling and try to abandon our newly intensified Anaconda thoughts.

In the afternoon we arrive at a bridge called Patuca. This is the last take out before entering the committing big volume class IV canyon: The Namangosa Gorge. It’s late in the afternoon, the water is dark brown, the sky is turning black, the water level will double immediately after the bridge and we have no clue how to interpret water levels. We sleep first and tomorrow decide to enter the gorge.

After a dry night, the river has dropped a few meters, we put in at the Patuca Bridge to enjoy the big water fun in the canyon. Shortly after shoving off we disappear into a massive canyon. Hugged on both sides by 400-meter high walls we play in the rivers massive wave trains. Paddling through such an immense canyon intimidates yet astounds. Waterfalls pour into the canyon, cascading and tumbling from the highest reaches of what the eye can see. Colorful parrots fly out of the thick vegetation and soaring overhead. The Upano holds an untouched ancient beauty.  

We paddle deeper into the canyon. Less then an hour in we reach a boulder choked section and the beginning of the big rapids. The river disappears into multiple steep chutes and churns violently. A quick scout reveals a straight forward rapid, go for the thongs and avoid massive holes. The nature of the rapids stays consistent: house sized rocks choking the river, boat eating holes and swirly water. Frequently I see Tucker and Gonzo battling with the massive boils and eddy lines. These messes of water prove to be the Upano’s biggest challenge. The thought of being in this canyon with high water is a very scary one. We keep moving, paddle hard and anticipate the rivers movements. Ultimately, the Waltz with the Upano subdues all of us with joy.

After a couple of hours the river flattens out and slowly the canyon opens. We float towards the take out at Puente Yucuiantza soaking up the remaining bit of canyon.  What a great run, and as for a few spiders and sand fly bites we are very thankful not to have met the great Anaconda.

Maud
Thanks to Tucker and Gonzo

Switzerland, Viamala Gorge to Thusis

Its a cold sundaymorning in April and when I have a glimp out of the window, I see the small Swiss village 'Versam'  getting covered in snow. My mobile phone rings: three Belgian paddlers wants to go paddling. And for unknown  reasons they try to convince me to leave my warm house and come along. Which river...where water... I think about a short and scenic paddle and the Viamala pops up in my mind. Four years ago I paddled down this gorge and realy enjoyed this so I called Toro Rogenmoser to double check waterlevels. He gets enhousiastic and explains that 'now' is the time to paddle the Viamala schlucht all the way to Thusis. This stretch of great whitewater normally lays dry for most of the year.

The idea of paddling Viamala schlucht also motivated him to come along with us and 2 hours later we are finding ourselfs following Toro down a steep gully to get down to the river. Toro It's a great experiece to be down in this gorge, looking up, surrounded by 50 meters steep walls. This run has a nice warm up section with small rapids and little boofs. After a 4 meter wier the more steep and technical part of the section starts. The gorge is getting more narrow and a five meter slide appairs. Toro explains all the lines and moves, therefore we kept on moving without getting to cold. It was a one of the best rivers I have done in this area so far. What a great day.

Colombia, Rio Caqueta 2011

After a 15 hour busride from Quito in Equador we pass the south Colombian border. We obtain a tourist visa for three months and a nice stamp in our passport. We continue traveling to a place called Pasto. Here they celerbrate Carnaval. My first day in Colombia was one of party and dancing unfortunately I ended up in the back of a police van, due to a small incident (in)directly caused by a strong liquer called Aquardiente, which the friendly Colombians like to offer you (non-stop) and I drank to much of. Luckly my friend knew the Colombian ways and paid around 20 pound to the police and we were on free foot again followed by the biggest hangover in my personal history.

Welcome to Colombia!!!!

In Pasto I met up with two American kayakers and we paddled rivers in the south of Colombia also known as the wild west of Colombia, where still a big part of the land get ruled by the Fark and paramilitairen. But the friendly Colombians and the police are very well informed about the safety in the different areas, so its not very dificult to find out were to go, and were not!

David, Mark Hentze and me did a first kayak descent of the lower Rio Caqueta near a place called Macoa in the province of Putumayo. We gathered information about this river by looking at google earth maps and talking to locals, but had no idea what to expect. Since this was the main river for transportation of essential liquids for the cocaine laps further south, we expected a class III. Although we got informed by locals that in the past some of the smugglers didnt survive the trip and drowned.

The rivers drops 240 m drops in around 50 km, the locals advised us to run the river in one day and not to sleep in the gorge since the area is on the border of Fark teratory. So the next day we started at 7.00  at a place called the bridge of Caqueta. After a 30 minute paddle a local farmer insisted that we should go back because we all would drown. We continued paddling and the brown river floated in a beautifull big gorge with pretty waterfalls dropping in from the sides. The first big rapid surprised us: it was big!!! a long bouldergarden, followed by numerous big class IV plus rapids. This pool drop style river was amazing and we were enjoying beeing in the gorge and experiencing this great trip. Most rapids were runnable but we realized early on we wouldnt make the 50 km in one day.

After paddling for 6 hour a big tribotairy got in we encountered a class V rapid which in the end the whole river disapaired under 3 gigant boulders. During the portage we saw a green army tent and we decided to cross the river and portage on the other side just and tried not get seen, better safe than sorry. Eventually the portage took us around 3 hours and we continued for and hour more or so. It was getting dark in less than an hour so we found a beach, which was only reachable by kayak inbetween 2 big rapids and made a campfire, eat some food and got the emergency blankets out. It was a warm night and sleeping in this canyon was a great experience although sligtly uncomfortable sleeping on a drybag as matteress and a stone functioning as pillow.

The next day we did another 30 km and the rapids got easyer towards the end and the gorge started to open up. By now the river was extremely wide and we were floating towards our take out, a place called Puerto Limon. We got welcomed by friendly kids and locals and drank a few beers enjoying the streetlife of Puerto Limon and eventually found a little truck which brought us back to Mocoa.

What a stunning run, the best kayak trip in my life!!!
With just one more conclusion; those young Colombians who smoggled the liquids in 5 galls cans must have been totally crazy!!!

Switzerland, Valserrhein 2011

Were in Switzerland, Graubunden, it's Oktober and we are lucky, the sun is shining and many rivers are running again, so Lieke and I decided to run the Valserrhein; my favorite run of the season.

From Ilanz you drive into the direction of a town called Vals. The Valserrhein is an amazing gorge; an amazing creek which has three portage's. We quickly realized we had a real nice water level and it was a delight to run nice clean lines down the little drops and rapids of the this steep river.

At the putt in the riverbanks were still covered in snow. Wearing a double set of thermals under our dry suits and the presence of the warm autumn sun made us feel and warm and comfortable. Fairly easy we arrived at the first 'cave' portage, here you have to climb through a tight hole in a rock, followed by a Himalaya start back in the river.  Running the class V-VI rapid instead didn’t appeal to us, we leave this drop to the brave boys.....

After the first ‘cave’ portage the nicest rapids of the Valserrhein are following, clean lines, little drops, boofs, auto-boofs. We are enjoying every minute of our trip in this stunning gorge in autum. The second portage is a long rapid that ends in an undercut with a log jam. Portaging here is hard work; struggling on the rocky banks, pulling our kayak over the big rocks and fallen trees. It was time for the girls to make a chocolate break.

The third part of the run is a bit easier, still nice moves to make and more time to enjoy the scenery. I always look forwards to the little drop towards the end of this section. Then a big horizon line apears. This15 meter waterfall lands on rocks, and is the third portage. With a 20 meter long rope we lower the kayaks down the cliff of the drop and run the last part of the Valserrhein. A set of real friendly and enjoyable drops. Around 15.00 (3pm) we arrive at the take -out, a great day, good fun, nice water level, good lines, stunning.

What a great autumn paddle.




 

Colombia, Mocoa, 2012

Hiking to the putt in of Rio Mocoa

Ater 2 months in Ecuador its time to go to Colombia. After the New Years Party and a day of recovering the mission is to travel to a town called Mocoa in the province of Putumayo, just north of the Ecuadorian border.  This town lays in the Amazon of the Andes mountains.  Putumayo is still considered “El Corazón” or the heart of the guerrilla territory, but in recent years security has improved around Mocoa.

First descent of the upper part of Rio Mocoa

It looked like there are a lot of rivers coming together, when we studied  'Goodle Earth' and a map of the area.  The idea is to paddle a few nice rivers in this area before they flow into the big Amazon Basin where the water gets calm and flat and many areas are still controlled by the guerrillas which are not considered safe for traveling.  The Andes Mountains abruptly rise to over 4000 meters just behind Mocoa, and they are covered by thick cloud forest and jungle vegetation.

First kayak descent of Rio Pepino

Ater 2 months in Ecuador its time to go to Colombia. After the New Years Party and a day of recovering the mission is to travel to a town called Mocoa in the province of Putumayo, just north of the Ecuadorian border.  This town lays in the Amazon of the Andes mountains.  Putumayo is still considered “El Corazón” or the heart of the guerrilla territory, but in recent years security has improved around Mocoa.

Rio Mocoa to Puente metallico

It looked like there are a lot of rivers coming together, when we studied  'Goodle Earth' and a map of the area.The idea is to explore and paddle nice rivers in this area before they flow into the big Amazon Basin where the water gets calm and flat and many areas are still controlled by the guerrillas which are not considered safe for traveling.  The Andes Mountains abruptly rise to over 4000 meters just behind Mocoa, and they are covered by thick cloud forest and jungle vegetation.

Rio Mocoa, lower part

The first river we paddled is the  Rio Pepino, this river drops around 40 meter per kilometer. What a great run, clean water, technical, awesome scenery, fastflowing, enjoyable boofs and a bar at the take out where we enjoyed a fresh beer with the local police. The next 5 days we ran different stretches and rivers in the area. And were getting more and more excited. Transport to and from the rivers is pretty easy to organise.

Rio Mocoa counts 2 nice runs: the start is a bit more technical and fast then the river calms down a bit when it flows alongside the town of Mocoa and and due to a few tributaries towards the bottom gets into a big water run through a stunning gorge. There is even an upper part on rio Mocoa where the river flows through a tight gorge, looks good on the maps but we haven't managed paddle this part yet.

Rio Rumiyaco

I took a few resting days due to stomach problems, the rivers here are great but the food slightly disapointing.  The boys paddled to upper Rio Villalobos in a 2 day trip. This river is a nice creek which at the start looks like its going to lack water but after entering the canyon the boys found some nice class IV rapids and beautifull scenery.

They camped on the river bed. The  second day they started  again with few bonny class III rapids, but after  the canyon walls tightened the river got steeper and offered great class IV+ whitewater in stunning rainforest scenery.

Last year in January, Mark Hentze, David Kashinski and myself paddled the Rio Caquetá. The only beta we had was a quick look at Google Earth and information from the locals. We paddled from the bridge on the main highway from Bogotá to Mocoa just 30 minutes from Mocoa and got out at a village called Puerto Límon. The canyon has stunning whitewater and nature to offer, plus a big volume pool-drop. The steep canyon drops 300 meters in 50 kilometers, many big class IV-V+ rapids.

This year we didn't paddle this gorge due to high water and maybe due to security issues it just did not feel right. Some of the locals say it is safe but others say the guerrillas still are active in this area. Besides the classic whitewater that this region has to offer, Rio Caquetá gives me one more reason to come back to Mocoa,  pronto.

Ecuador 2011

 
Ecuador November 2011

At the start of November the flight company Ibera brought me and my Mystic Blisstic kayak back to South America. And it feels absolutely to be back in Latin America, Im excited when my passport got stamped whilst entering Equador. Whilst waiting for my bags and kayak I was asking a guy if he wanted to share a taxi to Quito centre with me. His response: ´Yes no problem, I just have to wait for a big piece of sports equipment, a kayak´. Was this a coincedence?

Rio Jondachi- Hollin

Tom is a kayaker from France, and within a few hours his French mates are arriving as well. Let the French invastion start.....
So the trip started  funny, we loaded the kayaks on top and in the taxi, squeezed in between our gear and went straight to a cheap hostel to dump the stuff and go for a Pilsener beer. There is only one way to start a good kayak trip in South America, this is beer in the Karaoke bar.

Rio Upper Jondachi

After a horrible night in a cheap backpacker hostel I went straight to Baeza, a small village in one of the best kayaking areas in Equador: Quichos Valley. That same night I met some kayakers and the next day we paddle a section called Bridge1 to Borga. Awesome to be back on the Equadorian rivers again. Waterlevels have been great this year, its almost raining every night, which realy tops up the rivers. We have been doing some awesome trips on the Quichos and its side creeks. The quichos valley has it all, steep creeks like the Papayacta to big water paddling near San Rafael falls.

Watefall on Rio Hollin

After a week of paddling with the Frenchies, Swiss, Australian and Equadorian paddlers in the Quichos valley its time to meet some friends in Tena, a bit more salsa and paddle more warm water jungley rivers. One of our runs on the Rio Piatua didnt go totally as expected and we were forced to spend the night sleeping in the middle of the run at the riverbanks. This forced overnighter eventually ended in a very simple but enjoyable overnighter trip. There's worst places to sleep with your paddling buddies, than next to an awesome river in the jungle. It was fantastic.

Life is pretty good, the next 10 days I will be working for a German company who runs guided kayaking trips in Equador. Ama la vida. 

Overnighter on rio Piatua

Rio Quichos, Cheesehouse