Traveling Ecuador and Beyond

Dinkey Creek: The Spring Mission

2010-04-18T19:56:00.007-05:00

Last week we ran Dinkey Creek. During the summer, this might not have been such an epic adventure but in the spring, when the roads are locked in by snow and the rivers are on the rise, running Dinkey creek can turn into a mission.

After attempting to drive Stephen Wright's van to the trail head of the standard hike in, we quickly realized that the snow would simply not allow that to happen. After pushing the van up a few hills and out of a few ditches, we finally decided that it was simply not going to happen. So from there part of the group decided to start hiking. We knew we had somewhere between 5 and 15 miles to go until we reached the trail head, and chose to commit to walking there.

The team using our paddles to dig the van out of a ditch

Dragging our boats through the snow up the road

Will Pruett charging!!!

After seven or so hours of hiking about ten miles of road, we eventually we made it to the standard trail head and started working our way down the two mile trail to the river. We were tired and sore and way over carrying our boats, but we still managed to take some time to enjoy the scenery on the hike down.

Dinkey Creek!

A tributary on the hike in

Right around dusk we finally made it down to the put in of the river. We decided to set up camp there and rest up to charge the entire river the next day. Dinkey Creek is generally paddled as an overnight, but because of our late start, we would have to paddle the entire river in one day. It was awesome.

Taylor Fearrington at the Willie Kern slide

Taylor taking a moment below a big rapid under the rainbow

Me at the bottom drop of Spike

Drew Duval entering one of many big rapids

Beautiful scenery on the Dinkey Creek

Taylor going for it on a classic Dinkey rapid

Me running the bottom 20 footer

Drew in the middle of the Nikki Kelly Slide

Me entering into the meat of the Nikki Kelly Slide

Our group hiking around the water blasting out of the dam

Was it worth the hike? Hell yea!!!!

Ecuador Video

2010-03-29T08:01:00.002-05:00

Along with the photos posted below, I also wanted to share this video that Gareth put together of our time down in Ecuador.

Going South for the Winter: Working in Costa Rica, Belize and Ecuador

2010-03-28T16:22:00.012-05:00

Two trips to Costa Rica, three weeks in Belize and two weeks in Ecuador very conveniently helped me avoid most of what was considered one of the harsher winters Western NC has seen in a while. While it felt like I was always on the move and never in one place for more than a couple days, I can't really complain. From golfing for my first time in 10 years, to seeing Mayan skeletons, to spear fishing to swimming like a fish in Ecuador, it was a great winter. Check out some of my favorite photos from each trip below.

COSTA RICA

Working on some rolling at the Fischer Condo pool

Taking a day off of boating to work on our golf swings

El Rio Tenorio

El Rio Colorado

A self portrait from an early morning chill session on the beach by the condo

BELIZE

Scouting out the islands we would return to with the Wofford College group (this picture was taking after the bumpiest/scariest boat ride I've ever had)

Pat and I doing our best jaguar impressions

Chilling in hammocks in San Ignacio

Some Wofford students showing off their mad canoeing skills

Catepillars that will soon turn into beautiful blue morph butterflies

Beautiful day at the Mayan Ruins of Caracol

A pot with a Gorilla carving found in an old Mayan cave

A full skeleton of a sacrificed body found in the Mayan cave

The Wofford students tasting the fruit of chocolate tree (Cacao tree) on our farm tour

One of the farmer's many children

The Cacao beans roasting

Unloading all of our gear at Queen Key for the star of our 5 day island adventure

Looking out at the ocean from my tent door

The first morning on the islands, also the morning after the epic wind/rain storm that took out tents left and right

The students getting out in the sea kayaks

Sunset on Queen Key

Busting open some fresh Conch for dinner

A view from Pomkon key

Jono showing of his mad sea kayaking skills

Preparing our freshly caught lobster for dinner

ECUADOR

An unusually clear view of Volcan Antisana

Getting loaded in Baeza

Gareth filming, which turned out to be a pretty common scene

Taking a break to check out a sweet waterfall

Sketchy bridge

Beautiful day of the Misahualli

A peaceful breakfast in Tena

Putting on the Lower Jondachi

Nightlife in Tena

Riding motorcycles in Banos

Mmmm... Guinea Pig

Gareth and I in front of Volcan Tungurahua

Gareth finishing up our run down the Papallacta

Mexico 2009 Video

2010-03-23T15:11:00.001-05:00

Mexico 2009

California 2009 Video

2010-03-14T08:22:00.000-05:00

With California creeking season on its way once again, I thought I would share this video recently put together by Gareth from our 2009 trip. Most of the footage is from Dinkey Creek, South Merced and West Cherry. Enjoy!

Adventuras en Mexico

2009-12-17T09:57:00.003-05:00

Gareth and our fearless guide Fernando

Last month Gareth and I decided it was time to get out of the cold weather of Western NC and head south to the land of cheap tacos, warm weather and big waterfalls. We had heard nothing, but great things about Mexico (besides people scaring us about the border) and were excited to check it out for ourselves. After the long drive down to Southern Texas we decided to spend our last night stateside camped out on the beautiful beaches of South Padre.

Finding our campsite on South Padre Island, TX

After almost being arrested at the US border (Gareth decided it would be fun to set up the video camera to tape our border crossing which as it turns out is a federal offense and resulted in us being frisked, searched and the video camera almost being confiscated), we drove straight to the Micos River, outside of Valles City. The Micos is only a class 3-4 river, but totally worth doing for the fun factor of running lots of low stress waterfalls in one of the most beautiful places Ive ever seen.

After playing around in the crystal clear waters of the Micos, we headed to the Salto River, which turned out to be another one of those magical places. Lots of fun drops, super clean and super scenic. Unfortunately it is also the place where my camera stopped working. That said, the rest of the pictures from the trip are not great quality, but at least you'll get the idea...

Me at the put-in below the 60 footer on the Micos

Classic Micos Scenery

Me boofing a classic Micos drop

Gareth on the Micos

Playing behind the waterfalls of the Micos

Having a beer at the takeout of the Salto

After getting off of the Salto (and a quick stop at a sweet Taco stand), we hit the road for the town of Tlapacoyan, the launching point for running the Alseseca River. We spent two days exploring the Road-side section of the Alseseca and had a blast. The river is dirty, like the dirtiest river I have ever seen, and while that was hard to get past, the rapids definitely made up for it. There were lots of lots of clean fun drops, including one especially big rapid called "S-turn" which involves a 15 or so foot drop into a really narrow canyon. I actually decided to walk it on first inspection, but after watching Gareth fire into it it looked so much fun I carried my boat back up and fired it up!

On a whim we decided to leave Tlapacoyan before having paddled all the rivers we wanted to there in an effort to try and catch up with some other Southeast boater friends. We headed five hours South down the coast to the Rio de Oro, a run we'd heard nothing but great things about.

Gareth on the drop above "S-Turn" of the Roadside Alseseca

Gareth and Jon running "S-Turn"

A typical morning on the Costa de Oro

After camping out near the beach, we woke up early to start figuring out how we were going to get on the Oro. We knew absolutely nothing about the run besides that it had some sweet waterfalls and finished in the ocean. The only beta that we had was from a website that said to drive to this little town and ask for Pepito and that he'd show you the way to the river. At this point we hadn't found our other friends, but just knew that there was some chance they'd be there that day. After about 2 hours of cruising around the tiny town of Arroyo de Lisa, we found Pepito's parents, who took us to Pepito, we then took us to his brother Fernando, who fed us a breakfast of shrimp at his restaurant on the beach and then finally we were off to the river. We didn't fully understand what was going on, but Fernando was wearing flip flops and carrying repelling gear telling us we was going to come down the river with us.

As we were about to the start of the hike in, we heard someone honking at us and looked behind to see a truck loaded down with boats and our friends Toby, JJ, Ben and John as well as their friend Rocky. So as one big team we headed to the river with Fernando by our side.

After about a 45 minute hike in we arrived at the river. The first move of the day involved ferrying across the river above a 50 foot waterfall that has yet to be run.

Gareth checking out the waterfall at the put-in

Our man Fernando

The Rio de Oro turned out to be nothing short of spectacular. After a couple miles of beautiful, clean class 4-5 gorges the river drops off the first 30 foot waterfall. We all fired off it with reasonably good lines (I got a little worked and ended up behind the veil which was a bit scary for a moment) and headed downstream. None of us really knew what to expect, so imagine our surprise when after paddling for only a few hundred yards in a totally walled in gorge we came to our next horizon line. We were at the second clean 30-footer of the run. I was a little nervous because of my mediocre line at the first waterfall, so I took that opportunity to have a little "How to Run a 30-Footer" lesson with Toby Macdermott. Turns out he knows what he's talking about. I stuck my line beautifully.

Toby at one of the drops before the waterfall gorge

Me running the first 30-footer

Toby showing us how its done on the first 30-footer

Gareth below the second 30-footer

Besides being really clean, extremely beautiful and having two clean 30-footers on it, the next coolest thing about the Rio de Oro is that it finishes in ocean. So after finishing our run we all spent some time surfing it up in the ocean waves. Then it was time to celebrate an amazing day with fish tacos and beer on the beach. We finished off the night with a bottle of tequila camped out on the beach. Best day in Mexico ever.

The next day Toby, Gareth, John and I got up early for a sunrise lap on the Oro. It was just too good to do just once.

Gareth surfing it up on the coast

Beers and Tacos on beach

Paddling back to our campsite after our morning run of the Oro

From here the story gets less exciting... Rocky was writing a guide book and needed to do some exploratory runs. So as a group we decided to follow him along on his adventures. We basically drove all around, ran a couple class 3-4 rivers, portaged a 150 footer and then decided to drive even farther to do a multi-day on the Rio de Cajones.

It was on the second day of the Rio de Cajones that I fell while scouting a rapid and broke my hand. I grabbed a log that fell, and I fell with it, right on the backside of my left hand. I knew that it wasn't good, but at the time I wasn't thinking it was actually broken. I suffered through a few more miles of Class 4 just ruddering my way down rapids and doing my best to make it to the first bridge where I could take out. When we finally arrived at the bridge most of us decided to take out. John and I hitchhiked the shuttle back to the put in while Gareth and JJ hung out with our gear at the bridge.

Ben loading up at one of the put-ins

A local boy hanging out with us at a put-in

John waiting for a ride while hitchhiking the shuttle

A view from the back of a pick up truck on one of our rides on the Rio de Cajones shuttle

A tarantula we saw while shuttling

Once we got back to civilization after way too may hours of driving from the Rio de Cajones I got my hand x-rayed and confirmed that I fractured my index metacarpal. That was the end of paddling in Mexico for me... I spent the rest of the trip running shuttle, drinking and practicing my Spanish.

Our Mexican Thanksgiving

After about three weeks in Mexico Gareth and I were both running out of money, and with my hand broken we decided it was time to high tail it home (after a night of fresh seafood and drinking on Bourbon Street in New Orleans of course).

And in case you're wondering, I have one more week in a cast (and one week after that of "being careful") and my hand will be back in action and on the river again!

Fall Foliage on the Toxaway

2009-11-03T11:49:00.007-05:00

Gareth getting pumped for the day loading up at the take-out

Last week I checked off a new Southeastern classic from my to-do list. I had been wanting to do the Toxaway for a while, but was waiting until the right day to do it. I'd say that a late October day with sunny, 70 degree weather during peak leaf season could not have met my requirements for a perfect day any better. The level was -4" (medium-low) and the team solid.

The Toxaway fullfilled every expectation I had for it and more. Slide after slide after sweet slide we moved our way down the beautiful gorge, making sure to take the time to stop and enjoy the fall colors surrounding us.

Drew Duval at the put-in slide

Drew Duval at the bottom part of the put-in slide

Gareth scouting Energizer before firing it up

Chad Pickens in the meat of Energizer

Chris Baer entering the Feeding Trough

Gareth Tate about to launch into Landbridge

Jakub in the middle of Landbridge

Beautiful fall colors looking over the lip of Wintergreen

A spectacular view from the bottom of Wintergreen

Can't wait to go back next time it runs!

Make sure and check out the video Gareth put together from the trip below.

California Trip Report: Lower Tuolumne and West Cherry Creek

2009-06-27T16:46:00.021-05:00

Taking a "California Lunch" on the Lower Tuolumne

After picking Gareth up from the airport in Sacramento we were both fired up to get back on the water after each taking a week off. Our plan had been to head down to Cherry lake and get on Upper Cherry. Unfortunately, the weather/water did not cooperate with us and due to a heat wave, the water levels rose back up, making upper cherry out of the question, and even making West Cherry too high. So we were forced to wait it out and take another few days off the water. Gareth headed into Yosemite to hang out with some friends and I spent the weekend on the coast with my family who happened to be in town.

Following the weekend we were dying to get back on the water so with West Cherry still too high, we opted for a big water class 4 day on the Lower Tuolumne. After getting some questionable beta on the run/shuttle, we stashed our bikes at a rafting place half way down the shuttle and drove to the put-in to camp for the night. The next morning we were met by "straight charger" Tim Collins and we put on for what turned out to be a really great day on the river. Since all three of us generally opt for low volume creeking over any big water runs, it was fun to change it up a bit and bust through so huge holes opposed to the creeky verticle drops we'd been paddling for the past month. We were told it'd be really easy to hitch from the takeout to where our bikes were stashed however that turned out to be very incorrect. We almost got stuck at some sketchy bridge far from our bikes but fortunately the one rafting trip that was taking off that day finally decided not to leave us stranded and gave us a ride. Gareth and I then hopped on the bikes and rode the 10 miles down to the cars.

The next day consisted of doing our research and pulling together all the beta we could to figure out just what was going on with the water levels on the Cherries. Eventually we concluded that the water level on West Cherry was somewhere between high and good and the three of us decided to hike in the next day. Tim Collins had done the run once before and became our fearless leader for the trip, successfully navigating us to the trailhead and down the two mile mosquito fest hike to the river.

Taking a break from the hike

Tim hiking into the granite planet

Me hiking in

We arrived at the put-in earlier than expected, but instead of paddling down decided to simply enjoy our time taking in the beauty of the area. We spent the afternoon relaxing, fishing, hiking around, and scouting some of the rapids for the next day. As soon as dusk set in the mosquitos came out in full force and caused us all to retreat to our sleeping bags before it was even dark. That was the most intense mosquito attack I have ever experienced.

At the put in- campsite #1

Tim admiring the scenery

Exploring the gorge after our hike in

Sun set on West Cherry Creek

Using the nomads to set up the mosquito net

The following morning started off with lots of low angled slides followed by this sweet twenty footer that falls off with rock ledges on either side. The line is to boof off the middle narrowly missing the "goal post" rocks on the sides. Just below the that rapid is a big 15 foot drop with a meaty hole at the bottom that you would not want to be stuck in. After a few more class 4-5 rapids we arrived at one of the bigger runnable rapids on the stretch, known as Charlie Beavers Mega Rapid. Only Tim decided to fire this one up (which involves four big drops back to back) but after watching him style it I am fired up to run it next year.

Tim running the "goal post" twenty footer

Gareth at the same rapid from above

Tim stomping the boof below the twenty footer

Tim firing up the second drop of Charlie Beaver's rapid

Our lunch spot looking up at Charlie Beaver's Mega Rapid

Eventually we got down to what most people call "the big portage" on West Cherry which includes the Edge of the World slide. I can definitely see why the slide has that name because as you come around its edge, you get the most spectacular view of the Cherry gorges and Cherry lake in the distance. It was the most dramatic portage I've ever walked.

We decided that the scenery was too good to not stop to camp, so we ended up putting in and paddling down to the spine that separates Upper Cherry from West Cherry and camped there. This spot gave us a view of Upper Cherry creek and West Cherry creek as well as Cherry lake.

Gareth hiking around the Edge of the World slide with a beautiful view of Cherry lake

The crew

Part of the big portage

Gareth relaxing at camp #2

After a beautiful night at our second camp, we hiked down to the river and put on at the confluence of Upper and West cherry. The level was stompy for the Red Rocks gorge and gave us an early adrenaline fix for the day. Eventually we made it down to the final gorge which we decided was too high for us and did our final portage of the day around it before putting in again just above the lake.

West Cherry turned out to be hands down the most scenic run that I did in California. Its high sierra granite nature made it unlike anything I'd ever see before. And the whitewater wasn't so bad either...

The final rapid leading into the lake

California Trip Report: Hiking Yosemite with my Mom

2009-06-18T01:37:00.005-05:00

My mom and I at the top of Quarter Dome (right before the big push up to Half Dome)

After driving up to Sacramento from the Kern, I dropped Gareth off at the airport (he had to fly to Philadelphia to teach a swiftwater rescue course for a few days) and picked up my mom so that we could spend a few days exploring Yosemite National Park.

From the second I arrived in Yosemite valley I was blown away by the scenery. I was immediately surrounded by so many huge waterfalls and granite domes that I did not know how to take it all in. The first day we took a hike up to the Cathedral lakes (located at almost 10,000 feet). The hike was interesting as a good bit of it was in the snow and we managed to get pretty lost to the point that we almost turned around. Fortunately we found our way back on the trail and were able to enjoy the breathtaking views from the lakes (my camera was malfunctioning so no pictures).

The following morning we went for the most epic day hike ever, and the most famous in Yosemite- the Half Dome hike. The hike up to Half Dome involves over 17 miles of hiking and an accent and descent of 4,800 feet. My mom had been a little nervous about taking on such a hike, but was also the one that really pushed us to do it. Following the advice of others, we woke up at 4am to start our epic day in order to avoid the afternoon storms and masses of people also attempting the hike. The trail began without much warm up as we climbed up over 2,000 feet of elevation in our first three miles past two spectacular waterfalls.

Eventually we made it up out of the Yosemite Valley and across the Little Yosemite Valley, before starting to climb again, this time headed towards the top of Half Dome. Before reaching the infamous cable section of the climb, you must first walk up the steep granite steps of Quarter Dome. Because of her extreme fear of heights, this was extremely difficult for my mom, as the steps are not exactly lined with railings. I was very proud of her for making it to the top of Quarter Dome and approved of her decision to stop there. The climb up to the top of Half Dome looked steeper than I ever imagined, and I was nervous for myself, let alone my mom.

Deaths on the climb up to Half Dome are not uncommon, and there was actually a death there last Saturday (which was comforting to hear as we were about to start the hike). The climb involves a very steep granite grade, lined by cables which you use to literally pull yourself up the rock. It was full on to say the least. I cannot believe so many people do it, and I am surprised there aren't more deaths. I made it to the top without many troubles and took some time to take in the 360 degree view of Yosemite Valley and its surroundings.

A view from the top of Half Dome

Another view from the top of Half Dome

Me looking down into the valley from the top

The infamous cables (this is on a not so steep section, there was no way I was pulling my camera out during the steepest part)

A view from the hike down

After such an exhausting day, My mom and I decided to spend our final day in Yosemite a bit more relaxed. We started off with a drive to Glacier Point where we were granted some spectacular views of the park.

The Yosemite Valley including upper and lower Yosemite Falls

A nice view of Half Dome (the left most granite dome) and Nevada Falls

Following Glacier point, we drove a little ways and arrived at the trail head of Taft Point, a little 2.2 mile hike with relatively easy terrain. At the end of the hike we were given some great views of the valley from a different perspective.

Me hanging out at Taft Point

After an awesome lunch at the grand Ahwahnee Hotel (the most expensive hotel in the park), we decided to head over to El Capitan to watch some of the climbers do their thing on the world's largest piece of granite monolith rock.

Me free climbing the first twenty feet of El Capitan

El Capitan

The climbers slowly but surely making their way to the top

Eventually it was time to say goodbye to the stunning Yosemite rocks and head back to Sacramento to pick up Gareth from the airport. Upper Cherry here we come!

A parting view of Yosemite

California Trip Report: The Forks of the Kern

2009-06-18T00:36:00.005-05:00

Testing out the backpack system on the Forks of the Kern hike in

While camping at the Kaweah we met a nice couple (Rebecca and Eric) from Kernville that suggested Gareth and I go check out the Forks of the Kern run outside of Kernville. Because Gareth's shoulder was tweaked (he hurt it on the South Merced and aggravated it during his swim on the East Fork) we had been looking for a mellow option for the following few days and the forks seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. We were told it was an amazingly beautiful class four run that could be done as an overnight with some sweet side hikes. Sounded great to us so after taking off hospital rock we followed Eric and Rebecca south to Kernville.

Following a night camping out at the take-out, we were met by Bob (our shuttle driver) who took us the 20 miles up river to the put-in. The run had a two mile downhill hike in that Gareth and I decided would be a good opportunity to practice using our backpacking systems in anticipation of the 12 mile Upper Cherry hike in our near future. Turns out the carrying a loaded kayak on your back really isn’t as comfortable as one might imagine. I am glad that I got the practice using my backpack system but I am really not looking to ever putting it on again.

The river turned out to be just as beautiful as we were told and was filled with granite walls and tall peaks. We took our time moving downstream and managed to squeeze in some naptime by the river. After paddling over half of the total 18 miles of the run, we finally found a nice campsite and settled in for the evening.

A view from the hike in

Gareth on the hike

Gareth enjoying some of the 5 liters of wine we (aka Gareth) hiked in

Me hanging out in the hammock at camp

We spent the next morning relaxing at camp and catching up on some reading. When we eventually got back in our boats we only paddled for a couple hours before seeing a creek coming in that Gareth wanted to fish. After further inspection we realized it was the Dry Meadows creek side hike that had been mentioned to us. We decided to go check it out and man am I glad we did because it was absolute paradise. There were about ten teacup style drops, most of which were beautifully sculpted circular potholes. We probably spent around four hours just hanging out at this spot fishing and hiking and napping. The fishing was unbelievable considering we caught over thirty total trout within the pothole pools, one of which was over 13 inches (Gareth got that one). After catching four fish that we thought were sizeable enough to eat, we hiked back down to our boats and cooked them up over a granite slab fire by the river.

Thats me unhooking one of the fish I caught

Gareth fishing the pothole pools

Gareth reaching out for a fish that fell off the line at the last moment

Cleaning the trout

Fresh trout cooked over a granite slab...delicious!

Gareth cooking up the fish

Eventually we decided we had to keep moving downstream and finish up the river. It wasn't much further before we arrived back at the truck. We decided the best way to finish up such a great day was to hit up the Kern River Brewing Company, owned and run by Eric and Rebecca, the couple that brought us down to Kernville in the first place. We ate, we drank and we slept in the parking lot.

California Trip Report: The Kaweahs (East Fork and more Hospital Rock)

2009-06-18T00:05:00.004-05:00

Relaxing out on my bother's apartment's rooftop terrace in San Fran

After taking the weekend to relax and enjoy the beautiful city of San Francisco, we were antsy to get back on the water. Although we were a little unsure of the water levels, we decided to head back down to the Kaweah drainage with the hopes of getting on the East Fork of the Kaweah, said to be one of the best day runs in Cali.

Upon arriving at the camping area we talked to some boaters who ran the East Fork the day before and said it was low but going, so we decided to head up to the put-in the next morning. When we arrived we were excited to see that due to the hotter weather of the previous days, the river had come up to a nice low end of high level, which was absolutely perfect.

Gareth, Matias and I spent the day picking our way down the 4.5 miles of classic class 4-5 rapids. The portages were a bit epic but the abundance of clean rapids made up for them. The only carnage of the day involved Gareth getting thrown into an undercut pothole wall that after multiple attempts to roll (it would have been impossible to roll there) caused him to swim and lose his very important paddle. Knowing the paddle was still being recirculated in the wall, we decided to send me in after it. So Matias held a rope, which was attached to my PFD, and I jumped in and swam in the wall until I managed to knock the paddle out. Gareth still owes me a beer for that one….

Me at the bottom of a sweet East Fork rapid

Matias styling a big slide on the East Fork

Matias at the lip of another drop

Eric from Kernville perfectly hitting the line at Triple Drop

Matias scouting as Eric makes his way through the second drop

The next day we decided to take advantage of the higher flows and get back on the hospital rock section of the main Kaweah. Hospital rock is one of those sections that is so classic that it can be enjoyed over and over again. It was a beautiful day on the water.

Gareth and Katie coming through the 420 gorge

Gareth stomping a boof in the 420 gorge

California Trip Report: The South Silver

2009-06-06T11:05:00.008-05:00

Camping out with the truck

After spending a day in the big city of Sacramento getting some much needed errands done, I was ready to get back in the California wilderness. So Gareth and I decided to head up into the Eldorado National Forest to camp out for the evening.

The following morning we took a short drive up to the South Silver to check on the level. At first inspection it seemed low, so we relaxed by the lake for the afternoon hoping it would come up as the day warmed up. Eventually we drove back over to the takeout and hiked up the river to find a better level as well as couple of boaters out there that needed a ride back to the put in. This turned out to be very convenient for us because we didn't have a shuttle vehicle either. We made a trade and drove them up to their cars and they drove ours back down.

Chilling by the lake

The truck loaded down to the max while giving the other boaters a ride

The South Silver is only a mile long, but within that mile the river drops over 650 feet. Its hard to believe that a section of river that is 650 feet per mile would be good to go, but the South Silver is exactly that. The run starts off with a long series of slides before dropping into the teacups section, a series a waterfalls dropping down the bedrock channel.

Me at the top of the teacups

Me in another teacup drop

Gareth scouting

Gareth in the teacups

After finishing the teacups section (and the portage that follows) Gareth and I were set up to run the last big rapid of the day. It was at this time that I saw what is probably the coolest thing I have ever seen on a river before. As I was literally about to peel out into the class five rapid, Gareth started yelling at me to look at something. It was then that I looked up to see a big brown bear coming down the mountain side on the opposite side of the river. The bear then proceeded to jump across the river in the middle of the rapid! This all took place about 25 feet away from the eddy we were sitting in. Had I peeled out when I had planned to, the bear and I would have been hitting that spot on the river at the exact same time. We then decided to get out of our boats and see if we could sneak a peak at the bear and possibly get a picture, but no luck.

Gareth pointing to the spot where the bear jumped across the river

Me running the main drop of the rapid with the bear sighting

California Trip Report: The South Merced

2009-06-03T10:10:00.005-05:00

Doing the touristy thing in Yosemite National Park

From the Kaweah drainage we headed North to Yosemite National Park and the South Merced river. The South Merced was a river that we thought had dropped out on us, but a few thunderstorms put a little extra water back in it so we decided to go for it.

The South Merced is a 23 mile run, with over 15 miles of those being class five. We put on Tuesday afternoon in Yosemite National Park and began our two day trip down the river. The water turned out to be a bit low, but for those of us from the Southeast used to paddling in low water conditions, it seemed like a fine amount of water. Day one involved paddling for only about six miles but it seemed to take a lot longer than expected. There were lots of great rapids, some manky ones and a few sieves to keep us on our toes. We camped just below super slide, the biggest rapid on the river, which was a series of slides culminating in a big 30 foot slide to finish off the day.

Gareth packing his boat for the trip

Me at the beginning of Super Slide

Me in the middle of Super Slide

The final big drop of Super Slide

Dinnertime on the river

Hanging out by the fire

We decided to get an early start on day two because we had 18 miles left to paddle, half of those being class five. We were a bit worried about how long the day was going to take, so we all made an effort to keep moving downstream and not waste too much unnecessary time. That said, there were unfortunately really no pictures taken from this day. It actually worked out to not take as long as we had expected, and the day was filled with lots of amazing rapids and even a bear sighting. We were off the river by 4:30pm and celebrated with some cold beers at the takeout.

Gareth at a random South Merced rapid

California Trip Report: The Kaweah and Sequoia National Park

2009-06-02T13:09:00.001-05:00

The put-in slide on Hospital Rock of the Kaweah

After our epic overnight mission on Dinkey Creek we were ready for a bit mellower single day run and decided to head a bit more South to the Kaweah drainage in Sequoia National Park. Upon arrival we found the water to a bit high. Unfortunatley that meant that we would not be able to get on the East Kaweah anytime soon, but it did make the Hospital Rock section of the Kaweah on the high side of good which made for an awesome day.

Brooks Saucier getting ready to go

Brooks hitting his boof

Scouting the 4-20 gorge

Me at the bottom of the 4-20 gorge

Beautiful Kaweah rapids

The following day we decided to head out of town because it was looking like it would take the East Kaweah a while to come in, but decided to head back into the Sequoia National Park to check out the big trees and beautiful scenery.

The scene from the top of our hike in the Sequoia National Park

Hanging out on the hike

The big brown bear we ran into in the park

California Trip Report: The Dinkey Creek

2009-05-30T09:53:00.000-05:00

After driving all day from Vegas, we finally made it to the takeout of Dinkey Creek Wednesday night and spent the evening preparing our boats for the two day journey down the Waterfalls section. It was there that we met up with our team for the the expedition- Josh Bruckner, Matias Nunez, Josh Workman and Adam Hunter.

Thursday morning we were up early loading up the vehicle and starting the 2.5 hour drive to the put in. Finding the put in was an adventure of its own, but making it down the river was even more exciting. The trail was unmarked, about two feet wide and covered in thick brush and poison oak. It eventually opened up to steep, exposed, slabbed rock that made your calves and thighs burn the whole way down.

Gearing up at the start of the hike

Me after finishing the hike

While the name "Dinkey Creek" might lead be to believe that this river is not too full on, trust me when I say that this river is far from dinky. It is 6.5 miles of class V-V+ creeking filled with beautiful clean waterfalls, many of which are mandatory. It is far from any form of civilization and help could be days away. All that said, I think it is probably one of, if not the best, section of whitewater in California.

There's not much warm up on this creek- the section starts off with a rowdy 40 foot slide that sets the tone for the trip.

Me at the put-in slide

Gareth at the put-in slide

Fairly quickly into the run you reach the Willie Kern Rapid- a 15 foot drop into a low angle slide into 40 foot steep slide. It is big and it is mandatory.

Gareth running the entrance drop of Willie's Rapid

Josh Workman on the low angle slide part of Willie's rapid

Josh Bruckner firing off the final 40 foot drop at Willie's

That's me at the bottom of the drop

Following Willie Kern's rapid there is a series of waterfalls and big rapids back to back. It would be impossible to capture every rapid that we ran considering there were just so many of them, but I've tried my best to show the best ones.

Adam Hunter in one of the 25 footers

Me running the sieve waterfall (if you go right of the flow here you end up in a death sieve)

Gareth in the same waterfall

The rattlesnake I almost stepped on

Josh Workman doing the big 40 foot jump in portage

Gareth dropping into the meat

Gareth admiring the amazing Dinkey Creek scenery

Me hanging out below one of the steep sections

Gareth dropping into one of the biggest rapids on the run- Spike

Josh Bruckner showing the group how its done at Spike

After a very full on first day on the river we were all excited to make it to camp all in one piece. The camp spot was on a big slab of rock right next to river and in between two steep sections of whitewater. Upstream you had a beautiful view of the Spike rapid and lurking downstream was the Good Morning slide, a huge slide that immediately starts off day two.

Our camp spot

Gareth doing some fishing at camp

Waking up on the river

Matias strutting his stuff and scouting the "Good Morning Slide" seen just behind him

Literally the first rapid you run on day two, and the entrance drop to the Good Morning Slide

Gareth running the Good Morning slide

Josh Bruckner once again showing us the perfect line in one of the big drops

Josh Workman at a random drop

Gareth coming through a tight spot

Josh Bruckner boofing big

Another Josh Bruckner shot

Gareth coming through one of my favorite rapids of the run

Me entering one of the bigger drops of day two

Josh at the bottom of the same drop

Gareth boofing over the next hole

Me hitting a big boof

Gareth at one of day two's many waterfalls

Gareth doing the still very full on sneak of the Niki Kelly slide

Josh Workman at another waterfall

Adam Hunter at one of the slides on day two

Gareth styling one of the final big drops on the Dinkey Creek Waterfalls section

California Trip Report: A Pit Stop at Oh Be Joyful

2009-05-27T09:09:00.000-05:00

Crested Butte, Colorado

This summer I decided to take a little hiatus from the Southeast and head West for a month of steep California creeking. Gareth and I left Asheville May 23rd with the intention of getting to California as soon as possible in order to begin checking off the many rivers we hoped to get on our trip. But after a long, hot, miserable ride through Kansas we decided to make a quick pit stop in Crested Butte, Colorado to run one of Colorado's most infamous creeks, Oh Be Joyful. The water level was on the high side of medium and the slides were even steeper than I had imagined.

Blue angeling one of the big slides

Gareth finishing off a slide above a big log jam

Gareth entering the last big one

Me and the guy who joined us (can't remember his name) flying down the last slide

After a night out in Crested Butte we made one more stop on our way to Cali in the sin city of Las Vegas. With a 20 dollar hotel room and 50 dollars lost at the black jack tables, we were satisfied with our Vegas experience and guickly got out of there first thing in the morning headed staright to our first California creek- Dinkey Creek.

The rig loaded down in Vegas

The Pilgrimage to Corsica

2009-04-25T15:51:00.032-05:00

This one's for you Jeremy (that's me with a beer from the McDonalds on the Champs-Élysées)

When most people arrive in France they probably learn how to say important French phrases like "Où sont les toilettes s'il vous plaît?" (Where are the toilets please?) and "J'ai besoin d'un taxi" (I need a taxi). My first French words were “Giclée a gauche” and “Giclée a droite,” which mean "boof left" and "boof right." These two phrases became my lifeline throughout the 12 days I spent kayaking on the French island of Corsica.

The Corsica kayaking season takes place exclusively in April, when the combination of snow melt and rain provide enough water in the rivers to make them runnable. Because of this, many view the trip to Corsica as a pilgrimage of sorts and it is evident why when you see the island taken over by Euro vans stacked high with kayaks.

My trip to Corsica was made possible by a French friend and fellow kayaker Antoine Dupuis who I met years ago on a boating to Ecuador. We remained in contact after leaving Ecuador and this past March he sent me an email inviting me to join him on his annual trip to Corsica. Initially I did not even know where Corsica was, but after looking at some pictures from his previous trips I decided it was an opportunity I could not pass up.

I flew into Paris and immediately caught a train to Lyon, where I met Antoine who was arriving in from three weeks in Chile. From there we took a bus ride back to his home in Grenoble and spent the next morning loading up the van and preparing for our trip to Corsica. After a five hour drive to the Port town of Toulon, we loaded up on the ferry and began our 10 hour journey across the Mediterrean.

While waiting to board the ferry we met another group of French boaters and spent the evening drinking beer and eating bread, cheese and dried sausage. Little did I know at the time that that would become my diet for the next two weeks. Eventually it was time for bed and we all laid out on the floor of the ferry and slept peacefully beneath the shining halogen lights.

Antoine's lovely home

Getting loaded up

Boarding the ferry

After landing in the Corsican city of Bastia, we had a quick breakfast by the sea and were off to our first river of the trip, the Fium Orbo. The drive to the river was pretty amazing in itself and I was immediatley blown away by the scenery on the island. With a beautiful coastline and jagged snow capped peaks, this place seemed to have it all.

My first Corsican river started off with a nice 15 or so foot drop called "The Rocket" and was followed quickly with my first Corsican portage. The rest of the run included lots of fun class 4-5 rapids and left me excited for what was to come.

Stopping off by the sea

Breakfast time

Classic Corsican scenery

The Fium Orbo

"The Rocket" rapid

A view of "The Rocket" from above

Me running one of the tighter drops

The "Double Drop" rapid

After finishing the Fium Orbo, Antoine and I drove to the Travo river, where we would join up with another group and get ready for a big adventure on the Haut Travo (Upper Travo) the following morning.

The Upper Travo is actually forbidden to be paddled due to access issues with the small village you must pass to get there. Because of this, we had to wake up at 5am to start the day in order to drive through the village before daylight. We were already starting the hour long hike in as the sun was rising and we were putting on the river by 8am.

The river was filled with non-stop class 5 clean beautiful rapids. With two 25-30 footers and more 15 footers than I could count, this truly is a classic section of whitewater. Because of the amount of vertical drops involved in the run, we had to scout and set safety for most of the rapids which makes for a long time on the water. There is also an hour long, very difficult portage in the middle of the run which can definitely wear you down. The portage trail was pretty much non-existent because this section of river generally only gets done once a year by a small group of people. The other portage to note is the 30 foot jump in which scared me personally more than any of the rapids out there (I have a fear, not of heights, but of jumping in the water from high; I would much rather run a 30 foot waterfall in my boat than jump in without it)

It was on this run that I met JC, who is a French paddler and one of the main people responsible for pioneering the Upper Travo run. I felt fortunate to have him along on the trip down the river as well as as one of my main paddling partners throughout the rest of my trip.

Breakfast in the van at 5am before heading to the river

All of the boats at the start of the hike

Watching the sun rise on the hike to the river

Hiking in

The warm-up rapid

The second drop and one of my favorites

The same drop from a different viewpoint

Antoine in the S-turn rapid

The first drop of the "double drop" rapid

Boogie water on the Upper Travo

The crew right before starting the big portage and right after running a couple of the bigger drops

Halfway up the portage

JC in another one of my favorite rapids

Setting safety at one of the harder rapids

We took off the river later that aternoon and I was thrilled to have just had the opportunity to do such an amazing run. I was told that this was the best section of river on the island, and I was fortunate enough to do it on only my second day. After basking in the 70 degree sunny weather at the camp spot for a few hours, we all went to celebrate our adventure on the river by drinking beers in a local hot spring bath followed by a private party at a local bar. Apparently it has become tradition to visit this bar after every successful run of the Upper Travo and my French companions were sure to continue this tradition.

The next morning the group loaded up and drove over the mountains to paddle the Upper Rizzanese. Second only to the Upper Travo, this section of river was on the top of my list of the best rivers in Corsica. It involved class 4 and 5 rapids back to back and left me always on my toes. (My camera battery died during the run so I unfortunately don't have many pictures of this section)

The river starts off with a tight 25 foot waterfall which is backed up by a 30 foot cave. Antoine was the first to decide to run the drop and ended up getting stuck in the hole/ on the wall at the bottom. The French safety setting technique (which involves setting up a tethered swimmer at any significant rapid) came in handy on this rapid and the "diver" (the person hooked up the rope) jumped into the water and managed to grab Antoine and pull him out. Antoine's boat however was not so lucky and ended up getting pulled in behind the veil into the cave. We ended up having to lower him into the water and have him crawl back into the cave behind the drop to retrieve his boat. It took two attempts and about an hours time for the boat extraction to be successful. It was at this moment that I decided to put my boat on my shoulder and carry around the drop.

Antoine lining up for the waterfall

The diver jumping in to save him

Antoine climbing in after his boat

Antoine behind the veil swimming for his boat

JC on one of the many great rapids of this section

The following day we joined up with another group of Antoine's friends to do the Codi river, a tributary to the Rizzanese. The river was very narrow and somewhat manky at times but still lots of fun.

Antoine running a rapid on the Codi

Antoine was the only one who decided to run this drop because we all thought it was too manky- turned out it was in fact too manky

Flo styling on the harder drops

Flo again on another Codi rapid

The last rapids and a great viewpoint of the run

Because the group that we were now paddling with had just arrived and missed out on our trip to the Upper Travo a couple days earlier, they decided to head that way to paddle it the next morning. I was a little apprehensive about going again so soon because I knew of what a tiring day it is and I was a bit sore from my previous four days of boating, but after a little bit of wine and a little bit of reflecting on the picture perfect rapids, I could not pass up an opportunity to go back. So that next morning, Antoine, JC and I woke up to get our second run of the Upper Travo that year. I was able to get a couple different viewpoints for pictures to supplement the ones I took on my first trip down.

And in order to keep with tradition we followed up our run with another party at the local bar. It turned out to be quite an awesome evening due to the locals who were having their own party compete with guitarists playing songs in the Corsican language.

On the drive to the Travo

JC's van packed with boats (this way no one could tell we were kayakers as we drove through the village that forbids us to be on the river)

Me running one of the waterfalls

JC running the biggest drop on the river which involves a boof into a 10 foot slide into a 25 foot drop

Flo at the drop below the big one

Tossing the boat in at the 30 foot jump portage

A view at the camping area and take-out of the classic section of the Travo

The crystal clear waters of the Travo river

Breakfast in the field next to the bar

The next day we decided to take it easy and paddled the Gorge du Tavignano section, a class 3-4 run that while lacking in hard rapids, made up for it with amazing scenery.

Tabbass showing off the European wet suit fashion style in his rainbow suit

The sketchy dam portage

Antoine in one of the many tight gorge sections of the run

A classic post-river lunch: wine, cheese, sausage and baguettes- we ate like this literally everyday after getting off the river

After a night of camping at the Corisca River Festival campground, we took off for the Restonica river. The Restonica is known to be one of the more continuous and steep rivers on the island. The water was clearer than ever and the tall rocky mountains surrounding the run made it one of the most beautiful ones we did.

The waters of the Restonica

Gotta love those fiberglass creek boats

One of the last rapids on the Restonica

The french men and their tiny bathing suits and tight wetsuits

Me relaxing in the sun after the river

After having our daily dose of cheese and bread, we drove over mountain pass in order to get to the Foium Grosso which we paddled the next day. Unfortunately the day on the Fium Grosso was a not so pretty day weather wise and consequently I did not take many pictures. Weather aside the day was great and had lots of fun class 5 drops in between innumerous class 4 ones.

A view coming over the pass

Antoine running a hard sketchy rapid that I don't really think had a clean line (he was the only one to attempt it)

Everyone in the group decided that is was time to hit the beach after taking off the river, and so off we went to the nearby west coast town of Porto to camp by the sea. I was completely blown away by the scenery here and took the afternoon to drive around the coast taking it all in.

Looking on to Porto

Me enjoying the beach

A view from above

A rock outcrop that is supposed to be a king at his throne

My silhouette

The sun shine peaking through the clouds onto the Mediterranean

Our camping spot by the sea

Waking up in the sunshine by the beach was great, and while part of me could have stayed there for days, it was time to get back on the water for another day of boating. This time we were off to the Calasina, one of the higher altitude runs we did. The water was a bit too low (reminded me of creeking in the south east during the drought) but the views of snow capped peaks all the way down made it a bit more bearable.

Antoine scouting the view steep looking gorge of the Porto river

Believe it or not that's a view of the ocean at the end of those mountains

The Calasina river

The first drop on the Calasina

JC at one of the cooler looking rapids of the run

The girls (Sonja and Anne) below the triple drop rapid

A standard view on the Calasina

After the beating my body took on the low water Calasina run, I finally decided I was ready for a day off. Antoine and I headed back to the coast, this time the more sandy east coast. While the weather did not exactly cooperate with us, we still managed to have a wonderful afternoon on the beach.

Antoine looking out into the ocean

Antoine on the rocks after taking a cold swim (I decided not to partake)

The following morning we were back at the Rizzanese, this time to paddle the classic section. This was a special day for the Rizzanese as it was an organized event for the Corsica River Festival in order to bring everyone together to fight the daming of this Corsican classic. Like the upper, this section starts off with a very technical class 5 waterfall which only a handful of boaters ran. The first person to go pinned and broke his paddle, so everyone was a bit apprehensive.

Immediately after the waterfall, the locals who are also fighting to stop the building of the dam had layed out a beautiful spread of food and wine for the boaters. It was quite an event and I don't know if I have ever had such a friendly welcoming on a river before. After taking pictures as a huge group to use as a resource to show support for the cause, Antoine and I took off downstream in order to avoid paddling with such a large group. The river had lots of great rapids, including one very nice 30 foot waterfall.

One of the best lines I saw on the first waterfall

The food and wine spread

Coming together to fight the dam

Me on one of the Classic Rizzanese rapids

Me running the waterfall

From the Rizzanese we drove back over the mountain towards to the Travo river, this time to do the Classic section. I was sad to know that this would be my final day of boating in Corsica, but happy to have gotten to do so much during such a short time on the island.

The Classic Travo included a granite gorge with lots of very picturesque rapids. I tried to take in every moment I could on the river knowing that in just a few hours I would be back on the ferry heading towards mainland France.

Driving to the Travo

Me running the second drop of the triple drop rapid

Later that evening, Antoine dropped me off at the port to catch my long ferry back to the mainland. After arriving the next morning I quickly hopped a train to Paris and spent that afternoon exploring the city before heading back to the US the next day.

The classic picture in front of the Eiffel Tower

The Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Élysées

The Notre Dame Cathedral

One of the nicknames for Corisca is "The Island of Beauty" and I cannot tell you how perfect a name that is. I felt like everytime I turned my head there was a new landscape, jagged mountain or sandy beach. That alongside the epic kayaking found there in April makes it a trip of a lifetime and one that I will not soon forget.

Little River Canyon Self-Supported Trip

2009-03-19T11:58:00.008-05:00

Last week it actually rained in the South East when I was here and had time off. I was beginning to believe that I would never paddle any natural flow here again, but alas it happened.

I started off the rain event paddling with a group of friends on the North Fork of the French Broad and followed that up the next day with a nice padded out 9.5" run of the Green. I had forgotten just how much fun the Green is with a little extra water in it and couldn't help but smile the entire day.

After getting off the Narrows, Gareth and I started contemplating how to spend the next day. With some more rain on the horizon, we were apprehensive to leave Asheville, but inevitably decided to go with the sure thing and drive over to Alabama to hit up the Little River Canyon, which was guaranteed to have water for us.

We spent all evening making the 4.5 hour drive into Fort Payne, AL and set up camp at the put-in. Bottle of wine in hand, we sat out by the water and with our head lamps shining on the river, discussed the line down the first rapid of the run- a 35 foot, two tiered waterfall.

The next morning started off with a little frustration considering it took us about two hours to get Gareth's bulkhead in the stern of his boat, but eventually we got it in there and started to set our shuttle for the day. After stashing our boats and gear, we drove down to the take-out and started the 10 mile road bike ride back to the put-in.

Checking out the canyon from above

Taking a break from the biking to catch a view of the waterfall

Gareth riding up the road towards the put-in

Almost to the put-in... One last view of the drop....

After arriving back to the put-in, we switched gears, stored our biked and prepared to start the kayaking portion of our day. It was quite a commotion as all the tourists started to realize that we were actually about to run the 35 foot waterfall. After taking some pictures and signing a few autographs, I took one last look at the drop before hoping in my boat and going for it.

Video of me running the Little River Falls

Thats me in the middle of the first and second drop of the falls

Gareth's line at the Falls

We both had great lines at the falls and were fired up to get started on the rest of the run. It turned out to be a beautiful day with great weather and good lines.

Gareth in the S-turn rapid

Gareth boofing a random drop

Gareth in another rapid I don't know the name of (Humpty Dumpty maybe?)

The new dry suit in action

After a short, but steep hike out of the gorge, we stopped off at a sweet taco stand before hitting the road and heading back to Asheville.

Sea Kayaking Everglades National Park

2009-03-12T11:18:00.015-05:00

A few weeks ago I decided to get out of the North Carolina winter and head South to where its warm. Unfortunately,I couldn't make it all the way down to Ecuador, so I had to settle for some beautiful days of sea kayaking in Everglades National Park.

The trip turned out better than I could have imagined. We spent the week paddling anywhere from five to fifteen miles a day and made sure to always squeeze in time for relaxing and fishing. The evenings were spent on the beach watching the sunset and drinking wine. Doesn't get much better than that....

The company I work for, the Nantahala Outdoor Center, will be running trips to this amazing place next winter, so please contact me if you are interested in joining us on a sea kayaking adventure in the Everglades National Park.

Earthquakes and Dam Breaks in Costa Rica

2009-01-09T18:09:00.010-05:00

I consider yesterday one of the luckier days of my life. Had any small part of the day gone different I might not be alive right now.

I arrived into Costa Rica on Monday and spent the past four days guiding a group of NOC guests down various sections of the Sarapique river. Yesterday we had talked about putting on the highest section on the river, the San Miguel section. This is (or now was) a really fun section of steep class 4 water in a fairly remote section of the Sarapique. After discussing it with my clients, some of us ended up deciding to put in a little lower at a farm just a couple miles above the La Virgen bridge to give them a little more of a warm up before possibly returning to the San Miguel section the next day.

Part I: The Earthquake

We had a great morning on the water and eventually got down to Superman rapid, where the rest of our group was waiting to put on. While part of the group stood on the side of the river and watched, my guests and I ran through the rapid. One of my guests swam at the bottom and while I was recovering the boat from the river left wall, I heard a large noise, like a train rumbling. Before I could even reflect on what the cause of the noise was, basketball sized boulders began falling in only feet from my boat. I paddled away from the wall as fast as I could while the guests on the bank scrambled up to higher ground. Thankfully I got away from the falling boulders before any of them hit me.

Part II: The Broken Dam

After the earthquake stopped we all took a second to reflect on the event. We were all thankful that no one was hurt and after having a few snacks at the van, decided to continue on with our plans to head down river. We all got into our boats and were doing some ferries back and forth across the river before deciding we should get a move on. Just as we began floating downstream some men came running down the riverbank yelling at us. I paddled over to one of the men who quickly told me that the dam was broken due to the earthquake and that we needed to get out of the water very quickly. As we carried our boats up the road away from the river we could hear the water roaring behind us and getting louder every step. There were police and emergency vehicles driving up and down the road announcing on the megaphone that everyone needed to get as far away from the river as possible. We eventually made it up the road a good ways from the river and felt relieved to have been waved off of the river just in time. We suspect that the wall of water arrived about 10 minutes after we got off.

Part III: A View of the Destruction

After an evening of watching the news and hearing from others about the destruction that took place upstream of where we took out, we decided to go check it out this morning. What we found was quite unbelievable. First we stopped at the bridge at La Virgen and found that the rapids that we paddled just yesterday morning were gone. If you are familiar with the Sarapique, you'd remember an island with a large tree in the middle of the river looking upstream from the La Virgen bridge- that is completely gone now and all that is left is silt and debris. That is pretty much the case as far as you can see looking upstream and downstream of the La Virgen bridge.

Next we drove up to check out the put in to the San Miguel section of the river- the section that we had considered paddling yesterday. The destruction there was even more difficult to believe. The bridge that once spanned the river at the put-in is completely gone. We had been told that when the wall of water from the dam arrived at the San Miguel section it was approximately 40 feet tall. This was confirmed today when I saw first-hand the high water mark 45 feet above river level at that section. I am sad to say that the San Miguel section of the Sarapique officially no longer exists and it will probably take many many years before it is in any kind of shape to be paddled.

I am extremely thankful that everything worked out as it did yesterday and that no one was seriously injured due to the dam breaking (though there have been at least 9 causalities as a result of the earthquake). Had my group put on the San Miguel section yesterday, or had we not been waved off the river when we were, there is simply no way we would have survived.

Below you will find some pictures I took of the river this morning. I also included one picture of the river taken a couple years ago to add some perspective.

Looking upstream from the La Virgen bridge

Looking downstream from the La Virgen bridge

This used to be the San Miguel bridge

Another view of where the San Miguel bridge used to be (check out the trees piled up at the road)

Looking upstream from where the San Miguel bridge used to be

Looking downstream of where the San Miguel bridge used to be

Another view of the put-in rapid on the San Miguel section of the Sarapique

A view of the put-in rapid of the San Miguel section taken in 2006

A crack in the road resulting from the earthquake in the town of San Miguel

Me straddling the crack

Also check out this news video that has some good river footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRKF_BqB1Qc&feature=related

I have another group of kayaking guests arriving in tomorrow and I can only imagine what the next week here in Costa Rica might bring. While I do not believe there is any way we will be able to paddle any section of the Sarapique, we're still planning to have a great week on the rest of Costa Rica's amazing rivers. We will be heading through the Sarapique area however and I will try to take some more pictures to give a better idea of how well the river is repairing itself. Until then, Pura Vida!

BC Mission 2008

2008-09-02T21:58:00.004-05:00

A view from the road in British Columbia

Last weekend I decided it was time to get out of Oregon and head to the mountains of British Columbia to do a little kayaking. I started out the trip with Swain County local Joe Barkley who has been living in Truckee for the past couple months working hard and saving up money to embark on such an adventure. We started on the road together (but in separate cars) just south of Portland and began our journey north around 5pm on Thursday afternoon. Joe had just been hooked up with pounds of fresh salmon from the Oregon coast so we stopped at the Mount St. Helens visitors center later that evening and cooked up the salmon right there in the parking lot. It was one of the best meals I've had in a while.

At some point during the drive just south of the border, Joe had to deal with a few things and I decided to take off towards Squamish on my own to find us a place to sleep and get to bed. I arrived to my resting place sometime around 4am and was surprised that I had yet to hear from Joe. After calling him multiple times he finally called back to tell me that Canada would not let him in! Basically they told him that since he did not have proof of a job to go back to or proof of residency (he lives in his truck) that he would not be allowed to enter Canada, even with a valid US passport. Eventually we decided that we both needed to get some sleep and that he would try again in the morning.

I woke up that next day and could not get a hold of Joe, so I decided to head slightly further north to Whistler where I was told there was a camping spot that I might find some boaters. At this point I was still expecting that Joe would make it across the border and that we'd be kayaking together by the afternoon. That was not the case. They again told him no and that he would have to wait 24 hours before he was even allowed to try again. With no kayakers at the campground and Joe still stuck in Washington I ended up spending Friday in a coffee shop in Whistler getting some work done.

I camped that night at the Cheakamus takeout hopeful that some kayakers would show up at some point and let me tag along. Saturday morning just as I was giving up hope, a huge group of boaters showed up and invited me to join them on the river that day. The group consisted of BC local, Bryan Smith, a number of Seattle boaters and their friends in from Colorado and Maryland. We started off the day paddling the Upper Cheakamus, a short class 4-4+ big water style run located just outside of Whistler. It started out with a pretty sweet significant class 4+ drop. I'm not sure if I was more nervous about the drop or the 12 guys watching me run it- I felt the need to prove I was a solid paddler so that they'd let me continue to paddle with them. I ended up having a great line off the drop andclean lines the rest of the day.

A picture of the first drop on the Upper Cheakamus (Photo taken from Professor paddle website, Author: Heather)

After a successful run of the "Upper Cheak," the boys decided to head over to another local run, Callaghan's, and invited me along. Seeing as that was one of the creeks I was really wanting to paddle, I quickly agreed to join them and within 30 min. we were all back in our boats on Callaghan's. The run starts off hot with a 20 footer followed fairly quickly by the most perfect 25 foot waterfall I have ever seen.

We had a minor epic at the waterfall when one of the guys in the group (an out of towner who had never been on the run before) missed the last eddy above the drop and ended up plopping off the lip backwards on the wrong side. He eventually swam and with his kayak quickly floating downstream we all ran back to our boats to run the drop and help in the rescue. I had never run a waterfall that big before and was a little nervous paddling up to the lip especially since I was in being rushed to get downstream and didn't have much time to scout. I hit my line perfect and had one of the softer landings of my life. I couldn't stop smiling while racing downstream to help catch the abandoned boat.

Matt from Colorado below the first 20 footer

Looking upstream at the 20 footer from the lip of the 25 footer

Bryan Smith stomping the 25 footer

That's me running the waterfall- the picture is definitely not great but I wanted to give some proof that I actually did these things

The rest of the run was great and involved a number of sizeable drops. At the takeout loading boats the guys were all discussing their plans for the next day. While originally I was planning to go biking with some friends in Whistler on Sunday, I could not help but listen in on their talk about the likelihood that the infamous Tatlow Creek was running. I had been told by numerous friends that Tatlow was the best creek in BC and a must do if I had the opportunity. I was not sure if these guys would feel comfortable taking me along on such an expedition, especially with just having met me, but at some point Bryan looked over at me and told me I was welcome to join them if I'd like. There was no hesitation from me- I was in.

I spent that evening hanging out with the group and hearing stories about Tatlow. It was unclear just how many of the guys would decide to run it the following morning, but we were all in for making the journey to the takeout to find out if it was even running. That night I stayed with Bryan and his wife at their place in Squamish and after some conversation learned that I was in the company of "The Range Life," a group of kayakers made up of Bryan Smith, Todd Gillman and Shane Robinson, who are most known for pioneering a majority of the runs in BC. That definitely made me feel a little more comfortable about what I was about to embark on.

Sunday morning we all loaded up and made the drive up the Ashlu valley towards Tatlow Creek, a tributary to the Ashlu. Just getting to where you can check the level of the creek is pretty epic. You have to drive about an hour up a very rugged 4x4 road that requires a large truck (my outback wouldn't make it) to get to the takeout, as well as the gauging area. From what I've been told, Tatlow is pretty much either in or its out, and that decision is made based on how much water is flowing over a rock in the last rapid. The Tatlow veterans quickly made the call that it was in and everyone started getting pumped for the run.

After a quick walk/ride up a forest service road, we were at the start of the hike in. The final group that decided to paddle that day consisted of Bryan, Todd, Shane, Kelsey, Matt, Ned and I, with last three of us being newbies. The hike in was epic in its own right and involved hiking up an overgrown logging road before dropping down into the gorge by bushwhacking through the thick, bear infested forest. An hour later we all arrived at the put in psyched to be done with the hike and ready to get moving downstream.

**** Disclaimer: Throughout this run I had very little time to take any decent pictures of the drops, so take them for what they are then check out the links at the bottom of the post to read more and see lots of awesome pictures of the creek****

Gearing up to start the hike

Checking out the scenery partway through the hike right before dropping down into the forest

The view from the put-in

One of the biggest things I was told about Tatlow prior to deciding to run it was that it is extremely committing and left no room for questioning your abilities. The guys explained to me that there would be lots of unscoutable, unportagable drops that I would have to run and this definitely turned out to be the case. It was the first time that I experienced the sensation of getting out to look at a huge drop and realizing that the option to walk simply did not exist. That certainly simplifies the scouting process since it eliminates the need to figure out if you want to run a drop and instead you just have to see the line and go.

The first series of rapids involved three back to back drops in the 10 foot range that lead directly into a sweet money boof 20 footer. The second series of waterfalls involved a very vertical slide (referred to as "plugger") in the 25 foot range followed quickly by two 10 foot drops. I managed to plug the slide well, but found myself off line after the second drop and quickly plopping over the final ledge without much speed. Before I knew it I was side surfing the ledge completely locked in. I tried everything I knew to get out of the hole upright, but could not seem to make my boat budge. I finally realized that my last option was to flip over, reach for green water and hope that I'd come out. Three attempts at reaching for green water and about two minutes later, I finally managed to claw my way out of the hole. I was pretty psyched to have just battled my way out and in the amount of time it took me to catch my breath, I turned to see that someone else was surfing away in the same hole. He did not have the luck I did and ended up having to swim out.

Kelsey running "plugger"

A view upstream

A surreal view from the lip of "plugger"

Todd with the rope assisting in the rescue after the swim

After a couple more minor rapids and one major one, we ended up at the big portage. The portage was probably the most full on one I have ever been involved in and required carrying the boats on the edge of a cliff above an unrunnable rapid. It finished with lowering the boats and repelling down a slippery rock wall back to the water.

The rope and rock wall we repelled down (its steeper than it looks)

Immediately after completing the portage I was above the next unscoutable (at least not without some sketchy rock climbing moves), unportagable, huge drop. This one involved a 30 something foot slide that slams into a rock wall making a 90 degree turn. Its called "Wall drug" and is definitely appropriately named. I was one of the first people through the portage and ended up in position to be the first one to run this drop. It was the hugest rapid that I had run totally blind, but also one of the most fun rapids I've ever run. (Please check out the other sites for a better picture of this drop)

The bottom part of "wall drug" as it slams into the wall

After a 10 foot, "glory boof" below wall drug, it was time to eddy out and check out the rapid that is considered the crux move for the day. It seemed to be called different things, but "The Big One" was probably what I hear it referred to most often. "The Big One" involves a 10 foot drop with a nasty looking hole into a mini walled in gorge which ends with an unrunnable death drop on the left and a clean 40 foot slide on the right. My heart was beating out of my chest as I got out to scout the 10 footer. It is impossible to walk this rapid and nearly impossible to scout the slide. We were told there was an option to seal launch in next to the 10 footer to take that out of the equation, and while the two other newbies chose to take that route, I inevitably decided that I felt confident about drop and wanted to run the rapid from start to finish.

A view upstream from the scout of the 10 footer- the top drop in this picture is "wall drug" followed by the 10 foot "glory boof"

I watched a couple people go through before I walked back to my boat to line up for the drop. While I knew that that was by far the most committing, intimidating, and nerve racking rapid I had ever decided to run, as soon as I got into my boat, my focus turned to the must-make move I needed to hit and all the other thoughts were gone.

Matt scouting the 10 footer that leads into the 40 footer

This was the only view I had of the 40 foot slide before entering the rapid: notice the gorged up walls and the rock that splits the flow at the end- to the left is a death zone and to the right is the lip of the big slide

I ended up hitting one of the most important boofs of my boating career perfectly and after a quick breather in the slack water in the mini gorge, I lined up to take the big slide down the 40 footer. At the bottom of the slide I felt a quick pop to my face and realized that I managed to hit myself in the nose with my paddle. I did not have much time to deal with the blood streaming down my face because I quickly found myself up against the nasty wall at the bottom of the slide. I tried to ignore the pain while I aggressively worked to get off the wall without flipping. The scary part about the wall is that it leads into a huge strainer above a big highly recommended portage. Eventually I was able to work myself off the wall and take a second to stop the bleeding from my nose and admire the drop.

A photo of "The Big One" (again- please see other sites for a better picture of this drop)

After the big slide its time to do the "chuck and huck"portage, which involves chucking your boat over the edge of a cliff and then jumping in 20 feet down after it. There are a few more significant drops through the final section of the gorge before it opens up and dumps into the Ashlu.

The final 15 foot boof of the run

After taking out and reflecting on that run, I can definitely say it was the biggest most committing section of whitewater I have ever run, but at the same time one of the most memorable andexciting sections as well. I cannot wait to get back out there again.

Check out these sites for more (and better) photos of Tatlow Creek:

http://therangelife.blogspot.com/2007/08/more-tatlow.html
http://therangelife.blogspot.com/2005/08/sauce-bc-trip-part-3.html
http://mediocrekayaking.blogspot.com/2006/03/tatlow-creek-squamish-bc.html

That evening I decided to head back to the United States to meet back up with Joe and spend some quality time hanging out with him. We met up around Bellingham, WA and drove a few hours south before stopping to sleep for the night. We spent Monday morning trying to decide how to spend our day and after realizing that kayaking was not really an option, we chose to head to Seattle and check out the city. My friend Keta has been living in Seattle for the past year and gave us beta on a nice park to hang out and hike around in. We spent almost four hours simply hiking around with our dogs checking out the Washington forest and ocean.

Joe and Daisy hanging out at the beach

Kiwi and I hanging out in the park

After a great sushi lunch with Keta, I started my drive back to Corvallis so that I could be home in time to get a good nights sleep before another day of pebble counting.

I cannot wait to return to the clear waters of British Columbia and am already getting psyched for Team Swain BC Mission 2009!

Paragliding in Switzerland

2008-08-28T15:35:00.004-05:00

My mom paragliding over Switzerland

I just wanted to give a shout out to my mom, who conquered her fear of heights last week and actually went paragliding while out in Switzerland visiting my younger brother!

I do find it a little ironic she chose to do the activity that fractured my ankle and sent me home from Chile, but I am proud of her for getting out there and doing it anyways. I am a little jealous considering I never made it over 15 feet above the ground...

"Let me tell you about two of the hardest chicks I know..." -Jay Gifford

2008-08-23T13:30:00.009-05:00

Last week Anne and I took off on a 3,000 mile roadtrip across the country, from Bryson City, NC to Portland, OR. Throughout the six days on the road there were lots of boating and biking adventures, very little eating or sleeping and a whole lot of laughing. Heres an overview of the trip...

The night before the big drive was the NOC instruction party at Chris and Anne's house. As you might imagine if you've ever been to a social event at the Port-Sontheimer residence, there was lots of good food, great friends, and of course fireworks, banana liquor and wrestling.

Chef Port making a kabob

Jeremy making a weird face

Tequila shots!

JC and Sean getting the firework display ready

After an awesome night of celebrating the end of another great summer, Anne and I hit the road at 3am (after two hours of sleep) and started the long drive to Colorado. Many people doubted our ability to make the drive in one push, but as we expected, Anne and I were more than capable of knocking out the 27 hour drive to Salida, CO without any significant breaks. I must admit, however, that the brain simulators and gossip really helped out in those final hours.

After cruising around Salida for a half an hour dragging our trailer carrier throughout the neighborhoods, we finally came to a resting place off the side of a random road up a mountain at about 4:30am. I am not sure if it was the meteor shower or what, but even after that much driving we still managed to spend a while just staring up at the sky before finally dozing of to sleep.

Wonderful, glorious Kansas

Anne taking over during one of the tougher shifts

Finally laying down after the 27 hour push

After another two hours of sleep, we both woke up, loaded the car and headed into town to catch the 8am shuttle up to Monarch Pass where we would be starting our bike ride. The Monarch Crest Trail is a one of a kind trail, consisting of 35 miles of varied terrain, most of which sits above 11,000 feet. The air was thin, the views were amazing and the trail was awesome. Start to finish it took us about six hours and we were definitely feeling the lack of sleep by the time we hit the car. After taking a short break to check out Salida's whitewater park, Anne took one for the team and drove us the two and a half hours to the takeout of Gore Canyon, located near Kremmling, CO.

The start of the ride

Anne and I taking a break on the pass

Just one of the many beautiful views

More moutains

The view we were granted at the top of the climbing portion of the trail, right before the sweet downhill

We arrived at the takeout of Gore just before dark, set up our tent (the only time the tent was used on the entire trip) and headed to bed early to rest up for a day on the water. We woke up the next morning after a good nights rest ready to get in our boats. The day involved paddling class 3 and 4 rapids through a beautiful Colorado canyon. We paddled with Hobie and Scott, two local kayakers who were kind enough to show us some lines as well as hook Anne up with a creekboat. Good lines were had by all and it was great to get out on a new river again.

A view of the river as we drove out of town

Our loaded down ride

On the road in Colorado

After leaving Gore Canyon, we drove six hours southwest to Moab, Utah and were eventually throwing down our sleeping pads right around midnight. We spent that evening and the next morning trying to figure out what to do with Kiwi while we were riding, since with the extreme heat we didn't feel comfortable leaving her outside. Eventually we found a kennel that would take her for the day, but unfortunately that was not figured out until after we missed the 7am shuttle ride up to the Porcupine Rim trail we hoped to ride that day. The ride is described in most books as a 16 mile shuttle ride or a 35 mile loop "for the truly insane." I think that description alone got Anne fired up to do the loop and with the shuttle now out of the question, we took off from the car around 8am to start the Porcupine Rim loop. The first hour and a half involved climbing up the road out of town and through the park, followed by another couple hours climbing on up the slickrock style trial to the top of the rim. All the climbing was definitely worth it when we reached the top and were granted amazing views of Moab and its surrounding areas.

After arriving at the top, we rode along the rim for a while before starting on our steep slickrock desents. It was near the beginning of one of the descents that I decided to ride over a three foot drop without getting far enough back on my seat and had my first over the handlebars "endo" experience. On the bright side, Anne said that after landing on my head, I rolled through the crash nicely. It took me a while to get my confidence back after that, but by the end of the day I was riding things much more technical than the obstacle that caused my wreck. As it turns out, Anne was right along- it is really important that you get behind your seat when riding step trails.

After seven hours of extreme exposure, radiating heat, long climbs and steep descents I would definitely call that an epic ride.

Anne checking out the view at the top of Porcupine Rim

Anne riding up something that looked impossible to me

Anne riding down something that I probably walked

Anne flying down the trail with amazing desert views in the background

Me taking a break to check out the Colorado River down in the canyon

The singletrack portion of the trail

After finishing up our ride we made a quick decision to change plans and instead of staying in Moab another day, we decided to make our move towards Idaho. Since neither of us had ever been to Idaho, we figured that it would be a good place to spend the following day. On our way out of town we took a couple hours to drive through Arches National Park.

The Delicate Arch in Arches National Park

After leaving Arches we started to drive north with no real idea of what we were going to do or where we were going to end up. We were still feeling good after arriving to Salt Lake City so we decided to push on to Boise. We arrived into the city around 5am and with no real idea of what to do there, we pulled into a spot that had wireless, busted out the laptop and found out that we were extremely close to the world class Payette River, which was running at a good level. With no more information than that, we drove up into the Payette Wilderness. After another night of trying to find a spot to lay down, we eventually stopped at a pulloff along side the river at about 6:30am.

After two and a half hours of sleep, we awoke to find ourselves in beautiful Idaho country. Since up to this point neither of us had taken a shower since before the instruction party, we both took baths in a little swim hole next to the bank of the river. We then packed up and went on a mission to get some coffee, beta on the river and a creekboat for Anne. Eventually we were able to secure all of those things and the two of us put on the "lower 5" section of the North Fork of the Payette. All I can really say about that afternoon is that it was continuous class 4-4+ big water and I could not stop smiling the entire way down. It had been a long time since either of us had gotten to really read and run that kind of water, or any kind of water for that matter, and it was awesome.

We enjoyed the Payette so much we very seriosuly considered staying for another day so that we would have the opportunity to paddle the ten miles of whitewater above where we put in. After much debating however, we decided that we were both in need of a little steep creeking and set out on the road towards Hood River, Oregon- home of the Little White Salmon.

In classic fashion for Anne and I, we arrived into Hood River around 5 in the morning, drove around for 45 minutes looking for a good place to sleep outside and eventually got to bed off the side of some road in the mountains of Washington. After a couple hours of sleep we headed over to the house of Team Swain transplant Jay Gifford. After a quick talk with Jay before he left for work, we grabbed some coffee and drove to Post Canyon, a sweet mountain biking trail system located just outside of town.

We ended up riding for about three hours on some really fun trails. My personal favorite was the first trail we took that involved climbing up multiple ridiculously steep hills followed by a sick downhill through a horse pasture and a gravel road. The next trail we did took us up to the top of the mountain where there was a man made course that had some jumps and log features. I didn't venture very far onto the course, but Anne was riding some of the obstacles which was cool to watch. Afterwards we took off on another trail that offered up some fun cross country riding with some amazing descents. I spent the majority of that trail doing what I do best on a mountain bike- eating dirt. At the end of it all we were both pretty dirty and decided to head to Jay's and do something we had yet to do on the trip- shower.

Anne and I after our ride at Post Canyon

After a quick nap, Jay got home from work and we all loaded up and headed out to get our boof on on the Little White Salmon River. Ever since the time I was considering coming out here, I kept hearing about the Little White and just how great it is. It definitely lived up to my expectations! All throughout the trip Anne and I were discussing how people kept calling things "class 5" (i.e. Gore Canyon and the Payette) when in reality we felt they were class 4. Well, lets just say that the Little White lived up to its class 5 rating and I would consider it the most difficult section of river that Anne or I have ever paddled. It was full of steep, continuous water and left us always questing what would be waiting around the next corner.

It started off with "Getting Busy" a very continuous section of class 4-5 boogie water and finished off with an array of vertical drops, ranging from 13 to 35 feet. One of my favorite moments was when we all eddied out and Jay explained the next drop- "you're going to go around that corner, go over a hole, look for a hump, then paddle off a 20 foot fader boof." He followed up that sentence by putting in his mouth guard for the first time all day and peeling out of the eddie, leaving Anne and I questioning what the hell we were about to do. We both ended up having good lines on the rapid I now know to be "Wishbone Falls," one of the more significant drops on the river.

Me running "S-turn" on the Little White

Anne, Jay and I's self portrait at the lip of Spirit Falls

That day was a pretty magical one for me as it commenced not only an amazing roadtrip, but also an amazing summer. The summer was pretty much training for this trip. Anne and Chris put lots of long hours into teaching me how to mountain bike (which was mildly successful aside from the fact that I still can't seem to get unclipped from my pedals before falling over) and in return I tried to make them see what bad-ass paddlers they were (the highpoints being running Go Left and Sunshine with Anne as well as watching Chris style the Green for the first time since shoulder surgery).

Its been exactly a week since the trip ended and I am still feeling the need for more adventure. The trip definitely made me realize just how many amazing places there are in this huge country of ours and how many more things there are for me to see and do in it. Fortunately, I am sitting on Jay's couch in Hood River at the moment and plan to hit the Little White again tomorrow. I guess thats going to have to hold me over until my next epic journey....

Devastating News from the Futaleufu

2008-05-07T16:35:00.002-05:00

Volcan Chaiten erupting on May 1st, 2008

Last week a volcano in Southern Chile erupted and devastated the communities in its vicinity. Thousands of people have been evacuated and their lives changed forever. During my travels in Chile, I spent many nights in the town of Chaiten, as well as over a month in the Futaleufu Valley, so this news definitely hits close to home.

To help you better understand the situation, I am copying an email I received from Jon Clark, my friend and fellow instructor, who I spent a good portion of my past trip living with on his land in the Futaleufu valley.

"Friends and Family,

I hope you all are all doing well and enjoying your lives. I write this evening with some horrible news from the Futaleufu valley and the surrounding areas. Last Thursday night a volcano only six miles from the town of Chaiten erupted unexpectedly and covered the Futaleufu valley with tremendous amounts of volcanic ash. Since then, the volcano has continued to spew ash leading to accumulations of over one foot in Futaleufu. This has caused the evacuation of the entire valley including the towns of Futaleufu and Chaiten due to lack of water, food, and principally fresh air. Experts say that this type of eruption can last up to seven weeks and may also lead to partial destruction of Chaiten due to lava flows.

There is very little that can be done to preserve the livelihood of the Futa residents that many of you know. All they can do is flee the valley and save their own lives and their family’s lives. The devastating part is that they will more than likely have very little to return to once the ash seizes to fall. Livestock will perish, drinking water will be contaminated and the soil will not be fertile for years to come. I am afraid that life as we knew it in Futaleufu, as of last Friday, will never be the same.

The Chilean government has moved in to aid the victims in evacuating and also has plans to evacuate the 25,000 head of cattle that have been left to perish from dehydration and starvation. I am very pleased that Michele Bachelet is making it a top priority to try and save the only source of income many Futaleufu residents have, but I fear the reality of effectively evacuating this quantity of livestock is just not a reality. This event has the potential to permanently displace the valley residents leaving them to begin their lives from scratch in a foreign land.

My main concern right now is to make sure that all of my closest friends (many of which you all have met) are safely out of the Futaleufu valley and have a place to live, food to eat, and most importantly know that they have our support. Only time will tell of the long-term effects that this will have on their lives and we will deal with them as they come up.

As of right now I plan on traveling to Futaleufu (I am at NOC right now) sometime in the next few weeks and making sure that my friends are all provided with the basic necessities to survive while all of this settles down. Along with Aren and Sarah Rane (futa neighbors of mine from New Mexico), we have set up a relief fund that we will use to provide our friends and neighbors with supplies, shelter and anything else they may need. As many of you saw with our dear friend Tuto, when we work together, we can change lives. Below is an address where any donations can be sent to and deposited in the fund. Anything at all will be greatly appreciated.

I am very saddened to have to write with such bad news, but we have to come together and aid our friends in an extreme time of need. Feel free to call me anytime to find out more details and I will try and keep you all posted as I hear updated news from Chile. If you want to read about it just google, Volcan Chaiten, and you will get hundreds of pictures and news reports.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Jon Clark"

Here is the account information-

Checks payable to:
Futaleufu Relief Fund
P.O. Box 2344
Taos, NM 87571

Bank info:
ABA#307083665
New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union
P.O. Box 8530 Albuquerque, NM 87196
Account # 0029724010

I can tell you from my experience living down there, even for the short time that I did, that many of the people in the areas surrounding the volcano live, in almost every sense of the word, off of their land. So its hard to imagine the struggles they are facing now and will face for the rest of their lives due to this natural disaster. Any and all donations you are able to give to help the wonderful people of the Futaleufu valley survive during this unfortunate time would be greatly appreciated.

Las Islas Galapagos

2008-05-01T12:54:00.024-05:00

Sea lions relaxing on benches as we first arrive in the Galapagos

I arrived back in the US this past Sunday night after spending eight days exploring the Galapagos Islands by ship. The islands were truly indescribable, but I am going to do my best to give you a small glimpse into this amazing place. I will do this mostly with my pictures, with of course a few comments and stories thrown in.

Our trip involved living on an 80 passenger ship and disembarking with the use of zodiacs (small boats) to visit the islands. Each day we would usually hike and snorkel, sometimes doing both activities twice a day. In the middle of the day, when it was too hot to spend much time outdoors, there would be lectures or presentations lead by one of the guides about the islands, including their geology, wildlife and history. So not only did I get to see many wonderful things, I also learned a lot of very interesting stuff at the same time.

The best thing about the islands, in my opinion, is the naive nature of the animals. Because the islands were never attached to the mainland (they were formed by volcanoes in the ocean), any animals that arrived there naturally had to fly, swim, or hitch a ride on some debris. What that means is that there are no large land mammals. In fact, the only land mammals naturally found on the islands are a couple species of rats and bats. This, combined with the fact that humans did not until relatively recently start inhabitating the islands, has lead to the animals having no fear of humans. Because of this, you can get extremely close to all of the animals without scaring them off. They seem to look at you like you are just another animal and do not have the instinctual fear of you like animals in just about any other part of the world would.

Day One: Baltra and North Seymour Islands

After meeting up with the rest of the trip participants in Guayaquil, Ecuador, my mom and I hopped on a plane for our hour and a half ride over to the islands. We arrived into Baltra that morning and were quickly brought on board the ship. After unpacking and having lunch, we were off on our first excursion to visit North Seymour Island, home of the land iguana, blue footed booby and frigate birds, among other things.

A swallow-tailed gull

A blue footed booby

A land iguana

A frigate bird: The large red pouch you see in the picture is the male frigate birds way of attracting a female. It takes hours for the bird to slowly inflate his pouch, and once he does, he lives it inflated until he finds himself a suitable mate.

A view from North Seymour

Day Two: Espanola Island

Our first full day was spent at the most southern island in the Galapagos: Espanola. The main attraction here was viewing the Waved Albatrosses. I did know not what a Waved Albatross was before arriving, but lots of people were very excited to see them. It turns out that they are magnificent birds which spend most of their time in the Galapagos, but leave for about three months each year to go on a little holiday to various other places. The hike we took on the island also brought us through some marine iguana nesting areas and we were even able to witness two iguanas fighting over a nest.

We spent the morning hiking around on the island and in the afternoon we visited one of its bays for some snorkeling, hanging out on the beach and kayaking. This afternoon was the first time we really experienced seeing the sea lions up close and it made me fall in love with them. Because of that, you will notice that I am posting a lot of sea lion pictures. They are just too cute.

Two seal lions cuddling one of the beaches of Espanola

One of the many Waved Albatrosses on the island

A view from Espanola

My mom watching the sea lions play in the water while waiting for the zodiac to pick us up

Children from the trip playing with one of the sea lions pups on the beach

A sea lion pup on the beach

Another sea lion picture

Day Three: Floreana Island

This day started out with a snorkel off of the coast of the island. This was by far one of my favorite snorkel sessions because it was the first time I really got to experience swimming with the sea lions. Swimming with sea lions is just magical. I really do not know any better way to explain it. They are extremely playful creatures and love to have new friends join in their games. So when they swam up to me diving and flipping around, I quickly mimicked their behavior and before long there were around twenty sea lions joining in. I will never forget the time that I was allowed into their world and I will remember that experience as the greatest thing I did on my entire trip.

That afternoon we took a hike around the island and saw lots of flamingos in a large salt pond as well as a sea turtle nesting site.

Some of my sea lion friends

Me swimming with the sea lions

My mom and a sea lion mimicking each other

A video of the sea lions under water (I apologize for the crappy videography, but it was tough to capture them especially while swimming)

Day Four: Isabela and Fernandina Islands

On day four we visited the westernmost realm of the Galapagos. The geology and environment here are very different from the rest of the archipelago as a result of its more recent volcanic activity. We spent the morning doing a zodiac cruise of the islands followed by a snorkel that involved swimming with dozens of marine sea turtles. That afternoon we landed on Fernandina Island, took a walk along the coastline and saw many marine iguanas, sea lions and various birds followed by heading further inland for a hike in a section of the island covered in molten lava.

A view of Volcan Ecuador from the ship

Flightless Cormorant: This bird originally flew to the Galapagos, but after hundreds of years on the islands, it eventually lots its need to fly and subsequently, lost its ability to fly as well. Notice its tiny wings which are now too small to be capable of supporting the bird in flight.

One of the many marine turtles found in the waters around Isabela Island

A view of our ship- the M.S. Polaris -from Fernandina

The many marine iguanas hanging out on the island

Day Five: Santa Cruz Island

This day brought us to the first island where we witnessed the human aspect of the Galapagos. We started off landing in the city of Puerto Ayora, the economic hub of the Galapagos, and headed to the Charles Darwin Research Station to see the work that they are doing for the giant tortoises of the Galapagos. We saw giant tortoises from each of the different islands and learned about what the research station was doing to protect them. In the afternoon, we drove to the highlands and did a walk to find the tortoises in the wild.

My Mom with a huge (500 pound) giant tortoise at the Charles Darwin Research Station

One of the wild giant tortoises we found

A video of two giant tortoises mating: The only time a giant tortoise ever makes a sound is when its mating. You can here this on the video.

Day Six: Cerro Dragon and Sombrero Chino Islands

The morning started out with a hike at Cerro Dragon, which basically means dragon hill, named for the many land iguanas that habitat it. Along with the iguanas, we also saw some more flamingos on the island. That afternoon we went for two different snorkels, both provided the opportunity to witness more sea life, and the second one allowed us to swim with another amazing animal in the Galapagos- the penguin.

A flamingo found on Cerro Dragon

A sea lion doing a flip at the Guy Fawkes snorkeling sight

A view of the islands from the water

Me posing in front of a colony of penguins during a snorkeling session

A close up of one of the penguins

Day Seven: Bartolome and Santiago Islands

Our last full day on the islands started out early with a five hundred and something step hike up to the top of Bartolome Island. The early wake up call was well worth it though once you made it to the top and were granted an amazing view of Bartolome and the surrounding islands. Later that morning we all headed out for our last snorkeling session. Like allows we saw lots of cool animals including more penguins and sea lions as well as some white tipped reef sharks. The snorkel ended in a pretty exciting way when a large male sea lion got a little angry over too many terrorists being in his territory. He began leaping out of the water and barking loudly, trying to warn us all to get out of his space. Our guide was yelling at us to swim this way and that way and eventually we all got far enough away and were able to get on shore. She admitted to us once we were out of the water that she really thought someone was going to get bit. The sea lions we had been playing with were all females or young pups and this was my first real encounter with a bull, and an angry one at that. Anyways, it was a pretty interesting way to end our last snorkel and reminded us all that while these animals are seemingly unafraid, they are still wild animals and deserve our respect.

That afternoon we all went out for a walk around the island of Santiago. The walk mainly consisted of going around the coast of the island and getting some final views of the animals and scenery as the sun went down. It was a great way to end such wonderful trip.

A view from the top of Bartolome

A white tipped reef shark

My snorkeling self portrait

A penguin hunting for fish (I know its hard to see, but if you look closely you can see a penguin in the middle of a school of fish)

A fish I thought looked cool

A sea lion hanging in the waters of Santiago Island

Marine iguanas in the water

A hungry young sea lion waiting for its mother to return with food

Day eight: Daphne Major and back to Baltra

Our final day on the ship involved started out with a circumnavigation of Daphne Major, a small island close to Baltra. Daphne Major is well known for the studies that took place there involving Darwin's finches. The study consisted of measuring the beak size of the finches over a thirty year period and led to the discovery that the finches have evolved and their beak size has change in order to deal with the changes of climate from year to year.

From Daphne Major we headed back to Baltra to catch our flight back to the mainland of Ecuador. We took a few lasts pictures of some iguanas hanging out around the airport and said goodbye to the enchanted islands of the Galapagos.

A view of Daphne Major from the ship

After a night in Guayaquil my mom and I flew back to the states and I had to come to grips with the idea that my great vacation was finally over. I had an amazing time through it all, and even though there were a couple rough times thrown in, I wouldn't change a thing. Thanks to all of you who kept up with my blog, as it always made me feel better writing it when I knew someone was out there reading it.

After arriving back in the states, I took a day in Tampa to get everything packed up and by Tuesday I was driving back to North Carolina to start another summer in the mountains. Originally I had planned to lay low for a few days to get my life in order, but that didn't work out so well. Less than an hour after arriving in Bryson City I found myself meeting friends to head out to the local Mexican restaurant, Guayabitos and the following day managed to go kayaking twice, once in the Smoky Mountain National Park and once on my home river, the Nantahala. I did not however manage to get anything else accomplished and I can't say that bothered me at all. Its been a great year and only getting better!

See you on the river,
Laura

***One last note- I usually only post on this blog when I am traveling, but I am thinking that I will try and post anytime I do anything that I think is cool enough to be worthy of the blog, so check on it occasionally....

Traveling Ecuador with Heather!

2008-04-16T12:06:00.027-05:00

It would be difficult, if not totally impossible, for me you to tell you all of the amazing times Heather and I had over the past two weeks. That said, I am going to try and give you the abridged version of our adventures. However, as those of you that read my blog often have probably noticed, I am not very good at doing that so bear with me. If my writing starts to get boring just check out the pictures- they tell most of the story anyways.

Alright, so our trip started out two weeks ago on a Friday night when Heather flew into Quito. After going out for a couple of mojitos and a snack, we headed to the hostel to try and get some rest for the next day. The following morning we woke up early and hopped on a bus to the famous Otavalo Saturday Market. The Otovala Market is one of the most famous markets in South America and is a place where locals and tourists come together to do some much needed shopping. After the two hour bus ride, Heather and I arrived into town and quickly headed over to the animal market, where you can buy a baby pig for 25 bucks or simply weave your way through the cows, horses, and chickens, making sure to watch where you step.

A snapshot of the pig section of the animal market

Following the animal market, we made our way over to the artisanal section, which is probably what Otavalo is best known for. Due to how unbelievably cheap the stuff is, we couldn´t resist picking up a few key souvenir items- ¨Ecua-pants, ¨ hats, purses, etc. Next we decided to check out the food market- where raw chicken is sold by a vendor in the street and red meat hangs freely throughout the halls of the market. Heather was not exactly impressed by the sanitary conditions in the food market, and I was a little worried she might not eat any meat for the rest of our trip. After having a few piña coladas for lunch, we decided that we needed to head back to Quito before Heather bought her fourth pair of Ecuadorian pants.

Me trying on one of the many random items for sale in the Otavalo Artensenal Market

A view of the market and its beautiful surroundings

Heather during our nice dinner back in Quito

Sunday morning after a nice breakfast, we took a visit over to the Old Town of Quito, known for its historical buildings and churches. We started out at the Basilica, which I have now visited three separate times, but each time it ceases to amaze me with its beauty and views of surrounding Quito. After a long climb up the stairs, Heather and I finally reached the very top, and were granted some great views of the city. We decided to go ever further by climbing out the little door/window so that we were really standing out on the edge at the very top of the church.

A view of the angel that resides over the city from the top of the Bascilica

Me standing on the edge at the top of the Bascilica

The classic feet photo while out on the ledge

After the Basilica, we took a stroll over to the grand plazas of the Old Town and did some people watching. There were lots of different activities taking place, and it seemed everyone from Quito was out enjoying a nice Sunday morning. In an effort to give Heather a real Ecuador experience, I suggested we take the one of the city´s trolleys back to our hostel. Lets just say that we really felt touched by some of the locals we met on that ride, and I don´t mean touched in a sentimental way.

We arrived back at our hostel just in time to grab some ¨batidos para llevar¨ from the restaurant across the street and load our bags up to start on our journey to the jungle. We hired a private car that picked us up from Quito and took us to the Amazon, with an overnight at the Papallacta Hot Springs. Joining us was our driver, Danny, and his friend Luis. After a fairly quick and very scenic hour and a half ride, we arrived in Papallacta. Heather and I checked into our room and were blown away by how nice it was. We had our own private hot springs right in from of our room! We spent the afternoon in the larger, public hot springs across the street. We read, swam, relaxed, laughed and chatted for hours, meanwhile enjoying the warm waters and beautiful scenery. After having our share of the springs, we had dinner and then were invited out for a drink (or maybe two) with Danny and Luis. All that really needs to be said about that event is that I can assure you neither Heather nor I will ever be drinking ¨Sodka, the Ukranian Vodka¨ again.

A view of our room in Papallacta

Hanging out by the really really hot pool and watching some others attempt to get in

Luis, Heather and Danny with glasses of Vodka mixed with lemonade (the only mixer the place has) held high

We had a long way to go from Papallacta to the Cuyabeno Amazon Reserve, so got an early start the next morning. Heather and I were both very ¨Chichaki,¨ and the curvy, bumpy, eight and a half hour ride certainly did not help. Luckily, the scenery was pretty unbelievable (maybe the most beautiful place she´s ever seen, says Heather) which made it totally worth it.

A waterfall, just a 5 min. hike from the road, that we stopped to check out on our way to Cuyabeno

After the fairly epic car/bus ride, Heather and I finally made it to the entrance of the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve. The Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve is an elaborate system of wild lagoons, rivers and flooded forest found in North-eastern Ecuador. The reserve encompasses over 604,000 hectares of primary rainforest and boasts an incredible variety of Neotropical wildlife (yes, I stole that from the tour website). After reaching the entrance to the park, we still had another two hour motor canoe ride before we actually arrived at our lodge.

That two hour ride was one of my most favorite moments in our whole trip. The weather was beautiful, the fresh air as we cruised along felt great, and there were animals coming out all over the place. Luis (a different Luis than rode with us from Quito), our guide, was quick to start telling us about all of the flora and fauna in the reserve. Not five minutes after telling us that he´d never actually seen an anteater in the park, but that they existed, we saw one! It was a really cool experience, especially since it hung out on a branch close to us and allowed us to observe it for a good bit of time.

The boat ride to our river lodge

The anteater we spotted on the way to the lodge

Before arriving at the lodge, Luis had the boat stop in the middle of the lagoon so we could have a nice afternoon swim. He assured us that through his research he discovered that the piranhas swimming in the lagoon would not attack humans, and that the anacondas tended to stay in the river channels, so we should not be concerned. For whatever reason, we decided to believe him, and quickly dove in and cooled off.

Heather diving into the Piranha infested waters for an afternoon swim

We were extremely impressed with the lodge when we arrived. It was located on an island in the middle of the main lagoon. We had our own little open air cabaña complete with mosquito netting over each bed. There was a dining area where wonderful meals would be served and lots of hammocks for lounging. That was also when we realized that we were going to be the only people staying at the lodge for our whole four day tour, so we had the place to ourselves.

That night after dinner we all loaded back up into the motor canoe to go on a search for the caiman crocodiles. It was not more than two minutes into the ride before we saw our first set of glowing orange eyes in the water. We were staring at a family of three caimans that lived in the mangroves beside our lodge. In the dark, with a flashlight, the crocodiles are actually really easy to spot, because their eyes shine so brightly. From there we headed further out from the lodge and spotted some more caimans along with lots of nocturnal birds.

The following morning we were awoken early by what reminded me of my mom trying to get me up for school when I was younger. Turns out that it was not my mom but rather our extremely enthusiastic guide yelling at us to come check out the birds and monkeys that came to welcome us. Luis then took us on a little walk around the island and pointed out all of the beautiful birds and plants as well as spotted two different types of monkeys that lived on the island.

A¨bebe leche¨ monkey that was hanging out at the lodge

Heather and I showing off the look that Luis says the local indigenous community wears during their parties

That morning after breakfast, Luis, Heather and I took the good ole dug out canoe for a little spin. We paddled for a couple hours over to another lodge that Luis wanted to show us. We were so thankful he did because that is where we met our most favorite monkey- Pancho! Pancho was an orphaned monkey that Luis discovered a few months back and is now a permanent resident at the lodge. He is quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen and we could not get enough of him. We spent an hour or so at the lodge having a couple beers, hanging out in the hammocks and playing with Pancho.

Heather and I in the dugout canoe

A close-up of Pancho, our four month old monkey friend

Pancho getting comfortable on Heather´s shoulder

Pancho and I hanging out

That afternoon we headed back out in the canoe to do some piranha fishing. Before the fishing started, we spent about 30 minutes watching a pod of pink river dolphins playing and feeding in the river. The pink river dolphin was one of the animals I was most excited to see, and was glad that we were lucky enough to spot them.

The piranha fishing involved a stick with fishing line tied to it, some hooks (aka bent wire) and a big chunk of raw meat. The fishing started off slowly but before long we were all getting some good bites. Luis told us we needed to yank on the pole anytime we felt a nibble, and soon enough, Heather yanked and a carnivorous piranha came flying through the air.

Heather showing off her teeth to the piranha

The piranha showing off its teeth to us

It is probably hard to imagine why after seeing the piranha´s teeth we would still voluntarily jump into the lagoon´s waters, but hey, it was hot and we needed to cool off. So before heading back to the lodge for the night, we all went for another afternoon swim. This time a little bit more apprehensive having now seen with our own eyes the fish and crocodiles swimming around us.

The view of the lagoon as we headed to the lodge for the night

That night Luis said it was time for us to do a night hike. Heather was less than enthused about the idea of walking around the spider, snake and crocodile filled jungle at night, but she is also not one to back out of something easily, so she agreed to come. Fortunately for her it seemed as if it was going to rain shortly into the hike and Luis made the decision that we needed to head back to the lodge early. Before doing so however, he showed us some of the jungle´s insects and went prowling around by the mangroves to show us the caiman family we had seen from the boat the night before.

The next day is what I will refer to as the ¨day of the anaconda.¨ Our mission for pretty much the entire day was to see the one animal that we had really wanted to see but had not yet, which was of course the anaconda. In the morning we paddled up one of the small rivers where Luis assured us the anacondas lived. We checked every hole in every tree we could find, but had no luck. It was a pretty eerie scene regardless though due to the black waters and overcast skies.

A typical scene on our hunt for the Anaconda

Eventually we gave up on the anaconda and docked the boat on shore for a little jungle walk. On our walk Luis pointed out lots of interesting features in the jungle and taught us how we could survive on eating termites and sucking water from trees if we ever happened to find ourselves lost in the jungle. We thought that was cool enough, but what really got our attention was when a couple of girls that came with us (they were staying at the lodge as a university requirement) taught us about these twigs from a tree that you could smoke. We were a little skeptical at first, but after a nod from Luis, we both took a drag from our little jungle sticks.

Me smoking the twig from the jungle

That afternoon we headed back out for one final attempt to see the anaconda. I was in the front of the boat, and my job was stand up in the canoe and look in all the holes in the trees. At the time, this did not bother me too much. However, soon enough we paddled up to a tree and while I was about to peer into a hole, I heard a loud splash beside me and looked over just in time to see the tail end up an anaconda diving from a branch into the water. Apparently as I was preparing to look in the hole, and as soon as the rest of the boat saw the snake on the branch, it was startled by our presence and dove deep into the water about two feet from our boat. Luis says the snake was probably about 8 feet long. The anaconda can remain underwater for about 45 min. so even though we waited for a while hoping for another glimpse, it never resurfaced. One of the more memorable parts about the whole thing was that as it was happening, I was paddling backwards trying to get away (since I was in the front and practically touching the tree), Heather had her paddle lifted ready to fight (in case the snake somehow managed to get into the boat) and Luis was paddling forward (trying to get as close as possible).

That night we celebrated our anaconda sighting and our last night in the jungle by sharing the boxes of wine we brought with the lodge crew. It was a great night of laughing with Luis and hanging out in the hammocks drinking wine.

Heather and I rocking our newly purchased pants while hanging out in the hammocks

The next day it was time to say goodbye to the lodge and we loaded up for our two hour ride out the river. While loading up the island´s monkeys came out to say goodbye, just as they had to welcome us a few days earlier. After the boat ride we had another 2.5 hour bus ride on an unbelievably bumpy road before reaching the airport where we would catch a flight back to Quito. For whatever reason, they thought it would be good to drop us off 3 hours before our flight at the smallest airport I´ve ever been to in the middle of no where. We were the only ones in the airport (besides one single employee) for hours. That said, we got cozy on the floor (the chairs were horrible) and Heather read a book while I watched a movie on my ipod.

The airport scene

The next day was Friday, officially a week into Heather´s trip, and we had already set up transport to bring us from Quito to one of Ecuador´s coolest spots, the Quilotoa Crater Lake. Quilotoa is located very much outside of any city and took us about four hours to get to. Upon arrival we saw lots of people dressed up in costume and dancing around. It turns out the town was having a party in celebration of the opening of their new community center. We partook in the celebration and did a little indigenous dancing before hiking into the crater.

A young child herding cows and pigs outside of the Quilotoa community

Heather and I with some new friends we met at the party

It was very cloudy when we started our hike down the crater and I was a little nervous that we might not get to see much of the lake. After a bit of time though, the clouds started to lift and we could see more and more of what makes the place so special.

Heather in the clouds on the hike down to the crater lake

Heather and I posing above the lake

After the 45 min. hike down to the water level, we spent a bit of time just enjoying the view. We were also waiting for the donkeys that would carry us out of the crater to arrive. The last time I visited this lake I hiked out myself, but I decided that because of my ankle injury, it would be best if I hired one of the donkeys to bring me out. And not wanting to look like the only lazy person in our group, I made Heather get a donkey too.

That donkey ride was hands down the scariest thing I have done in my travels. There was no saddle, just a blanket thrown on the donkey´s back and a rope tied around it neck for me to hold onto. Along with the donkeys came two young girls from the community that hiked out with us while smacking the animals with a stick when we couldn´t get them to move. I had to close my eyes more than once while the donkey wobbled its way up the crater way too close to the cliff edges with me holding on for dear life.

Our donkey herders

Heather and I riding out of the crater

After hiking out of the crater, we had a few more hours to drive to our next destination, Uribina. Uribina is a tiny community located at the base of the tallest mountain in Ecuador, Chimborazo. We were headed there to stay the night in a mountain lodge located in the community. The lodge is also where we would begin our mountain bike ride the following morning. Unfortunately we never did get to see Chimborazo while at the lodge, as the clouds would simply not cooperate. On the bright so however, we got to play with Alpacas.

Heather hanging out with one of the lodge´s Alpaca

The first day of mountain biking could be best described with one word- muddy. It had rained the days previous to our arrival and the roads and trails we were riding on had definitely accumulated a few puddles. It was great fun regardless and we got to see lots of beautiful countryside while riding along cobblestone roads and single-track trails.

Heather riding through one of the many puddles we encountered

The next day of mountain biking started with a drive up the first refugio high up on Chimborazo. As we pulled up to the snowy mountainside, it was hard to believe that just days before we had been deep in the jungles of the Amazon. After our arrival at the refugio, we spent some time hiking around and getting tiny glimpses of the mountain. After a few cups of mate de coca, it was time to do some biking.

Our vehicle loaded up with bikes parked at the Chimborazo Refuge

Heather and I after a short stroll up the mountain

Heather geared up and ready to start the ride down the mountain

The ride started out pretty intense (for me at least) since we were literally riding in the snow. As it turns out, I am really no good at riding in the snow and I fell down a lot. Thankfully, when I fell it was usually because I steered myself into the deep powder, so most of the landings were soft. After a short while we got down to where the road had been cleared and which made the riding a little easier.

A video of Heather riding down from Chimborazo

After getting out of the snowy, desolate landscape we dropped back below treeline and did some more riding in beautiful Ecuadorian countryside. In total we did about 56km of riding that day, starting out only 1000 meters below the top of the tallest mountain in Ecuador and also the closest mountain to the sun.

A view of the countryside from our ride

After riding all the way into the town of Ambato, we hopped on a bus and were off to Baños. I was pretty excited to show Heather Baños, since it is a place that has meant a lot to me. The weather was beautiful as we arrived and neither Heather nor I could stop smiling. It is just such a stunningly beautiful place and that combined with our oh so very cozy hostel room complete with its own balcony made us very happy.

That evening was probably one of the most fun nights of the whole trip. We spent the majority of the evening hanging out with some of my local friends in Banos, Popo and Chamy. We started off the night with a ride on the Chiva, which is a big truck with bench seating that takes you high out of town with the hopes of seeing the lava of Volcan Tungurahuay. We ended up not seeing any lava, but were successful in acting ridiculously silly and laughing a lot (the rum probably helped with that). On the way down we decided to ride on top of the Chiva, and after getting smacked in the face with multiple branches, I now realize why they don´t generally encourage that. The night ended with a whole lot of salsa dancing...

Heather and I with Popo and his Australian friend on the way up in the Chiva

The next morning it was Monday and time to go canyoning. I had been canyoning a few times before but it was Heathers first time and she was really excited. The first repel that we did to get down into the canyon involved using the van as an anchor, which I found pretty interesting. From there we repelled down waterfalls, slide over wet rocks and dove into pools as we made our way through the canyon.

The first repel- anchored off the van

Heather doing one of the natural water slides

Heather repelling down a waterfall

And last but not least Heather jumping into a pool

That evening we decided to head to the hot baths that give Baños its name. Our bodies were sore from all the paddling, hiking, biking and canyoning we had been doing and we were anxious to feel the acclaimed healing powers of the volcanic water.

We woke up the next day to rainy, cloudy weather and decided that we would spend the morning just relaxing before catching our bus back to Quito. I had heard a lot about this ¨morning bath¨ thing that one of the hostels offered, but that I had never tried, so Heather and I decided to check it out. I´ll give you the rundown of what it involved- 5 min. in a sauna box with our heads sticking out, following by an Ecuadorian man showing us how to wash ourselves with a rag and a bucket of cold water, then back in the box, then more washing, then back to the box, then more washing, then another trip to the box, then some more washing following by getting into a cold pool where we were told to rub our bowels and the Ecuadorian man threw water on us, then one last trip to the box before our hose down massage. Yeah, pretty interesting stuff…. Not sure how they came up with it, but I will say it felt pretty nice.

The ¨box¨

After our ¨morning bath¨ we showered, packed and said goodbye to my friends before returning to Quito. In our hostel in Quito I ran into a friend of mine and fellow NOC instructor Dan Dixon who lives in Ecuador just about year round. He joined Heather and I for our last dinner together before she flew back to the states.

Yesterday morning I got up and helped Heather load up into the cab to head to the airport. It was tough to say goodbye, since that signified the end of our awesome trip together. I really can´t imagine how the trip could have gone any better and I am so glad that I got to travel around one of my favorite countries with one of my favorite people. I spent the rest of the day taking care of some errands and getting ready to for the next leg of my journey- meeting up with my mom and heading to the Galapagos Islands.

This morning I left Quito and boarded a plane for Guayaquil. The plane ride was great since I was able to get views of just about all of Ecuador´s tallest peaks sticking out above the clouds. I sat next to a retired pro wrestler who now does the Spanish play by play for WWF wresting matches. The way he talked he acted like I was sitting next to a celebrity- however I had to admit to him that I have never seen a WWF wresting match and probably never will.

And all that brings me to now…. Sitting at a computer in a loud, crowded mall in Guayaquil writing my blog. My mom arrives here in three hours and I will be headed to the airport to meet her. We will spend tomorrow relaxing in the hotel and maybe exploring the city a bit. Our Galapagos tour officially starts tomorrow night, and we´ll be on a plane to the islands Saturday morning. I have heard nothing but amazing things about the Galapagos and it has been a place I´ve wanted to visit ever since my first dreams of becoming a veterinarian when I was a little girl. That said, I am extremely excited about the trip and getting to see a new place with another one of my favorite people- my mom.

Living in Banos and Playing Librarian in Salasaca

2008-04-03T14:10:00.007-05:00

A view of the Rio Pastaza Gorge from the Banos zoo

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I got a little caught up in my life in Banos and couldn´t find myself in the right mood to post.

Anyways though, its been a fun two weeks. Easter weekend was great and involved a lot of partying for most of us there. For most of the Ecuadorians there however, it was a religious time, as Banos is known to be a very sacred place. During the weekend of Holy Week, people walk over 20 miles from Ambato to the church in Banos where they ask the Virgin of the Holy Water for special requests.

Hanging out on the rooftop terrace of my hostel in Banos during Easter weekend

The Monday following Easter I decided to check out a volunteer opportunity in an indigenous town called Salasaca, located about 40 min. by bus from Banos. I arrived in the morning, was introduced to the other volunteers, then shown the project they were hoping I would help with. The project pretty much involved being the librarian for the library they had in town. Basically they had three bookshelves of books that were not organized in any way besides by language. Needless to say, I spent the better part of the following week busing to Salasaca from Banos and doing my best to catalog and organize the library. It was not the most exciting thing in the world, but I was glad to at least be of some help to the community.

The library in Salasaca I was helping with

The bookshelves in the library after my attempt to organize them

Throughout the week, along with working in the library, I also found some time to enjoy hanging out in Banos. I spent a good bit of time in the local coffee shops practicing my spanish and doing some reading. I found an apartment to rent for the week from a lovely family that owned a restaurant next to the hostel I stayed at during the weekend. The apartment was about a 10 min. walk from the main part of town, but really nice and quiet and turned out to be a great place to spend my time in Banos. Another plus was that the family I was renting from was so wonderful that they regularly invited me to their family dinners at the restaurant.

Along with studying spanish and hanging out with my friends, I also did a few other fun activities in town. One day my friends Andy and Megan and I all went to do a zipline across the Pastaza river gorge. It turned out to be a lot more fun than expected and was different than other ziplines I´d done because we were attached at our backs, so you flew across the river superman style. Well worth the 6 bucks.

Megan and Andy as we head across the river to do the zipline

Me supermaning it across the Rio Pastaza

By the end of the week my foot was feeling a lot better and I decided it was time to try and do something more active. My first activity of choice was of course to go kayaking. So after talking to my friends at Geotures (the company I worked for last time I was in Banos) I arranged to borrow a boat and join them on one of their rafting trips. We ran the lower Rio Pastaza, a run that I worked on lots last time I was in town. I was amazed to see how much the river had changed over the last few years. The earthquakes (one of which I felt one morning in my apartment) and the rainstorms over the years made some big changes to the river bed.

After a morning on the river, I told my Ecuadorian friend Chamy that I had been wanting to visit the local zoo, which I had heard was actually pretty nice. He offered to go there with me and be my own personal tour guide. I gladly accepted his offer and we were off the the zoo. It was a pretty nice zoo, all things considered, and I got to see lots of animals that I have never seen before, including Jaguars and Pumas. The difference in this zoo from other zoos Ive visited is just how close you can get to the animals. A wire fence was pretty much the only thing between you and the animal, and most of the time the gap in the fence was wide enough to stick your hand through. The monkeys were especially excited about this, and would reach through the fences to try and grab your hand or steal things out of your purse if you weren´t watching. One of the craziest things though was the bear enclosure. One of the official tour guides opened up one of the gates and let us walk out on to this platform above the bears. The crazy part about it was that the platform did not even have railings across the whole thing. Meaning that one wrong step could have easily sent you down into the pit with the bears. All I could think of while standing on that platform looking down at the bear just 5 feet below me trying to climb one of the gates to get out, was of that event at the San Fransisco zoo just months ago when the lion got out and killed some visitors. Luckily, the bears never escaped and I managed to get out of the zoo unharmed.

A Jaguar relaxing in the zoo

One of the many monkeys that were running around freely in the zoo

My favorite animal I saw at the zoo (although ironically I cant remember what it was called)

The bear enclosure at the zoo (notice the openess of the platform just to the left of the girls)

On Sunday I decided that I would head out of Banos with my new friends Andy, Jeong-Mi and Monica, who were all on their way to Quito. I did not know exactly what my plans were at that point, but I was feeling ready to leave Banos for a bit and felt it would be most fun if I left with friends. Once we arrived into Quito, Monica headed to Mindo (a nearby cloudforest) and the rest of us checked into a hostel. The last few days in Quito ended up being really nice, mostly spent relaxing and checking out the city a bit. Each night we took turns cooking dinner for each other and played silly games that I had not played in forever, like Monopoly and Jenga.

One morning we all headed to the Basillica, a church with two huge towers that you can climb some steep sketchy stairs up and get a view of the whole city. It ended up being pouring down rain and lightening the whole time we were there, making the scaling of the towers all the more sketchy.

Andy and I at the top of the Basillica

Yesterday Andy, Lea (a German friend from the hostel) and I all took a visit to the men´s prison in Quito. Last time I was in Quito I visited the women´s prison and found it extremely interesting so I was looking forward to seeing what the men´s prison was like. After finally making it inside (there were lots of long lines of women wanting to get inside to visit their husbands) we were led up and down the floors of the prison in search of the person who´s name I had written down from the internet to visit. Eventually we discovered that that person was actually in a different section of the prison, so instead we ended up talking with Fred Murphy, a 59 year old man from London who is in prison for trafficing drugs. He had some pretty interesting stories to tell us about life in the men´s prison in Quito and took us a on a little tour of the place. Like the women´s prison, the men´s prison is an open cell prison, meaning that during the days the prisoners roam freely wherever they like. There are pool tables, restaurants, convenient stores, etc. inside and the cells are more like dorm rooms, with pictures covering the walls and Tvs in most. If you are ever in Quito, I definitely recomend visiting the prison, its a pretty sureal place that you will definitely not find in any guidebook.

This morning I said goodbye to Andy and Jeong-Mi who left for Columbia to continue on with their travels, as well as Monica, who headed back to the US this afternoon. Tonight I am planning to go to dinner and a movie with a couple of German girls who I met in the hostel.

My travels are about to get a lot better since Heather is flying in to Quito tomorrow night! I am so excited for the next two weeks of traveling around Ecuador together. We have lots of great adventures planned and I have a feeling its going to turn out to be an amazing couple of weeks. More stories and pictures to come!

!Back in Baños!

2008-03-20T18:38:00.002-05:00

Man it feels good to be back in Ecudor and specifically in my very favorite town of Baños. I arrived into Quito last night and after grabbing some breakfast headed straight to Baños this morning. Baños is the town in Ecuador where I lived for about six weeks during my last trip two here two years ago. The town is located at the base of volacano and is walled in by lush green mountainsides with waterfalls casading down. Its a pretty beautiful place to spend some time and its been a place I've been wanting to return to ever since I left back in 2006.

After checking into my hostel I quickly headed over to Geotures, the company where I worked before and also where most of my Ecuadorian friends still work. It was so great to see my friends again and I spent hours there just catching up. Later that afternoon I was walking down the sidewalk and happened to run into another old Ecuadorian friend, Alex, who I was told no longer lived in Baños. As it turns out, Alex is only back in town for the weekend, so I really lucked out getting to see him. He is an amazing guitarist and many of my memories from my last trip here involved hearing him play. I am excited to go listen to him play at a nearby resturant later tonight. After which I will be headed to one of the local bars with the Geotures gang for a little fiesta.

I am still not sure exactly what my plan is for the next two weeks, but no matter what I will be spending the weekend here in Baños enjoying the semena santa (Holy Week) festivities!

Ecuador Here I Come!

2008-03-17T13:10:00.004-05:00

A view of the Tungurahua Volcano and the town of Baños that sits at its base

Well, the trip to the doctor today was a success and he gave me the go ahead to leave the country, so I'll be headed to Ecuador on Wednesday! I will be in the cast for another week or so and spend a couple more in a brace, but all in all he said the ankle was healing well and that I should be able to resume my normal activities within the next few weeks.

While I have enjoyed being home and spending quality time with my family, I am excited to get back down to South America. I plan to spend the next few weeks in and around Baños (the town where I lived during my last trip to Ecuador) studying Spanish and/or doing some volunteering. At the beginning of April one of my best friends Heather will be coming down to travel around with me for two weeks and immediately following that my mom is flying in for our trip to the Galapagos. I am really excited about the next six weeks and I have a feeling they are going to turn out pretty great. More to come once I arrive back in South America!

Ankle Update

2008-03-05T22:39:00.005-05:00

Kiwi and I hanging out in my parent's house in Florida

On Monday afternoon I went to the Florida Orthopedic Institute to have another doctor check out my ankle. After taking off my cast and taking another xray, the doctor gave me the newest evaluation of my ankle.

Looking at the xray, he told me the same thing as the other doctors, that being that I have a fracture in my ankle that currently can be healed without surgery. He continued by saying that because my ankle was still very swollen and bruised, it was difficult to say just how stable it was and that there was a likely possibility that I had tendon damage. If tendon damage did occur, it would make my ankle less stable and increase the likelihood of reinjurying it to the point of needing surgery. He then gave me the option of putting another cast on my foot or putting me in a walking cast (basically a removable cast/brace). I quickly took the walking cast option and got fitted for my new boot. I am still using crutches, but can start weening myself off of them as I feel comfortable.

He wanted to see me again in 3-4 weeks to have a look at it once the swelling had gone down to have a better idea about the seriousness of the injury and what type of recovering plan would be best. I told him I had a flight back to Ecuador in two and half weeks and after a little coaxing he agreed to see in two weeks to see if he could tell me anything then. So as for now I am keeping my flight and hoping that in two weeks he is going to give me the go ahead to return to South America. Otherwise, I will have to move my ticket back again.

As for my life in Tampa, I am just trying to keep myself busy. Since it is my right ankle that is injured, I am unable to drive which leaves me pretty much helpless and stuck. I'm surviving by working for my mom's accounting firm part-time transferring general ledger trial balances into excel (not as much fun as it sounds), studying Spanish, working out my upper body, spending time with the family, playing with Kiwi and dreaming about my next adventures.

The Good News and the Really Bad News

2008-03-02T16:07:00.010-05:00

Me paragliding off of the newly discovered "El Torro" launch behind Jon's cabin*

I have decided to start this post off on a happy note, before moving on to the oh so sad story of my travels...

The good news is that I spent the better part of the last two and a half weeks living at Jon's cabin and having an amazing time. The three paragliders (Paul, Ben and L.E.) arrived into Chile safely and almost immediatley they were flying with condors 5000 feet into the air. The week to follow involved lots of paragliding, mostly for them but they also each took time to teach me a good bit as well. I was so excited to learn a new sport, and loved being there while the group of experts explored the Futaleufu valley by flight. One of the main goals of them coming was to help Jon find new launches and paragliding possibilities in the valley, and that they did.

Jon working on his high wind kiting

Jon's neighbor, Moses, cutting grass with his oxen (notice the paraglider in the upper left hand corner)

Besides getting familiar with the wonders of paragliding, we also managed to squeeze some kayaking into the week. On one of the days that we all headed into the town of Futa to stock up on supplies, Jon and I split up from the group to paddle the Upper Canyon of the Rio Futaleufu. It was the final section of river that I had needed to do, and also the most challenging. After an easy class 2-3 paddle from town down the Espolon river, we hit the confluence of the Futaleufu and quickly entered into the canyon. The canyon section was awesome and involved lots of back to back class 4+ rapids.

A view of the canyon from above

After the canyon theres a good bit of flat water before arriving at Zeta, the most dangerous rapid on the river. Jon and I quickly decided to walk around this one and considering that all of the water narrows down and bounces off of multiple walls filled with undercuts and potholes, I think we made a wise decision. After a little bit more flat water, we arrived at one of the other big name rapids on the Futa -- Throne Room. We decided to get out and look at it and after some quick debating, Jon and I decided to fire it up. I was a little nervous, especially since due to some sketchy (to me, not Jon) rock jumping, I decided not to scout the entire rapid, and just take Jon's word on the line. In the end though, we both had great lines and were psyched to have run the rapid. Jon (knowing that it would have affected my decision), waited until after the rapid to tell me that it was only his second time running it. We both took a second to celebrate our succesful runs and finished the paddle back to his house.

Okay now the bad news....

During the excitement of learning to paraglide, I managed to hurt my ankle. I basically came down hard on my landing, due to a number of circumstances that I will refrain from going into, and my right ankle twisted. I didn't think it was that bad, but because I still could not put any weight on it by the next day (last Saturday), we decided it would be in my best interest to take another visit to the Futa hospital. The doctor there took an xray and said that I had a small fracture in ankle and that I would just need to wear a cast for 10 days. That was okay news for me- 10 days in a cast I could handle. They didn't have any crutches so Jon made me some really sweet crutches out of wood around his cabin.

Standing in front of Jon's cabin with my cast and crutches

After a few more days hanging out at Jon's place, the group decided that they would head to Argentina to do some paragliding exploration and I decided I would take that opportunity to get a ride to Esquel where I could catch a bus north. I took an overnight bus from Esquel to Mendoza (at this point I had ditched the crutches since they were impractical for city life and made carrying my stuff difficult). The doctor didnt tell me anything about not walking on my foot and since he sent me out of there without any crutches, I imagined he'd expected that I would have to walk on it.

My plan was to catch another overnight bus from Mendoza to Salta (a city in Northern Argentina) and the following day head into Bolivia. This is where the story really heads downhill.... While waiting in the Mendoza bus terminal for my next bus, a couple of guys snatched my bookbag (containing my passport, ipod, camera, etc.) and ran off. I couldn't believe that they had the audacity to steal from the handicapped, but they did. Had it not been for my leg being in the cast I would have ran after them, but instead I basically had to watch them run away. So after an afternoon in the Mendoza police station filing a report, I hopped an overnight bus to Buenos Aires to get a new passport.

After a 16 hour bus ride (it was supposed to take 12) involving a flat tire and a flooded interstate, the bus finally arrived into Buenos Aires (on my birthday of all days). I headed straight to the US embassy to try and get my new passport. Even though I arrived after what was supposed to be the cut off for getting a passport for the day, the people at the embassy saw the exhaustion in my face and made some phone calls and made it happen. I went pretty much straight from the embassy to the hospital to get my ankle looked at and my cast taken off. At this point I was thinking that they would just take the cast off and maybe I would get a walking cast or something and move forward with my plans to meet Brian in Bolivia to do some kayaking. Unfortunatley, thats not how it worked out.

The doctors in Buenos Aires removed my cast, looked at the old xrays and at some new ones and told me that in no way should I have been walking on my foot for the past week. They told me that they needed to put another, better, cast on my foot and that I needed to wear it and be on crutches for at least a month. I argued with them for a while, saying that I wanted a walking cast so that I could continue my travels (although no boating), but they refused. They told me that if I continued to walk on my foot I would probably end up needing surgery. That got my attention and I let them put the cast on my foot.

I left the hospital feeling pretty defeated and at a loss for what to do. After spending the next 24 hours thinking about the situation and talking with my parents, Brian and some other friends, I decided that traveling alone with two bags (my main bag and my kayaking gear) on crutches through South America would be close to impossible and probably not much fun anyhow. That said, I made the very difficult decision to book a plane ticket back to the states for two weeks to get another opinion about my leg, let my ankle heal a bit and lighten my load. I booked a ticket at 6:30pm Friday night, got on a flight at 12:40am Saturday and arrived into Tampa yesterday morning.

It was very nice to see my family, but I am still having a difficult time adjusting to being in the states and accepting the fact that I will not be able to see all of the places I had wanted to. As of now, I have a flight booked to return to South America on March 19th into Quito, Ecuador, which means that if I am going to see Bolivia and Peru like I had planned I will have to either extend my trip or save it for another time altogether.

Tomorrow afternoon I am going to see the doctor and will hopefully learn more about what to expect for myself over the next few months. Keep your fingers crossed for me....

The Outhouse at Jon's cabin

*Thats not actually me paragliding, its Jon, but I wanted to make my injured ankle paragliding story seem cooler than it actually was. In reality I was only about 15 feet off the ground when I hurt my foot -- although I must say being 15 feet off the ground is still really fun. I would also like to say that this has not at all hindered me from my desire to paraglide and I still plan to launch of "El Torro" one day!

Exploring the Rio Futaleufu and its Surroundings

2008-02-15T10:09:00.009-05:00

The last two weeks I have spent living in the Futaleufu valley and lets just say that the river, and the entire valley, have certainly lived up to all its hype.

After catching a bus from Esquel to the small town of Futaleufu, I hitchhiked up the road and hiked into Jon´s place. The next morning Jon and I woke up bright and early to finish our preparations for the start of a 10 day NOC Adventure Travel trip on the Futaleufu river that Jon was leading and I was helping with. One of our necessary tasks was to transport some of the kayaks from Jon´s cabin to the road. Luckily, I came to visit Jon just months after he got his new four-wheeler, so rather than having to carry all the boats out the trail like we might have had to in the past, we got to load them up on the four-wheeler and rode out. After getting the boats and the gear situated, I rode with Jon back into Esquel where we picked up our two guests for the trip, Wes and Lauri, from the airport.

Jon finishing up overloading the four-wheeler with boats and gear

Surprisingly enough, the guests arrived on time at the airport and after a quick lunch, we were on our way again back to the Futa valley. That afternoon we checked into the cabin, located right next to the river, where we would be spending most of the next two weeks and then hit the river for my first taste of the Futaleufu.

During that time I was still recovering from my earlier sickness and had developed a pretty bad cough. After two nights awake coughing, it was decided that I needed to go to the doctor. After a visit to the Futa hospital, I was diagnosed with Bronchitis. The doctor told me I needed to stay off the river for three full days. That was pretty tough news for me, as I had only gotten one full day on the river at that point and was dreading the idea of sitting around the cabin and not paddling. Long story short, I decided that my sanity was more important than my physical health and I was on the river by the next day (taking it easy of course).

Over that first week, my health gradually returned to normal and Jon, Wes, Lauri and I spent everyday exploring all the Futaleufu river had to offer. We paddled the Terminator and Bridge to Bridge sections many times, as well as the Rio Azul, a lower volume river that flows into the Futa. Among the highlights was Jon´s first bull riding experience, Jon and I´s evening surf session of the Moondocka wave and horseback riding up a mountain in the Futa valley.

Jon preparing for his bull ride, which lasted less than two seconds
¨If you´re going to be dumb you better be tough¨ -Jon´s new phrase

Jon and Wes about to head down river

Me paddling down the Rio Azul with a view of the ¨Tres Monjas¨ peak in the background (Photo courtesy of Jon Clark)

Doing some horseback riding in the Futa Valley

A view of the upper section of the Rio Futaleufu during the horseback ride

Surfing out onto the wave in Moondocka (Photo courtesy of Jon Clark)

Me surfing the wave

After a week of boating on the Futa, we decided that it was time for a little Patagonia road trip up to the town of Chaiten to check out a river Jon had been wanting to do there, as well as pick up some gas for the truck (there is no gas station in Futaleufu). So last Friday night, after a day of boating the Futa, we all loaded up in the truck and drove two and a half hours to Chaiten. The river we were planning to do the next morning was the Michimahuida and involved 16 miles of class 4-5 whitewater. We started the day early, knowing that it could potentially be a long day, especially since it would be everyone´s first time down. Jon, Wes and I (Lauri decided that she would rather sit that adventure out) were at the river by 7am, ready to get our boof on.

The run turned out to be more spectacular than we could have ever imagined. I feel like I say this in every post, but that river truly was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my entire life. It took us through deep deep gorges, that always seemed to remind you that you better have good lines, cause there was no way out of there besides on the river or in a helicopter. We were also surrounded by glaciers and the Volcano Michimahuida pretty much the whole time. Along with the scenery, the whitewater was amazing and good lines were had by all, making the overall experience an excellent one. Wes´s comment, while loading up the boats after the run, was that he felt like breaking his paddle and throwing his gear in the water because it ¨simply can´t get any better than that.¨

A view of the Rio Michimahuida with a glacier in the background

Me peeling out of an eddy preparing to run one of the class four rapids on the Rio Michimahuida (Photo courtesy of Jon Clark)

A view of the Volcano Michimahuida from the road on the way to the river

The sunset over the ocean in Chaiten (Photo courtesy of Jon Clark)

After another night in Chaiten, celebrating our successful trip down the river, we loaded up and headed out, without really knowing what we were going to do that day. There was talk of a hike, visiting some hot springs or just returning home to the Futa. Somehow or another we arrived back at the Rio Michimahuida and after speaking with some locals, decided the three of us would put back on, higher up than the previous day, and see what we could find. We had no idea what the section of river would be like and were pleasantly surprised to find the short section filled with classic class four whitewater.

Our ¨Go NOC AdTrav¨ pose on the truck while driving through a river to get to the put-in (notice the volcano in the background)

Jon and I drinking some Cervezas Negras riverside after the paddle

The final days of the trip were spent back on the Futa. With the fluctuating water levels, huge waves and epic surfs, there is certainly no getting bored on that river. One evening we all headed to Jon´s cabin to watch him do one of his newest extreme sports, paragliding. From his cabin, he basically throws on a large backpack with his wing inside, spends 45 minutes hiking up the mountain behind his land and then essentially walks down a few steps, allowing his wing to inflate. Within 10 minutes he was flying high above the mountain´s peak. He spent about an hour and a half in the air on what he said was one of his best flights yet, before landing in the field in front of his house.

A picture of Jon paragliding over the Futa Valley (look in the middle of the sky on the left side)

The trip ended great, and Wednesday morning we all loaded back into the truck to drive Wes and Lauri to Esquel to catch their flights out. Jon and I had lots of errands to run in Esquel and after surprisingly completing them all, we headed home. We were both pretty excited to get back to Jon´s cabin and relax after the trip.

Thursday morning we woke up expecting bad weather and were pleasantly surprised to find a nice day. Even though we had talked of not doing much productive that day, we soon decided neither of us were cut out for that and went on a mission to fix up Jon´s paragliding launch sight in preparation for the three paragliders that were to be arriving in the coming days. So off we went, with a rake, cutters, machete and weed whacker in hand up the mountain. We decided to go up the rocky path, since Jon did not yet have a trail cut all the way through the forest. It proved to be extremely steep and well, rocky. I really don´t know how Jon hikes that heavy wing up those rocks in 45 minutes, but he does lots of pretty crazy things, so its no surprise. After finally reaching the top, 1200 feet above Jon´s cabin, I was blown away by the view. Just from there I could see why Jon has fallen in love with paragliding. We spent the afternoon weedwhacking and raking the launch site, then continued down through the forest and cut and marked a trail all the way to the bottom. It ended up being much more of a mission than originally expected, and took us over 6 hours.

Jon doing some weedwhacking at the paragliding launch site

Yesterday morning we headed back to Chaiten, in order to pick up the paragliders that are arriving here on a ferry later this morning. After our discovery of the short section of the Michimahuida, we decided we could not go back to Chaiten and not do it, so we brought boats and a bike along (to run the shuttle with) and did a quick paddle yesterday afternoon. Following the paddle we drank some more cervezas negras and took a dip in the local hot springs.

The three paragliders arriving today are coming from the states to do an exploratory Chile paragliding trip with Jon. I am pretty excited to be around to see how it goes and am hoping to get some free lessons along the way. With any luck, I´ll be flying off the mountain behind Jon´s house next week (not likely really, but I´m being hopeful).

I plan to spend the next week or so back at Jon´s place boating and paragliding then I´m off to Bolivia to start the next leg of my adventure. I will be meeting my friend Brian, from North Carolina, there to explore some of Bolivia´s whitewater. Should be epic.