First descent of Lower Rio Putumayo and another lap on the Rio Mocoa, Colombia

Come on horses you know you want to drag kayaks into that valley

South West of Villa Garzon is the gorgeous Rio Putumayo

 

First descents are magical adventures. The opportunity to paddle through pristine valleys and test both judgement and paddling skill is truly… Epic! What most people don't think about is the leg work that goes into searching out these elusive gems.

Giorgio, Joel, and our motorcycle guides looking up into the Putumayo valley

Fear and respect are often misconstrued. I respect the fact that I have no idea what is down stream during a first descent, there is no reason for me to fear that. White water is simply water, gradient, and obstructions. To understand these features and make solid judgement calls on the accessibility and kayak-ability of a given river takes years of practice.

Just an average day motorcycle scouting

In the case of the Putumayo our team, Giorgio Codleuppi, Jared Page, Joel Fedak, and myself spent three full days scouting from busses, taxis, and motorcycles (three of us on the same motorcycle). After exhausting attempts to penetrate further into the canyon our team reluctantly agreed on a lower then desired put in location. The plan was to paddle for approximately six kilometers to the next accessible exit point: a small bridge in the village of La Mangua.

Joel Fedak, talked like a pirate the entire time

Paddling day we started early, awaking with the sun. Our first hurdle was obtaining a pickup truck to transport us and equipment to the microscopic village of El Carmen. From El Carmen it is approximately three miles to our desired put in location. Wanting to save energy for the unknowns down stream, our group entertained the idea of renting horses. It only took a few minutes of chatting and one of the locals offered up his services.

Wave Sport horse

look close we are bush whacking in there

If you have ever tried attaching kayaks to horses, you know it's a struggle. The saddle system our farmer had wasn't exactly kayak friendly. Our three mile hike took two and a half hours of constant kayak adjustment and prodding of the horses. Once we arrived at the river the farmer told us that we could paddle across, and hike another 20 minutes up the valley to arrive at our originally desired put in location. Daylight hours were burning fast, and we hesitantly gave up on hiking further into canyon.

What Colombian horses are supposed to do

We put on a beautiful river. The Lower Putumayo has clean clear water and the rapids consist of fun class 4+ boulder gardens. There were few blind horizon lines, but all main lines paddled well.

Chris Baer in an average rapid

Information I was able to attain after paddling the river

The headwaters is large, a heavy rain in the drainage could be disastrous to anyone in the gorge. The mountain the river cuts through has an amazing rock structure. The lowest formations are formed of large granite pieces. This would have the tendency to build large nearly vertical features. The canyon section will be very demanding and deserves more inspection. If you would like to know more please contact me.

Torrential rain at the take out bridge

Rio Rumiyaco and Mocoa

International kayaking usually involves intricate logistics. That is not the case with this quick and easy afternoon lapper.

The river is truly across the street from the front door

Just South of the city of Mocoa, is Hostel Casa del Rio. I would strongly suggest basing here while paddling in the region. On a casual day you can truly walk across the street and put your boat in the local swimming hole, the Rio Rumiyaco. Paddle down and enjoy the local swimming hole culture for about a mile, and then confluence with the Rio Mocoa.

Giorgio with a swimming hole ride along

Unfortunately this river is attached to the plumbing of the bustling city of Mocoa. The water quality is bad. Wearing ear and nose plugs is definitely recommended. The good news is that the river is super fun class four. There are a ton of great boofs, tight slots, and attainment moves hidden everywhere. It can also be paddled from bottom of the barrel low to flood stage. The take out is just outside of Villa Garzon. Catch a truck in the town and zip your way back to Casa Del Rio just in time for happy hour.

another adventure brought to you by Chris Baer

Rio Caqueta, two days in a committing canyon

Yea! its walled in, look close that little spec is Jared

The Colombian adventure continues, next on the check list was the third descent of the Rio Caqueta. With some amazingly vague beta, "It should take one or… three days? there is some pushy white water! with a portage… or a few!?" Giorgio Codleuppi, Jared Page, Joel Fedak and myself packed our boats with a little better then an overnights worth of food, light weight sleeping arrangements, and few guaranties. What we could see from maps was that the canyon was covered in a dense jungle, and was very containing.

middle of no where

We piled into a pickup truck and made our way to the river. Upon arrival the river's flow looked pretty low, but the general size of the river was huge! An estimated 4,000 cubic feet of water per second was pumping through the canyon. We put on directly below the highway and quickly arrived at a vertically walled section. It's Beautiful! There are a few small water falls plunging hundreds of feet into the canyon. These falls make the walls glisten with their spray.

House size rocks, and hydraulics to match

Into the big rapids!

Early on day one, receiving a single thumbs up I charged into what looked like the big side of a fun rapid. Coming into the blind bottom section it was one huge feature after the next. A couple strong forward strokes blasting through hydraulics, a quick brace, and a WTF! In front of me was a twelve foot wide six foot deep hydraulic. The bravado in me said to boof over the hole. My attempt was almost laughable. A quick window shade and I popped up just in time to throw a horrible looking loop towards the corner of the hole. One more window shade, and I resurfaced with a single thought, "That can't happen again." The group pulled over and took a time-out to reassess our hand signals.

 

Big and Pushy

There was immense pour overs everywhere! Our group did a fair amount of scouting, wadded through side channels, and peering over house size boulders into the turbulent river. With an empty boat and a solid warm up, I know most of the marginal lines could come together… With a heavy boat and the looming walls of the canyon, skirting and running away from big features was the game plan.

Late in day one the pace was slowing, it was one huge barely scoutable rapid after the next. We spent an hour of scouting a particularly nasty rapid, just to agree upon a cheat line. Climbing out of our boats at the next horizon line we were confronted with an enormous siphon, the entire rivers flow smashes into a couple apartment building size rocks and disappears. After our quick portage the light started to dwindle.

4,000 cfs siphon

(Colombian rivers have been known to rise incredible amounts, last year Mark Hentze was washed away in the middle of the night do to a huge unexpected surge of water.)

We chose an elevated beach and unloaded our boats. The scenery was beautiful; but camping in the jungle has a few draw backs. Sand flies, and constant precipitation, made the small damp fire a little less enjoyable. We ate food and shared stories of near misses with huge hydraulics. As the evening developed the temperature dropped, and I found myself with an inadequate sleeping system. I slept in every layer I had that wasn't soaking wet.

Day Two we awoke to clear skies and gorgeous views

Once on water we were confronted with more scouting, and more running from huge pour overs. Arriving at yet another large rapid Giorgio charged in and disappeared over a large horizon line… It took him a few seconds to come back into view. When Giorgio looked upstream he once again gave us an awkward hand gesture. Joel was next to paddle into the melee. Upon arriving at the bottom of the rapid, Joel's hand single was distinctly different. His hand signal portrayed a very well defined get left!
Jared took off into the rapid looking for the left line, unfortunately he found himself disappearing off a large horizon line. From above I could see his boat catch major air twice before relieving itself of the hydraulic. Jared then rolled up just in time to fall into yet another, much larger hydraulic. His beating resumed immediately. Jared was dealing with a heavy decision, and oxygen depravation was working against him. Abandoning craft, sleeping arraignment, clean water, and food, Jared hit the eject button. Thankfully Giorgio and Joel were in great position, and cleaned up the situation quickly.

Giorgio Codleuppi making friends with a local fishing family

Mid day on day two we exited the canyon. The gradient and pace quickly petered off, and we found ourselves slowly dodging fishing boats. We paddled the last two hours to our take out in the small community of Puerto Limon.

Puerto Limon, looking back at the beautiful Caqueta valley

adventure brought to you by Chris Baer