So I know this is a little overdue, but better late than never right?
Lance Reif running Big Boy on the Cascadas Micos
What do kayakers do in the winter? Some of us head to the ski slopes, some travel for more whitewater, but I wanted both. So me, John McConville, and Chris Baer met up in Brownsville, Texas and crossed the boarder into Mexico for a month of paddling before I head to Tahoe for the winter. Getting across the boarder was simple, we payed car registration and insurance and that was it. We then drove about 7 hours to Ciudad Valles where my friends Aaron Koch and Marjie Young spend their winters working and playing for Adventura Huasteca.
Chris Baer making it look easy on Big Boy
On our first day Aaron and his friend Phil took us to the Cascadas Micos for some class III-IV waterfalls. All the waterfalls have nice rolling lips formed by travertine rock. Travertine is kinda like sandpaper. It is really sticky but also quite soft, but it does make for some interesting features. Only place I have ever been where you can walk back up the same waterfall that you just went over.
El Torro, the typical put-in for the Cascadas Micos
The typical put-in for this run is at the base of a 70ish foot waterfall known as "El Torro." We scouted it and all decided to stick with the normal put in. It was a fun day of running drops forwards and backwards since there is not much consequence on this run.
enjoying a stress free first day in Mexico
The hardest rapid on the section is "bad boy," which has a twisting slide lead in which if you bust over one of the waves it sends you into a big angled boof with potential for beat down.
Running the left side at Bad Boy
On day 2 of our trip we all headed to the El Salto for some more fun on travertine. This run was similar to the micos but with more technical drops. It is the same river as the micos, just further upstream. The take out drop, El Mecca, has been run by a handful of boaters and it has tooled a few.
John McConville checking out El Mecca
Running the 20ish footer on the El Salto
John on the 2oish footer
The last real rapid before El Mecca has a 15 ft. waterfall on the right of this nice line down the left, but just when I thought I nailed the line I got reminded how sticky this travertine is. I stuck to the last "rock" to get around and fell off of it sideways and threw some cartwheels in my Everest before I paddled out. I wasn't too worried about any danger, I could hear everyone laughing and cheering me on.
About to rodeo my creekboat
On day 3 we hopped on with Adventura Huasteca for a trip down the Tampaon, one of their commercial rafting runs. The Tampaon is a beautiful river at the bottom of a deep canyon. The trip was pretty entertaining for me to see what it would be like to raft guide in Mexico. Marjie guided one of the rafts while Aaron took photos for the trip and the rest of us enjoyed some big waves and great views.
The crew enjoying the 5th canyon of the Santa Maria, aka the Tampaon
Day 4. Chris, John, Aaron, Phil, and myself loaded into my Saturn (which we now named Linda) and headed off for the Rio Ojo Frio. After asking for directions a few times we found the put in and decided to put on and worry about getting back to the car after the run. The river was pretty similar to the El Salto, being that it was also travertine. It was much lower volume than the things we had run so far and the trees overhang most of the run. When we finished the run Aaron and I hitchhiked back to Linda pretty easily. When we got back to the others they had got some great pictures of a man passed out on a gravel road. Classic Mexican photography.
Mexican Siesta!
Stay tuned...more to come!
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