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June 18, 2005
Rio Upano Gorge
The
"river
of the sacred waterfalls" is
hard to get to, but from what we had heard, it was worth the trip.
Seldom
run, it is a multi day class III and IV trip, partly through a narrow
gorge with huge waterfalls.In Macas, we ran into a local guide who occasionally worked with ROW; it turned out that he also knew of the Chiguaza Canon, though he had not paddled it. Macas was a very pleasant little town, and made an excellent base for final preparations. We even had an oarlock made there, at a machine shop, from scratch.
We put in at the bridge near Macas, on November 7th, at 2pm, with the Overflow Kayak and the cataraft, and the usual audience of a couple dozen local gawkers.
The first two hours on the river were not very beautiful, but the water was very fast moving (class II) so it was not too boring.
The first night, we
camped on the beach and met some of the local wildlife.
Day Two included some class III rapids, many of which were formed by
the river
hitting canyon walls and making sharp turns.
It was raining, and we had a hard time starting a fire at night. Once
we had it going, the fire helped to dry us out a little.
Day
three was the day we needed to decide whether we would run the gorge or
not -- we passed the last bridge; literally. The rivers flows into the
amazon, and there are no more bridges until the water reaches the
Atlantic Ocean weeks later.
That
pretty
much spoiled her day -- it was extremely painful. We later found out
that this ant
is locally called "Conga", and
its sting is "the most painful and debilitating known for any insect".
We were lucky Kay did not get a fever. So what to do? We could
not go back, and were right above the gorge; if we waited for a day,
and the water level rose, it may become dangerous. Paddling was not an
option for Kay that day either. We ended up strapping the kayak onto
the cataraft and I rowed both of us through the gorge.The next two hours were truly spectacular. Dozens of waterfalls reminded us of Yosemite valley, though Kay had a had time appreciating it through the tears streaming nonstop down her face.
The pictures do not do the waterfalls justice, since there is nothing that shows the proportions. Some of the rapids were quite big, definitely class IV and a step up from the Rio Blanco or Toachi. It would have been nice to have had time to explore the aread a little on foot - I'd definitely like to go back.
The last day was a pleasent swiftwater
float with still very pretty scenery, although the flooded Rio Zamora
coming in from the right was quite brown. We almost missed the last
take out before Peru; and ended or trip in Penas.We carried all the gear up to the road, and enquired about buses. Yes, there was a bus, but it was supposed to have passed already. Hitchhiking was hopeless, but eventualy the bus that was supposed to have passed showed up, loaded with people. They had no problem loading the boats and gear on the roof, in the dark, with everyone waiting. I almost fell off the roof when a strap that I was trying to tighten suddenly broke.
The bus ride was an adventure in itself -- 9 hours for the 120km trip. At one point, all passengers had to get off the bus and walk, while a brave bus driver crossed a very dangerous, narrow, and unstable section on the side of the gorge. The earth was propped up with bamboo posts and it was quite obvious that there had been a landslide.
Posted by rick at June 18, 2005 11:44 AM