Mexican Whitewater Adventure

Thanksgiving Day brought more to me this year than having turkey with the family. It brought a 30 hour drive to Ciudad de Valles, Mexico to go kayaking. Matt Wallace and Alex Zendal joined me for the drive across the border to meet up with Adam Goshorn, Jon Crain, Jordan, and Leigh. We ran several rivers over an 8 day period including Cascadas Micos, El Salto, Gallinas, Santa Maria, Ojo Frio, and El Rio Verde. This would be the first time I had ever left the borders of the United States and what a trip it turned out to be. Just for your information, if you ever drive to Mexico, you should learn the spanish word "Tope." If you don't, you'll soon find out what it means when your vehicle goes airborne on the highway and your head hits the ceiling after you jump a speed bump or should I say a speed mountain.

Upon arrival, we did some laps on Cascadas Micos. I then collapsed in the bed of my truck for a nap since I hadn't slept much during our 30 hour drive.

The next day we went to the El Salto where we ran El Luminosa and other travertine drops. El Luminosa is probably the highest drop I've ever ran but the landing was very soft.

Another drop on El Salto.

While Adam, Matt, Jon, and Jordan ran the upper sections of the Santa Maria, Alex, Leigh, and I ran the 12-mile Gallinas which consisted of a lot of flatwater through sugar cane fields with waterfalls scattered throughout.

Shuttles were quite interesting sometimes. This was the shuttle to the Upper Santa Maria where we overloaded my Nissan Truck. We managed to load 7 boats on top, 6 people inside, one person in the back along with all our gear. This shuttle took nearly 3 hours one-way.

This was one of the larger rapids on the Santa Maria. That's me dropping into a rather juicy hole. I hate to admit...it got me. As I was swimming out of this hole, Alex threw me a rope to pull me away from the undercut rocks everywhere. He instructed me to not worry about my boat and just grap the rope. I yelled to him, "I gotta have my boat!" I did not want my boat to go in a cave or under a rock because down river was the only way out of this canyon. I managed to grab my boat and he pulled both of us in.

This was the takeout for the Santa Maria. It was probably the most impressive waterfall that I have ever seen. From left to right is: Alex, Leigh, Adam, Me, Jon, Matt, and Jordan.

Then for the climb out which involved wooden ladders up the 300ft cliffs beside the Cascadas Tamul.

The next day we did the Ojo Frio which was a fun class 3 travertine creek through sugar cane fields followed by us running the Rio Verde the following day. Matt and Jordan fired up a 40 footer on the Rio Verde.

We ran the Cascadas Micos on the morning of our departure back to the US.

One of the last drops on the Cascadas Micos.

Our trip home took a little longer than our trip to Mexico. While we were in Mexico, my truck lost a lot of power. I decided to try to make it out of Mexico with the truck and hope to get it fixed in the US. On our way home our top speed was 60-65mph on level ground or down hill. We did 45 up-hill. It took us over 38 hours to get home. I put the truck in the shop to find a clogged fuel filter. The truck has 220,000 miles on it and it did great until we drove the bumpy roads of Mexico. I feel the rough roads knocked a lot of dirt and sediment loose in the gas tank and it stopped up the fuel filter.

I am glad to be back in the English speaking United States of America but I am sure I will return to Mexico someday to try what little spanish I know with the Mexicans. Until next time, continue to pray for rain because it's working!