Mexico part 5: Tomata Gorge

Dropping into "John's" rapid

photo by John McConville

After a few laps on both the Roadside and the Big Banana we decided to check out another section of the Rio Alseseca, the Tomata Gorge (I have also heard it referred to as the 7 sisters).  This is the section just below Tomata Falls (2 waterfalls that are a tourist destination).  Jake Greenbaum and some other had tried to scout the whole section from the rim of the gorge, but they were not able to see all of the rapids.  Jake also said he found a way to access the Gorge without having to do a 100+ foot rappel (side note: we have no rappel rope).

John McConville at the top of "John's" rapid

photo by Chris Baer

To get to Tomata Gorge, you have to head to Tomata Falls.  Before you get to the Falls you have to pass through two gates, each of which has a toll (about a $1 a person).  WARNING!! the family at the second gate are not very friendly.  It is a public road and there shouldn't be a toll, but suck it up and cough up the $0.50.

Chris Baer on one of the smaller rapids in Tomata Gorge

photo by John McConville

Since no one in our group had a rappel rope, we had to find another way to get to the bottom of the Gorge.  After a few minutes of searching Jake found the spot that he previously had scouted for out put-in.  It was a steep slope with a lot of vegitation, but it looked like it might work.  So John McConville, Chris Baer, Jake Greenbaum, and I anchored some throw bags off of a tree and began our decent into Tomata Gorge.  

 

The 15-20 footer in Tomata Gorge

photo by Chris Baer

After about 2 hours we were finally able to slide into the water, but again we were worried about time.  We didn't expect the put-in to take as long as it did, and again we were committing to a class 5 gorge that we didn't know much about.  So we took a quick look at Tomata 2 from the bottom and began heading downstream.  The first big horizon line that we came up to John got out of his boat to check out.  He told us it was good to go down the middle, but that there was "crazy shit" going on both sides.  In normal fashion Chris dropped in and John reported to us that his line was good.  Jake went next with similar outcomes, and then it was my turn.  As I came up to the lip it was a lot bigger than what I was expecting.  It was a big slide into about a 10 foot boof, but I missed my boof and had to roll up at the bottom.  John went last, ended up further right than he wanted to be, disappeared from view and rolled up at the bottom with half a paddle (2nd paddle John broke).  Thus we started calling this rapid John's rapid.  Luckily for him I had my break down paddle in my boat.

boiley Chris Baer at the top of "Gorilla"

photo by John McConville

The next big rapid we came up to John and I scouted.  I reported back to Chris and Jake that it was about a 15-20 foot waterfall into a big hole.  Jake went first and made it look easy, followed by Chris who got a quick surf in the hole at the bottom.  I didn't see John's line, but got the signal he was alright and then I dropped in.

boofing "Gorilla"

photo by John McConville

Then came what we called Gorilla.  This was because Jake scouted it and his beta to the rest of us was that it was just like Gorilla on the Green.  I thought this meant my landing was small and had a big hole in it, so I got out of my boat to see for myself.  I agree that it had a nice launch pad, but the landing zone was just a big pool.  We all fired big boofs off of it and then convinced John to try a freewheel.  Nice attempt, but he didn't quite get it around.

Jake Greenbaum stomping "Gorilla"

photo by Chris Baer

Tomata Gorge ended up being a great find.  It was a pain in the ass to access, but the rewards were great.  It might have only had 7 rapids, but they were all pretty sweet.  For anyone that is thinking about checking out this section keep in mind that even though there are only 7 rapids, this is a class V section, and it is very committing.

John McConvlle attempting a freewheel

photo by Chris Baer

Mexico part 4: The elusive Big Banana

If you ever take a trip to Mexico to paddle, you need to check out the Rio Alseseca.  It has a bunch of different sections, and each one has a different feel to it.  We spent two days on the Roadside section; which is low volume southeastern style paddling.  Now, after a few days trying to find it, we have directions for two different ways to access the elusive Big Banana section.  This section was first explored by team Jackson and it took them several days.  Thanks to them and their efforts, paddlers are now able to enjoy this section as a one day trip, or so one would think it would only take a day...

Some of the crew at the put-in for the Big Banana

Photo by John McConville

It was about 12:00 in the afternoon when Davis Gove, John McConville, Chris Baer, Jake Greenbaum, and myself finally were headed for the put-in.  The put-in is at the base of a 1oo+ foot waterfall known as Big Banana falls.  The options are to rappel down about 150+ feet, or find a trail to the bottom.  The choice was easy for us since we didn't have rope to rappel from, so we decided to hike in.  Again we were given 2 options for hiking, one from river left and one from river right.  According to some of our friends it would only be a difference of about 30 minutes to hike in from river right, and the parking for the shuttle vehicle would be more secure, so we went with that one.

Top of the 20 footer

Photo by Chris Baer

After about 2 hours of hiking through the jungle and along a creek bed we found Big Banana Falls.  It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, but I didn't really get to take it all in because it was now after 2:oo PM and we needed to get on the water.  So with about 4 hours of daylight left we began paddling into the unknown.  We had no idea how many miles the stretch was or how many rapids there were.  What we did know was that there was a "death hole," a 40 footer, a mandatory drop, and it is class 5.

Davis Gove on the 20 footer

Photo by Chris Baer

The first "real" rapid that we came up to looked good from my boat, and with positive confirmation from John I paddled into it.  It was an easy first move and as I paddled through the right exit slot I noticed that there was a tree just under the surface, but it was too late.  My bow went under the horizontal tree and I took it right on the chest.  I tried to stay calm and wiggle myself free, but it was too late, my stern began to sink and I gave out a yell for help.  Right as I got swept under the tree Jake came around the corner to help.  Neither of us are sure what exactly happened, but I ended up getting pulled right out of my boat and my Everest had a big dent in the side of it that Jake is pretty sure he put there.  Either way, I looked downstream and realized I was alright and looked back just in time to see Davis come around the corner, get stuck on the tree, disappear underwater, and pop up away from his kayak.  

Blindly dropping into the mandatory rapid

Photo by John McConville

We are only a few rapids in and two members of the group swam out from under a tree.  Needless to say things were not looking so good at this point and we didn't have much daylight left.  

 

Jake Greenbaum probing the 40 footer

photo by Chris Baer

The rapids started to pick up and soon we came up to a big horizon line.  It was an easy lead in to about a 20 foot drop.  Looked good, and everyone started firing off of it.  The next drop again couldn't be scouted from out boats so Jake got out and gave it a look.  He told the rest of us that it looked good, just go down the middle.  So I paddled right up to and and as I got closer it looked like I was about to drop into a crack, but it went and I gave a yell back to the group to let them know it was good.  John came next, rolled right before the hole at the bottom and came back up with only one blade left on his paddle.  Davis managed to roll entering the rapid and hit his head, and then both Chris and Jake got rolled in the hole at the bottom.  We later came to know this rapid as "the crack drop," and it is about as mandatory of a drop as you can get.

John McConville 

photo by Chris Baer

After several more good rapids we arrived at the 40 footer.  This thing was stout, and with night just around the corner we found a way to portage around it and seal launch about 20 feet back into the water.  So we all got back in as quickly as we could.  The next significant rapid we began calling "triple drop," because it was three moves with small pools in-between.  The first drop looked tight, the second was a hole, and the third drop was a slide into a big boof.  Jake ended up running all 3 drops, while the rest of us just ran the third drop.

Chris Baer boofing the 1st drop of Triple Drop

photo by John McConville

After passing a dead cow in the river and running a few more rapid we came to yet another big horizon line.  It ended up being Meatlocker rapid.  It is a two tiered rapid, both drops are similar size and totaling about 20-25 feet.  It was pretty dark at this point and we could barely see another rapid just downstream.  Things started to get crazy at this point, the group was wanting to finish but light was pretty much gone.  Fortunately no one did anything stupid and we ended up ditching out boats, grabbing what gear we might need to sleep outside for the night, and began trying to hike out.  John had a headlamp, so he led, and in about 45 minutes we found a road and soon after we were all standing in the back of a truck heading to our cars.

We piled in Jake's Jeep, grabbed Linda, and then feasted on some tacos al pastor.

The entrance of Meatlocker 

photo Chris Baer

The next morning we got an early start and hiked back in to our boats.  Meatlocker looked good but a swim here could be deadly.  At the flow we had Meatlocker has a pretty nasty looking hole after it and it is pretty walled in.  So we found a tree to anchor off of and ran a rope from it to a small eddie and put someone on live bait on the end.  Then one by one we all ran the drop with Jake leading us off.  Everyone had similar lines; boofing the first tier and then pretty much disappearing in the second tier.

Jake Greenbaum leading us off Meatlocker

photo by Chris Baer

We were able to portage the "death hole" pretty easily on river right with another 15-20 foot seal launch back into the water.  The next rapid ended up being the start of the Pezma section and both Jake and Davis had been on this section so we now knew what was ahead.

John McConville on the 1st rapid of the Pezma

photo by Chris Baer

The Pezma section is a great small stretch of whitewater.  The first rapid is a sick boof if you hit it right.  There is another rapid known as 80/20 that is pretty interesting, and the last rapid has a huge boof at the end of it.

 

Davis Gove hitting his boof at 80/20

photo by Chris Baer

Jake Greenbaum launching the boof at the end of the Pezma

photo by Chris Baer

We ended up all returning to the Big Banana after a day of rest, atleast for some of us...John ended up leaving his camera at the rapid that Davis and I took a swim, so Chris and John spent the next day hiking back in to retrieve the camera.  The three of us drove to the other possible hike in trail and off John and Chris went.  I came back in about 2 hours and it wasn't but 5 minutes later that they returned with the camera and good news! The trail was shorter and much easier than the first.  So the next day we started early and hiked in to Big Banana falls in about 30 minutes. 

Photo by Chris Baer

Just like our first time, our second time down the Big Banana was eventful.  Davis went off the 20 footer and had his skirt impload, so I got signaled to chase him and my skirt popped also.  Luckily Davis swam but was able to collect everything before the Crack Drop, and I just had to paddle a half full boat to the side.  Then after about an hour of staring at it, Jake and then John fired off the stout 40 footer.  Then everyone ran all parts of Triple Drop and again all dropped into Meatlocker.  So with the Roadside and Big Banana sections done, it was time to check out the Tomata Gorge section....

Mexico part 3: The Roadside section of the Rio Alseseca

S-turn rapid

 Photo by John McConville

After paddling for about a week out of Ciudad Valles we decided that we wanted to move on and check out some more rivers of Mexico.  So we threw our boats back on Linda and started driving south into the state of Veracruz.  Our next destination was the city on Tlapacoyan, but before we got there we took a pit stop to check out El Tajin, one of Mexico's many archeological ruins. 

A few photos I took at El Tajin

When we arrived in Tlapacoyan it was pretty late and the hostel was locked and looked shut down for the night, but luckily we found a worker and managed to communicate our need for a room.  So they unlocked the gate to Adventure Recreation (sounded like the place for us) and in we went.  There were several other vehicles from the US inside the gate and a lot of kayak gear.  We followed the worker back to the dinning cabana where we ran into some friends ours;  It's funny how small the kayaking community becomes the longer your a part of it.   It just so happened that World Class Kayak Academy, a high school for kayakers, was staying at the same hostel.  Along with the students and teachers from WCK, there were several alumni that Chris and I happen to know.

Davis Gove on one of the many rapids of the Roadside

Photo by John McConville

The next day we attempted to find the elusive Big Banana section of the Alseseca, but after driving around for awhile the group got together and decided to split up.  Half of the group decided to keep trying to find the Big Banana, and the other half of us decided to do some kayaking.  So me, John McConville, Chris Baer, Davis Gove, and Adriene Levknecht set shuttle and off we went for one crazy day of kayaking.

Photo by John McConville

Adriene and Davis had both been on the Roadside, so we decided to leave our cameras in the car and just rally down this section.  I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to let Adriene lead, but thats what ended up happening.  

Adriene Levkencht on S-Turn Rapid

Photo by John McConville

Adriene is a great kayaker, but her rapid description are not what I would call first class.  So, with some pretty sketchy descriptions we routed one of the most continuous sections of whitewater that we paddled in Mexico.  The Roadside is low volume and very continuous.  There are some sticky holes and fun drops on this section.  Probably my favorite rapid on the section is called S-turn.  It has a slide lead in that puts you in this narrow, twisting hallway.  So we didn't get out to look at it, just listened to Adriene's beta and off we went.  Unfortunately for me I managed to flip upside down and my paddle ended up breaking in the center and I ran the rest of this rapid upside down.

Chris Baer

Photo by John McConville

Along with our cameras, I also decided to take my break-down paddle out of my boat since the section is called the Roadside.  Luckily Chris had a pair of hand paddles in his boat.  Previous to this point I have never used hand paddles, but no worries, we were only kayaking some a class IV-V section that I had never seen before. 

I have to say I kinda enjoyed the hand paddles, but I wish we had brought the cameras though.  Everyone kept laughing when I would come off of drops because I would put my hand paddles together in a diving motion as I entered the water.  So incase you haven't figured it out by now, all these photos are from a different day on the Roadside.