Heres the Tatlow section from my movie Cascadia.

And heres a couple grainy pics from this weekend.

See you up there for another lap.

C.

Hopeful scouting.

July 4th, 2008.
Since the bulk of our kayaking season is spent boating in the rain and/or snow here on the west side of the Cascades, many of us look forward to small outings in the hot, arid canyons of the east Cascades. Sunshine, sweet camping and the wonderful scent of pine forests creates a relaxing atmosphere in which to savor the mix of fast clear water in steep, granite-filled canyons.

After a few trips to run the usual Icicle, Lil’ Wen. and the ’snatchee I was getting the itch to check out something new, so, - still wanting to escape the wet-side - I looked to some possibilities of some east-side hike-in options that seem to escape most peoples radars.

With Justin Tatosian just in from Wyoming, he and Andrew Oberhart were up in B’ham, ande we were using some of their vacation time lapping Clearwater when we hatched the plan to make the 6 hr drive to check out this new section of creek that we had scouted on a previous mountain bike ride.

We started out the trip heading east on Highway 20. Most of the time when driving this stretch of road the conversation starts to flow to the de-watered section of the Skagit river. This amazing canyon - and one can only imagine what the canyons above it looked like before the dams filled them in - has been dewatered since some time around 1920. Of all the trips we collectively had taken across the pass we had never once seen water flowing down this riverbed, this was our lucky day.

Definitely lots water and lots of gradient.

We stopped in a few spots to scout and consider if this section would be worth running at these flows. Almost immediately we were sure that putting on was not going to happen. What looked to be between 5 and 10 thousand cfs was raging through the canyon creating some impressive almost unrunnable rapids. We enjoyed scaring ourselves for awhile but the light was waning and we had a few hours drive left ahead of us.

1st half of one of the decent looking rapids.

Second half of the same rapid.

I know what you’re thinking…I thought it too.

The next morning after a quick breakfast we headed for the trailhead to get started on our 4 mile hike. The trail was in good shape and we made good time getting to the put-in. It seems like the first hike of the year is always the worst; your pack isn’t dialed, you carry too much stuff, and you generally just don’t remember how bad it can hurt.

Ryan Bradley looking a bit uncomfortable. Andrew O. photo.

Anyway, we arrived at the put-in around noon and after a quick lunch we dropped in. The creek took off through some class 3 and 4, then almost immediately we encountered a tall looking rapid with a bunch of wood at the top. After quick scout by Andrew and a few hand signals we had a great line through the twisty, ledgy rapid. Below this the creek just kept on cruising through unceasing class 3-4 with tons of blind-corners, small eddies and the occasional 4+ drop.

On the hike up you have the chance to scout the crux mini-canyon with a few stout drops and a waterfall. At first glance the falls looks like a perfect 15′ catwalk type slide with a fun 8′ ledge above it, but, when we got there, and upon closer inspection it tuned out the ledge was beefy, and there was a bad piece of wood just below it. To make matters worse if you didn’t style the first ledge you would have a hard time making it to the left side of the waterfall where the only semi-acceptable line was, acceptable only if you were O.K. with the possibility of falling off the slide and getting an unpleasant stuffing into the undercut below the slide/catwalk. We opted for the pain in the ass portage on the wrong side of the river. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Andrew scouting.

This boof incited feelings of joy for Andrew…

Justin Tatosian on a fun ledge drop.

Ryan scouting the big hole.

Justin about to fly on the great cross-current boof.

Chris from below. Andrew O. Photo.

Just downstream of this mini gorge is one more walled-in series of ledges. The first ledge is full of wood, the second is an 8′ river wide ledge with a BIG boof but an even BIGGER hole. Just below the ledge is the sweetest cross-current boof into an eddy, super clean. After the mini-gorge we were fired up for some more fun rapids, unfortunately we had used up our gradient, and thus only had one more long, fast, 4+ rapid before our take-out at camp.

Cayoosh worn out from a 15 mile bike ride.

Our aim was to go to the Gold River area and explore a few rivers that had, or hadn’t been paddled before. Either way, when we awoke in the morning and started our search for a put-in, we knew that the days would be nothing short of epic.

The camping was easy and pleasing.

Bryan S. starting the day off right. Pamela creek.

After a bit of mank came this fun slide just above a double-falls. Shane R. Pamela creek.

Shertzl stomping out the first of the double-falls. Pamela creek.

Togg G. I think this is the rapid we named “Tommy Lee.”

After “Tommy Lee,” the difficulty eases up to boogie water all the way to the confluence with the Ucona. Just downstream of the confluence we entered a nice canyon with a few fun class 4 rapids untill we arrived at a horizon line.

Let me just say that I love the feel of paddling across a pool, the river all slack and lazy due to some impediment in the river bed, and looking ahead to see nothing but the tops of trees, sky, and maybe some rock. Throw in a log chocked 30 ft in the air and I know why I love the N.W.

So I took a picture.

Bryan from below.

Just below this falls was another fun, stress free falls with a sweet spot that was tricky to line-up for.

Jakub D. boofing the lower of the 2 falls on the Ucona.

Todd. The sweet spot.

Shertzl. U.T.R.

Our stratagem at this point was to paddle the next 4 or 5 km through a lower canyon which we were unsure wether it had ever been run. Most of the group decided that 5 o’clock in the evening was too late to start a exploratory run down a steep, remote, canyon in the heart of bear country. They could not be cajoled, and so a decision was made to leave our boats for the night, paddle the canyon the next day. To be more efficient half of us would hike to fetch the truck at the put-in and the other half were to spend some time hiking downstream for a scout to see what the canyon looked like. Heres how the scouting went:

No scary, class 5 canyons here.

View from camp that night.

Ryan B. finds a clean boof in a dirty rapid.

The next morning as we made our way downstream the nice granite we had been sliding and boofing on the previous day disappeared and some gnarly, sketchy, rock took its place.

We had to get creative to find routes through this.

Big and clean. Bryan stomping it.

From upstream it didnt look like we would make it past this rapid with out going way up and around. Fortunately it turned out to be good. Shane R.

After the rapid with the chock rock the river found its gradient and took off through a total P.O.S. jumble. We portaged -for about 2 or more hours- right down to the take-out basically. All in all the canyon was pretty but the rapids weren’t that clean and portages were to long for me to return.

After the long day on the Lower Ucona we came up plan to paddle the Gold River Trifecta: The Gold river, the Upana, and the Heber. All in one day. This was a pretty audacious goal considering the Gold had only been run once before, and the beta came in the typical B.C. form: “Nice canyon mostly class 4 with a couple 5’s.”

Entrance rapid into the canyon. The must-make eddy is at the top on river left.
The first half hour was fun, boogie class 3-4 until we round a corner and are faced with box canyon and high-speed, wavy, hole filled rapid leading in to it. It was the absolute typical ” Round the corner and barely catch the last eddie,” kinda scene, complete with a micro-pulsing eddy. After a long scout we decided to portage the rapid in the canyon and put-in below it. However the “put-back-in options” sucked.

Option 1: Sketchy seal launch to pinch rapid.

Option 2: 30ft + Chuck-n-Huck.

Decent rapids in the middle of the short canyon. Bryan.

Then a big one at the end of the canyon that was difficult to scout and portage. Those who portaged had to do another 20+ Chuck-n-Huck. Those that ran it made it through but not in style.

We spent most of our day dorking around on the Gold river and knew we weren’t going to complete the trifecta. We were OK with that but we wanted to paddle the Upana since Jakub knew it and it was only 2 km long with a sweet 8 meter falls in the middle. We quickly ran shuttle and made the 10 minute drive from the Gold take-out to the Upana put-in.

The Upana started out manky, then slammed into a canyon and got interesting. We didn’t take alot of pictures here, just the best rapid at the end and the falls.

Todd droppin’ the falls.

And Mr. Bradley.

Todd flyin’ on the super sick sideways boof!

And Bryan.

We go where eagles dare.

Van. Island is absolutely an amazing destination for remote, beautiful whitewater. I’ll be back every year.

The Rio Jondachi is one of the classic Ecuadorian rivers. In fact, it’s not uncommon for boaters staying in the the town Tena to do nothing but the Jondachi for days on end. This phenomenon is partially due to the fact that it is a friendly class 4-5 run with a bus shuttle right from town. The main reason is, of course, the character of the river. Nowhere else in the surrounding area is there the same mix of gradient, granite boulders, and jungle scenery, which is what really makes it the classic it is.

The first month down here I found myself too busy for a chance on the Jondachi, but finally my day came in December.

With a typical boater start, we were on the bus by 11 o-clock in the morning. I was a bit nervous, as Hilary and I had never paddled the Jondachi and were in playboats, Logan, our guide, hadn’t paddled it since the year before, and that on top of a late start, changes in the river since last year and the notorious afternoon flash floods kept the tensions high.

As the bus drove over the take-out bridge our glimpse of the creek revealed the flow to be just about perfect ¨Sweet, I thought, as long as it doesn’t flood on us and nothing goes wrong, we’re set.¨

The bus dropped us off on the side of the road and we began to suit up for the 20 minute muddy shlog to the put-in. In the future we would play a game on the way to the put-in where the 1st person to fall had to buy beers for everyone, if another person fell they would split the cost, etc..

Jondachi hike in.

Arriving at the river at 2 o clock, we all quickly made the decision to skip the 1st half of the 1st rapid below the bridge and get moving.

Immediately we found ourselves in some great class 4ish rapids with great technical moves. Logan was doing a great job remembering the rapids, though we did have one close call where Logan went under a small log that was just above the water. Logan lost his paddle and went over the ledge nearly upside down, handrolled and got his paddle back before the next drop, luckily. I bought a saw and took care of the tree the next time we were on the Jondachi; it’s a really fun boof now.

The rapid known as ¨Sideways boof.

We worked our way through the crux half mile with a few quick scouts, and a sneak past the undercut-hole combo known as ¨Sticky-fingers.¨

In the crux zone now!

The rapids mellowed out a bit, but, they never stopped coming; this run is stacked with rapids and even when they are not difficult you still can’t always see around the large boulders to know if the rest of the rapid is free of wood or not.

At around 4:30 we made it to the 1st portage, known as ¨Tres Huevos (3 eggs)¨. This year, Tres Huevos had a log in the entrance ledge, making it a difficult move to stick; the out-come of an un-stuck line was to be flushed toward a sieve-crack between 2 of the 3 ¨Eggs¨ with only one chance to catch a eddy above it. This is also near the halfway mark, and with dark coming around 6 o- clock everyday it also meant we needed to start boogieing.

Rail grabs still rule.

Hilary coming thru.

Theres scenery like this in every eddy.

About 20 minutes downstream was ¨Typhoid falls,¨ which had a sneak-portage line down the right. From Typhoid falls down, the river eases up to class 3 plus boogie water with a few decent rapids thrown in here or there. We made good time through here but still ended up at the take-out bridge at 6 o-clock. Close one.

Lucky for us, a bus came by immediately. Hilary passed boats up to Logan and I, and as we were working on tying the boats down to the top of the bus, the driver must have gotten antsy and started to drive off. With no other option, we finished tying down the boats and sat on top of the bus for the hour long ride back to Tena. It was a beautiful sunset that night and we had the best seats from which to view it from.

The ride home…

kayakers on the lower Jondachi.

Here’s a couple images from Feliz Año Nuevo (New Years). The local custom is to make a doll of straw and dress it up with masks and clothing to characterize the change, or habit, you hope to make or see in the new year. Then you burn it!

Decorating…

Dousing…

Burning.

During another week off Hilary and I had a chance to hook up with Pat from the Wesnatchee zone and Marco from B.C. They had a couple of weeks of vacation and were looking to get after it. After a couple laps on the Jondachi and a ridiculously long 28 mile day on the Rio Hollin, we headed back to the Quijos drainage and fired up the Papallacta, a major trib of the Quijos.

The Papallacta is a steep small creek that is roadside if you don’t mind hiking up 1000 ft from the river to the road. The creek starts off mellow enough for a half mile before dropping into a mile long gorge full of twisting ledges, menacing holes, and very few eddies; all of this makes up the crux of the run.

Stopping for some media.

The rest of the run eases up a bit, but continued to challenge us with some complex boulder gardens that had super classic boof moves interspersed with must-make moves. A sick boof into the Rio Quijos marks the end of this run.

Brian killing it.

Another classic run we hit up was the Rio Oyacachi. The Oyacachi has a great multiday upper section that rarely ever gets done. Most boaters head to the put-in 8 miles up from its confluence with the Quijos where the Oyacachi immediately tilts downhill and into high gear, sliding around, over, and sometimes under a streambed of medium-sized boulders.

Hilary in the maelstrom.

When the Oyacachi is running high it is an unstoppable maelstrom of monster hole after monster hole with tight twisting lines between them. It F&$! rules. Highly recommended.

Yup thats a ¨Y¨ boat.

In January the Ecuadorian Rivers Institute holds the annual Napo Fest. This festival is to raise awareness for the Napo river and its tributaries. The main issues of awareness are pollution of garbage, fecal matter, and rising sediment levels due to in-river quarries.

Pat on a Rio Napo tributary. Land of Giants, Rio Misahualli

The festival started in Tena on Friday night with some music and dancing in the town square. On Saturday the festival moved down to Puerto Misahualli for a day full of river games. Lets see, there were free kayaks for kids to play with, which was probably the most popular activity all day. There were also a handful of competitions: raft races, balsa wood boat building race, kayak sprint and of course a rodeo, which was won once again by Jaime, a Tena local who has been winning the rodeo for the past few years. The evening held a candlelight vigil and local indigenous dancing.

Locals on a balsa wood raft.

Chillin in Ahuano.

On the 3rd day anybody who could find something to float on was invited to join the mass flotilla from Puerto Misahualli to Ahuano. In Ahuano there was painting for the children and more local indigenous dancing. All in all it was a great weekend: lots of fun to see the locals so excited about the preservation of their river, and I think they just like a reason to party too.

Don, Darcy, Hilary, and I spent a few days doing some paddling on the Rio Coca and its tributaries. The Coca is amazing remote overnight jungle run with some of the grandest scenery I experienced in Ecuador. A quick look at a topo map will show you the run is in the deepest canyon of the Rio Coca and every part of it is an adventure. First you have a 1.5 hour hike in with a quick side trip to look down into the craziest chasm I’ve ever seen: the whole river (and when I say river I mean like 20-30,000 cfs) gets squeezed down into a chasm 4-500 feet deep and only 10-20 feet wide. It is an amazing scene, and you put in right at the bottom of it.

A really big river in a really small canyon.

The Coca put-in. Above here the river is called the Quijos.

Below the put-in is 4 hours of huge water read-n-run class 4-4plus in a sick canyon. Besides the canyon and the whitewater, this river corridor is infested with tons of monkeys, birds, and other random jungle dwellers.

Hilary floating out of the Coca canyon.

Big water surfing.

Heres a few other random pics from our travels:

This is what happens to you when boating in the jungle of Ecuador.

Chichi monkeys. I would make that face too if I had that much banana to eat.

This is what happens when kayakers have to play with rafts.

Well, that’s it for the Ecuador updates for this spring. Sometime this fall I will post video of the rivers and surrounding area.

Hasta luego.

This is kayaking in Ecuador.

Boaters on the last half of “Kinda worthy,” Upper Rio Misahualli.

Of the 30 some odd days we’ve been here, we have paddled 26 days on 12 different rivers and numerous different sections of whitewater on the Rio Quijos and Rio Misahualli.

Upper Rio Misahualli.

More upper Rio Misahualli.

Every new section of river has been really top notch, its amazing that there can be so many miles of good whitewater in such a small area. Some are better than others, of course, or maybe I am just a sucker for warm water and huge granite boulders, I dunno.

Ecuador has nearly every conceivable type of boating we could want: from large volume rivers with dynamic surf waves and huge holes (biggest I have ever seen), to small volume steep creeks with tons of sick boofs off smooth granite boulders, and when most of the runs are a continuous 6-8 miles long (many are longer) you get your money’s worth.

Hilary at the lower Rio Misahualli put-in. Tena.

Big water on the lower Rio Misahualli.

The lower Rio Misahualli portage.

So far some of the highlights of our trip have been the Rio Cosanga: Damn good continuous, fun, class 4 rapids, clear water and amazing scenery. Also the Rio Piatua. Just last year a road was put in next to the river, making this run accessible for the first time. This little gem has a very pristine watershed and granite strewn everywhere. I am sure when people start running this more it will become a classic.

Rio Piatua.

Don Beveridge, boater extraordinaire.

Hilary. The Rio Piatua.

Darcy and Hilary somewhere in the land of 2-5 foot boofs.

The upper and lower Rio Jondachi are arguably the most scenic runs in the area. The upper Jondachi has over 80 rapids in six miles, not to mention countless great boofs. Photos coming soon…

No other river in the area has as many quality, navigable river miles as the Rio Quijos. A kayaker could put on the Rio Quijos and paddle over a hundred miles of river with only one portage around San Rafael falls (not an easy portage…).

San Rafael falls.

Even with another month of so of boating down here ahead of us, we are already thinking of coming back next year, and the next…

Me enjoying time at Cabañas Tres Rios.

If you are interested in planing a boating trip to Ecuador, there are a few different ways to do it. One would be to sign up for a guided trip with Small World Adventures. Larry, Don, and Darcy know their sh$&”!$% and offer up a very affordable way to experience boating here. Let them deal with the complicated logistics while you enjoy the boating and the first class accommodations at Cabañas Tres Rios.

That said If you are interested in a DIY trip pick up a guide book and learn some Spanish. Also try to bring a boat down and plan on selling it before you leave, at 15-20 bucks a day boat rental adds up fast.

Some of the many shuttle scenarios:

Right now (Nov-Mar) is the best time to be boating in Ecuador. In just the last week, boaters from all over the world have been showing up and getting on it.

Hasta luego.

Randal Reinders early on during the 1st lap.

Some reasons we are so obsessed: Almost 300fpm for 2 miles, bedrock ledges and boulder gardens, 35 rapids, 22 good boofs (yes, you are reading that right), 17 minute laps, no portages, and some of best pac-nw beers only 15 minutes away at the North Fork brewery.

Ryan Bradley finesses his way into the Slippery Slit

Clearwater creek runs a lot, but, because of how flashy it is you rarely get more than a 6 hour window of time to get in as many laps as possible, and consider yourself lucky if the flows happen during daylight hours. During the spring melt however, you can sometimes get a full day of pure boating bliss.

Randal Reinders on boof #17. Rapid: Bark-no-bite.

This is one of those runs where it really pays off to have someone guide you down. I have seen groups of people take 3 or more hours to get down this run on their own, so get ahold of a local and buy them some beer for showing you around.

The boys at the take-out of lap one.

Look for rain event flows of 1100-1600 cfs and spring runoff flows of around 900-1400 cfs. If you come up and things are too low, drive up the road a bit further and put on the Upper and Lower Middle Fork runs. If flows are too high, you can head to the NF Nooksack for laps on the Horseshoe Bend section.