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.