Another extremely committing canyon in Colombia, Rio Junambu

Joel Fedak enjoying the entry rapids

My six-week trip to Colombia was quickly coming to a close and our team was in the southwestern corner of the country. It was going to take a solid three days of van, bus, and pick-up trucks rides to get back to Bogota and depart.

such a huge country with so much to offer

Jared Page heading towards the gorge

One more, one more, one more, is a recurring theme in my life. After a quick discussion we realized that we could sneak out for yet one more adventure. The boys had paddled the Rio Junambu the previous year and spoke of a deep canyon with quality class 4 rapids.

smashed into the mini van

Access to the canyon took a little longer then anticipated. The road had degraded over the season, and was now exceedingly jarring. Exacerbating the situation was the fact that we packed six deep into a mini van, with all three of our creek boats loaded inside the van with us.

Rio Junambu, Colombia from Chris Baer on Vimeo.

An arching bridge marked our put in, and upon inspection the water level looked a little low. We bumped and ground our way down the river for a bit until we reached the first major tributary on the right. The confluence rewarded us with double the water. From here down there was one small tributary after the next. Unfortunately at least a couple of these tributaries are the runoff from villages far above. These streams brought in an abundance of trash and some interesting smells.

Jared Page in the boogie

As the river got bigger so did the rapids. It was fun class 4. We picked apart the rapids, finding alternative and interesting lines.

more great class 4

Jared Page entering the canyon

As we approached the canyon sheer walls shot straight up. The gorge was a few hundred feet deep. It was beautiful. Unfortunately the gorge wasn't very long, so we stopped and took a small break enjoying the location and a quick snack.

our take out bridge

Paddling out of the canyon leads you to two different historical bridges, both are arches, and it would be really easy to misidentify the one that your shuttle driver was waiting at. After hiking the few hundred vertical feet out of the canyon we continued switchbacking our way up to the new yellow bridge at its rim. The hike was exhausting. My hope that our shuttle was in the right location dwindled, along with the light.  A handful of phone calls later we luckily contacted Yander Gavilanes a local rafter in the community. It took a few more calls and Yander re-coordinated the shuttle driver.

yes we hike to that yellow bridge

Yander also invited us to hang out in the town of Buesaco. The next morning we took a small tour of town and of a local farm. Colombian coffee is amazing especially when it is served piping hot, feet away from where it was grown.

enjoying breakfast on the farm

the view from our 20 dollar hotel in Buesaco

The Junambu was a great way to wrap up an awesome six-week adventure in Colombia. A huge thanks to all the Colombians for making this one more trip of a lifetime!

another adventure by Chris Baer

Deep in Guerrilla Territory, Rio Guabo and Guiza

I have received some flack about this writeup, please understand this is MY interpretation of the situation. Everyone we meet in this area was exceedingly friendly, and I am hopeful to return to this amazing community.

Jared Page enjoying Rio Guabo

Risk assessment 

 

Over the years I have done a lot of it. Trying to figure out what amount of risk is worth the reward is a constant in my life. Dealing with whitewater is relatively easy; you can see the hazards. Dealing with Guerrillas and corrupt military is entirely different. Every one becomes suspect, and the level of tension escalates quickly.

pretty far out there

Two fellow paddlers and I packed for another sixteen-hour bounce bus ride to the relatively large city of Pasto. We were excited to be meet at the bus station by a local acquaintance, who is starting a tourism business in the city.
 

another comfortable ride to the river

The goal of our trip was to head to the tiny town of Piedrancha and paddle a couple new sections on the Rio Guabo and Guiza. The two other paddlers had been in the area the previous year and spoke highly of the rivers. There was also a mystery canyon downstream that they hadn't gotten to paddle. On Google Earth the canyon looked steep and very committing.

Guerrilla territory

One large issue with the area is that Piedrancha is directly in the middle of hostile Guerrilla territory. As we arranged transportation, the locals in Pasto were asking us why we wanted to go to such a dangerous place. It took us a while to find a driver that was willing to go into the area. Finally Milton introduced himself and was willing to go into Guerrilla territory.
 

Bribing the military

On the way to Piedrancha, the military check points quickly increased. It was at one of these that our truck was pulled over. The military dug through our boats and checked everything they could. They were looking for a bribe. My heart was pounding as I was surrounded by late-teens with machine guns looking for a little cash. It took a little while for this to develop, but eventually the cash came out. We bought off the folks at the military check point and were able to continue on our mission.

the team 

Upon arrival in Piedrancha we met with the local dentist, Eduardo, who speaks fluent English. We hung out with him into the evening, talking about logistics, Guerrillas, and joking - all while drinking beer and listening to his ancient record player. 

That evening we headed into the center of town to grab a bite to eat and meet up with our Pasto connection, who was coming in on a later transport. We found a place serving an interesting version of a hamburger and started chatting up the locals. The moon was rising brightly over the city, so I walked down to get a cool angle for a photo. I quickly had a laser sight pointed on me. Thankfully it was the military, and after a quick harassment they let me go.

moments before being in the cross hairs of the laser sight

After two interesting confrontations with the military, all I wanted to do was find a safe place to pass out for the evening. The next morning we awoke to the beautiful mountain town and walked to breakfast. The Pasto connection had set up a meeting with one of his childhood friends, Evan. Evan has a sizable influence in the area. After promising Evan that we were not politically involved, weren't members of Farc (the Guerrilla organization), and that all we really wanted to do was go kayaking, he helped set up meetings with the two local township mayors.

Shaking hands with the Mayor

Meeting with the mayors (Giavanny Melo and Eder Burgoswas) was interesting. I have never jumped through so many hoops to paddle a remote section of whitewater. We shook hands and once again promised that we were not there on corrupt business. Both of the mayors were more then friendly and gave us the authorization to paddle the river. They even signed a note that we referred to as our "get out of jail free" card. Giavanny went one step further and donated his personal truck and assistant. We were stoked - transportation was taken care of.

get out of jail free

DRAGONS!

yea were in Farc territory now

We started scouting the river; it looked great, big granite boulders with enough water to navigate with out being too pushy. As we scouted further down the river, the Guerrilla influence became more and more visible. "Farc" was spray-painted on houses. We chatted locals about the lower canyon, and all of them had a different version. It was twelve kilometers long - no it was 2 kilometers. There are waterfalls… it all goes into rocks… snakes… Guerrillas… coca fields… DRAGONS! Well, maybe not dragons, but the beta we were getting was way to loose - especially after asking the follow up question, "have you seen it."… "Well, no. You can't see in there."

sketchy scouting near coca fields

Our time was running out. Part of our agreement with Giavanny was that we would make a guest appearance in front of the town. We would talk about why we (the crazy gringos) like their town and river so much. Finishing up the appearance, we shook tons of hands, signed autographs, held babies, and got a hundred pictures taken… we were treated like rock stars!

enjoying town life

Blast zone

We piled back into the pickup and headed to a family farm, which was only a couple miles away and adjacent to the river. Upon arrival on the property, the one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was a pipeline. It went directly through the farm. The pipeline carries oil from the lower flat lands to the west coast to be exported. One of the locals then pointed out that this is one of the things the Guerrillas are very opposed to. It turns out the Guerrillas are partially eco-terrorists. They have opposed the taking of natural resources from the country, especially when the locals are not financially reimbursed for there losses. We walked along the pipe line for a couple minutes, and noticed a large clearing in front of us. "That's where they blew it up," he said.

the damaged pipe line

The Guerrillas had blown up the pipe line five months earlier, and there was a massive blast zone. The pipeline had been repaired, the local said it probable wouldn't be long until something else happens to it.

eating with the mayor

The next day we awoke and once again walked to breakfast; this time we ate with the Mayor Giavanny Melo. He was all smiles, excited that we were there and that we weren't too afraid of the Guerrillas and the reputation of the area. We finished breakfast and packed the mayor's truck with our boats. It was finally time to go paddling. The plan was to run a bunch of different sections - partially to go through the city areas and appease the curious locals, and partially to run some first-descent sections.

packing the mayors truck

enjoying the polished granite

Finally on the river

The river paddled really well - fun, polished boulder gardens. We were in and out of the truck, skipping sections that had been paddled the year before. Meeting and greeting the locals at every bridge, with tons of pictures and handshakes.

Gurappo bridge meet and greet

Half way through the day we stopped at yet another bridge, and the locals flocked towards us. Cameras flashed, kids climbing on the kayaks, and every lady from 6 to 60 cuddled up for a hug and a picture. One of the paddlers turned into an instant celebrity after giving a couple kisses on the cheek. The best was that one of the local farmers had brought down some of his local brew (Gurappo), this stuff was delicious and definitely potent. After a few hundred photos and a few sips of Gurappo we turned and continued downstream.

sipping on Gurappo and looking for a date

The River continued its user friendly nature, and we quickly made miles until we were waved over by the Family Florez, they offered us pork belly, juice, and their daughter. Smiles, high fives, photos, and we pressed on.

charging into another stompy fun rapid

Early in the afternoon we arrived at the biggest rapid of the day. From our scouting perch it looked like all the water moved towards the left against a tall vertical wall and dropped into a couple large hydraulics. I thought it looked fairly reasonable and charged in. The first major hydraulic was big, and I took a huge stroke and found myself barely on the back side of the boil. The rest of the rapid was pretty rowdy, and I stopped at the next possible eddy. I tried to give the other paddlers some hand signals and set safety; it was big. The next boater charged in, and took a hard right line at the hydraulic, and came through relatively smoothly. His first words in the eddy were, "damn that hole is BIG."

Chris Baer heading towards the big hydrolic

Our last paddler brought up the back of the pack and tried to get right of the hydraulic. It didn't work, and he ended up taking a large piece of the hole. Next thing you know, he was in for a major rodeo session. He stuck it out for a while and then abandoned ship. The swim was brutal - ledge after ledge - and a ton of down time. By the time he got to us, he was totally exhausted and couldn't even hold onto our grabloops. Finally, I helped corral the swimmer to the right-hand shore. I asked him if he was ok and he responded slowly and weakly with "I think so?"

Urging him to get all the way out of the river, the other paddler and myself took off into the unknown chasing his gear.

Rio Guabo

Things to remember... Float bags, and throw rope practice.

Unfortunately, our swimmer didn't have his float bags in his boat, and recovering the mostly-submerged boat took an extended amount of time. Upon pinning his kayak, it took me three lousy throws to get the rope out to pendulum the boat in to shore.

Guiza at it's finest

Go throw your rope!

We cleaned up the situation, and the other paddlers energy levels were dwindling. We scrapped the rest of the day and were rather content getting some new first descents and a great rapport with the locals.

We changed into dry cloths and packed into the mayor's truck one more time - this time seven deep with three kayaks for a three hour drive back to Pasto.

All said and done, this is a beautiful and relatively dangerous part of the country. Talking to the mayors might be the best way to guarantee a safer visit and local cooperation. The entire river drainage looks great. The canyon section is still filled with dragons and needs a strong-willed crew to slay them… I want in!

another adventure by Chris Baer

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