Dropping off the 3rd waterfall with the other 2 in view (the 45 ft. is in the back)
After some good runs down the Micos and El Salto the group was itching for something harder. Aaron Koch and I talked it over and after getting some beta from our buddy Rocky we decided to go check out the 1st canyon of the Rio Verde. This is not the Green that you hear so much about, but it is still some quality whitewater. The group again consisted of: Chris Baer, John McConville, Aaron Koch, Fil Payne, and myself.
Only a few hours from Ciudad Valles and we were on the dirt road heading for the put in. when we got to where we thought it would be we couldn't see any way down to the river. So we drove back out to a farmer we saw working in the field and sent Aaron to get directions from him. I guess the guy decided he would just show us the put in, so he with an orange in one hand and a gun in the other hand the farmer got in Aaron's Jeep and back we off we went to find the river.
Top of the 45ish footer
We knew that there were several waterfalls on this run, one around 40-50 feet, one 120ish footer, and several smaller ones. So after running shuttle we put on and after a few small rapids we came to the first big horizon line. This one looked to be 40-50 feet from the top, but a good landing and take off. So Chris, John, Fil, and I played several rounds of paper, rock,
scissors for who got to go first. Chris won and fired off it with a good line. I went next and although it was not the best looking line it worked out well for me. Last, John gave her a go with another good line.
scissors for who got to go first. Chris won and fired off it with a good line. I went next and although it was not the best looking line it worked out well for me. Last, John gave her a go with another good line.
John McConville with style on the 45ish footer
Chris Baer making it look easy
The next drop looked to be about 20 feet, but there unlike the first one there was a cool class III lead in that made it fun, and then you could boof the s#!t out of it.
Hitting my boof on the 20ish footer
Aaron Koch getting ready to fly over the 20ish footer
Again there was a short pool before the next waterfall. This one looked to be about 15 feet and there were other possible lines to the left and right depending on water levels.
John McConville on the 20ish footer
The center line on the 15is footer
After the 15 footer there was another 10 foot waterfall and a few rapids before we got to another big horizon line. This waterfall was massive. We guessed about 100-120 feet and at the water level we had it didn't look very runnable. So Aaron and I hiked river right through cactus and then down a steep and narrow trail with barbed wire fence as a handle. Then the rest of the crew lowered boats to us and hiked on around.
The trail around the 120 footer
Lower boats down the 120 footer. Notice the orange boat being lowered,
and you can even see John and Chris standing on top of the rock.
Once all the boats were down Aaron and I got in and started to paddle downstream to check out the next rapid. This one looked familiar from photos our friend Rocky had sent us. We decided to call it the "atomic elbow crusher" for various reasons. We had heard that one of the paddlers of Rocky's group had dislocated his shoulder here. It was a chunky lead in into a narrow slot with a big hole. After looking at it for awhile Chris fired it up first and I wasn't far behind him. Both of us got some downtime, but I won the award that day for longest down time.
Getting some downtime at "Atomic Elbow Crusher," notice my paddle blade
We knew the rapids would start to mellow out after the elbow crusher, but there was one last good rapid before a 45+ minute paddle out. When we got to the take out it was dark and out shuttle bunny Marjie was sitting on the river bank hanging out with some locals. We grabbed some take out beers and started driving back to Ciudad Valles, but we did stop for some tacos al pastor (al pastor is kinda like thick bacon, thus it is the meat candy of Mexico).
Fil Payne boofing the last real rapid on the 1st canyon of the Rio Verde
