Experiencing the Rio Claro, Chile 2010

Gareth on hour 36 of our travels to Chile

Last week Gareth and I decided to break away from the impending winter back in North Carolina and sneak away for a few weeks of kayaking in Chile. Our trip started out with getting denied at the Greenville airport with our boats, managing to change our flights to leave from Charlotte and eventually finally getting both of us and our boats on a plane South. After two full days of traveling, we finally made it to our first destination, San Fabian where we met up with my good friend Jon Clark.

Looking for a ride to San Fabian

Our first adventure took us up to the Rio Claro, most known for the Seven Teacups section. What I hadn't realized before, was that the Rio Claro also contained two other steep waterfall style sections that were exactly what I was looking for. First we did the Veintidos Saltos (22 waterfalls) section, which was aptly named as it contains 22 pretty sweet waterfalls. 

Me at one of the veintidos waterfalls (Photo by Jon Clark)

Gareth disconnecting with the water on a huge boof (Photo by Jon Clark)

After a quick snack we headed back on the water to venture into the section (and more specifically the one rapid) which we had been talking about since our arrival into Chile. The section is called the Entre Saltos which contains the infamous, Throat of the Devil rapid. The section starts off with some fun drops then quickly walls up. This is when you know you've arrived. The Throat of the Devil probably drops about 50 feet in total, with the first 20 feet dropping steeply through what I would describe as a mix between a skate park and a drain pipe following which the water falls about 30 more feet of verticle. Jon went first and I followed quickly behind him. Gareth shot video of the drop before taking the plunge himself.

Jeremy Anderson dropping into the skate park/ drain pipe on a previous trip to the river (Photo by Jon Clark)

Gareth beginning his ride (Photo by Jon Clark)

At the bottom of the drop you end up in a toilet bowl pool with a pretty sizeable exit drop to get through. What happens next is something that you really can't put into words. The river narrows down and the gorge walls fly to the sky and you find yourself paddling through the most magical place I've ever been in a kayak. Then you turn the corner to find a 30 foot tributary making the most beautiful waterfall pour down just beside you. Unfortunatley because of the nature of this, it is very difficult to take pictures, so you are just going to have to come experience it for yourself.

Finally we dropped through the "Vaginas," two very narrow slot rapids which its best to stay upright in. After a couple more drops the walls start to open up and you are transported back to the real world. That section of river is officially at the top of my list for one of the msot amazing places I've ever seen.

The next morning we dropped the classic, Seven Teacups section, which includes, you guessed it, seven waterfalls, before hopping in the truck and cruising back to San Fabian.

Gareth at the first of the seven teacups

Gareth finishing off the seven teacups section dropping the final 25 footer

Waterfall vista on the way out of town

The Hillux loaded down for the trip home

Exploring the Granite Planet on Upper Cherry Creek

Last week I was fortunate enough to take a trip to the granite planet on Upper Cherry Creek. Due to a work commitment and coordinating a plan for Gareth's dog, we had to wait a couple days to put on, which led to the water being lower than preferred. As it turns out though, Upper Cherry with any water in it is a spectacular place not to be missed.

Typical Upper Cherry scenery

I feel like most things great require work, and for Upper Cherry that means a 12 mile hike to the put in with a loaded down kayak strapped to your back. The first two hours were pretty miserable for me as my kayak backpack system more or less fell apart on me. Eventually I decided to give up on it and create a new system for myself with made the remaining 5 hours of the hike much more bearable.

Taking a lunch break on the hike in

Hour six of the hike 

After arriving at the creek we spent some time relaxing in the water and enjoying the sunshine. Eventually we decided to get away from the notorious mosquitos at the put in and head downstream a few rapids to find a campspot. The put in slide/drop was super fun. Just downstream we found a sweet granite slab with its own sandy beach to rest up for the night.

Me hitting the first boof of the run (Photo by Eric Giddens)

 Introducing Gareth Tate, the newest up and coming videographer to the whitewater world

Chilling at Camp One (Photo by Eric Giddens)

Waking up on Upper Cherry (Photo by Eric Giddens)

This trip was special in that it not only included two friends, Rebecca and Allison, who hiked the entire trip along side us in our kayaks, but it also included Bishop, Gareth's dog. Bishop now has the first known dog descent of the entire Upper Cherry Creek, from hike in to paddle across the lake. It was a pretty difficult feat for him, as he is not exactly fond of steep slick granite slabs, but he made it happen. Congrats Bishop!

Bishop checking out his new territory

No words can describe it (Photo by Allison)

After a great day of low angle slides and low water creeking, we finally arrived at the most well known rapid on Upper Cherry, and probably all of California- Cherry Bomb Falls. There was a big debate here as to whether or not to scout the gorge, or just go in there. With the water low, the fact that all of us have seen numerous videos and pictures of the place, and having multiple people that had been in there before, we felt pretty good about bombing (no pun intended) in there. The only thing we werent so sure about was how the exit drop of the gorge, which is backed up by a rock, would handle the low water. Eric was a bit concerned that there might not be a line there with the water being so low. After hiking up the first part of the scout, we all got lazy, had a group meeting, and inevitably decided we'd just deal with whatever we got in there and went back to our boats.

After a quick scout of cherry bomb proper at water level, we all launched off it. There were mixed results on whether or not it was better to go left of the rock at the entrance, or right of it. I decided to go right of the rock and had as good a line as I could've hoped for.

Rachel Curtis launching off Cherry Bomb (Photo by Allison)

Me dropping the Bomb (Photo by Tim Collins)

After we all got through the main drop, we still had the left, left, center, right, center, left sequence of drops in the gorge to get through. It was the final left that we were a bit worried about, but Drew was able to do a sketchy scout and give us the thumbs up that the final drop still went. That was a bit of a relief...

Our team making it through Cherry Bomb Gorge

After Cherry Bomb the creek just keeps delivering. Next up is the oh so fun Jedi slide followed by teacup drops which take you right into Flinstone Camp. We had a great evening of lapping these drops, racing them, swimming them, fishing, drinking tequila, and all around enjoying the company of everyone there. It was hear that Josh, Nick and Taylor caught up to us and joined the party.

Gareth boofing into Camp Two

Josh and Taylor swimming into Camp Two

Drew fishing at Flinstone camp

Gareth prepping his camera

Enjoying the night 

Flinstone Camp, Morning Three

The next morning we awoke to morning laps on the tea cups before making our way down to the good below. Right off the bat you have a series of back to back sweet drops... West Coast Groove Tube, Perfect Twenty, Douple Pothole, Waterfall Alley, Kiwi in a Pocket and Dead Bear.

Taylor Cavin at West Coast Groove Tube (Photo by Allison)

Me at the Perfect Twenty Drop (Photo by Allison)

Gareth at Double Pothole

Waterfall Alley

Nick Urquart at Kiwi in a Pocket

Taylor Cavin at the second drop of Kiwi in a Pocket (Photo by Rebecca Giddens)

My boat going big off of Dead Bear (Photo by Gareth Tate)

A big group of us all ran Kiwi in a Pocket and were psyched to get to do so. This was one place where the low water allowed us to run a rapid we may or may not have otherwise. This did lock us into a somewhat gnarly portage around Dead Bear, but we worked as one happy team and made it happen with relative ease. It actually turned out to be fun in the end as we all launched our boats off of Dead Bear with everyone else sitting on a rock just downstream cheering us and our boats on. Some boats had great lines, some not so much....

After lunch at Dead Bear we had a bit of a low water paddle out until reaching the last of the goods right before dropping into the lake.

 Getting Bishop, the hikers and their packs across the lake (Photo by Tim Collins)

What can I say? It was an amazing experience filled with lots of beautiful granite, fun rapids and quality time with good friends. Low water is definitely better than no water on Upper Cherry Creek!

Living a Fantasy (and at times a nightmere) on the North Fork of the Mokelumne

Team NC geared up for the Fantasy mission

After getting off Dinkey Creek we had to hit the road immediately once again to check another high sierra classic off the list. This time it was Fantasy Falls of the North Fork of Mokelumne and we were all excited to get into this run which we had heard was one of the most beautiful of all the California classics. One rest day and a food resupply was all we needed before meeting Darin and Jonas at the put-in to get started on our descent.

Knowing the water was low and the first few miles filled with mank, we decided to hike the first mile of river rather than abusing our boats in the water. Even with the hike, because of the low water, Day One still involved a decent bit of manky rapids for us, but it also had some pretty fun rapids tucked in there as well. After about 30 min. on the water the sky got dark, the air cold and we were all reminded of the fact that no one but Jonas brought any type of shelter with us. Fortunately, the hail storm that ensued didn't last too long and the sky cleared by the time we made it to camp. The best part of Day One was definitely the camp spot. Sleeping by the river totally surrounded by granite in the middle of no where is really something everyone should experience.

Beautiful Fantasy scenery

 Our Bratwurst BBQ

Scenery at Camp One

We woke up  to more or less clear skies for Day Two and started making our way down the river, hoping the extra flow of the morning would provide us with a bit cleaner rapids. The day started off well, but by lunch time the sky darkened and rain fell again and started to set the tone for what was to come. 

Jonas showing us how to do it at one of the first rapids of day two

Sometime in the afternoon, after the storm had passed, we arrived at our biggest portage of the run up and over a big granite dome. While at one section where you walk along a granite slab about 15 feet off the ground, Ben slipped on some slick granite. As he started to slip he realized that there was no recovery, so he did the best thing he could have possibly done, he spotted his landing, threw his boat and jumped. He landed on his feet, but unfortunately, his left ankle landed in a hole and as he fell forward, he broke his ankle. Gareth was on him quickly, and after stabilizing him, a splint was built and an evacuation started. 

Ben Blake keeping a smile on his face after the accident

For whatever reason, I had decided to bring my phone along on this trip, and out there, in the middle of no where in the Mokelumne wilderness, I got cell service.  Quickly realizing there was no way Ben was getting out of there on his own, I called for a California Highway Patrol Helicopter (I specifically called CHP because they offer offer free heli evacs if they're not busy). Within an hour of falling we had Ben loaded into the helicopter and on his way to the hospital.  ***See bottom of post for an update on Ben's condition***

 Ben loaded up and ready to fly

Goodbye Ben! We miss you out here.

It was an eerie feeling to put back on the river as  group of five instead of six, but we knew we had to keep moving downstream if we were going to make it out of there the next night. We only paddled probably another mile that night before finding a nice campspot to lay our heads and get some rest for the next day.

Minus the fact that we didn't have Ben along, Day Three was awesome. The scenery only got better, the rapids cleaner and the weather hot and sunny.

Jonas missing the log and hitting his boof

Gareth lining up for Fantasy Falls

Gareth boofing the fifteen footer after the Fantasy Falls drop

Taking an afternoon break in the middle of some unbelievable scenery

Jonas entering the Island Slide

Darin about to enter the meat of the Island Slide

Jonas hitting his boof over a hole everyone else walked

Cali Class Three!

Gareth pulling up to the dock after the big lake paddle

In total, everyone in the group besides Darin swam at least once, some others who we will not mention chalked up two swims. The rapids were committing and consequential and the overall feel rugged and tiring. I definitely recommend everyone who has the skills to check out Fantasy Falls, just don't expect it to be a Fantasy the whole time...

I think our trip might have been especially cursed. Check out the list below of all of the crazy things that happened in those three days:

• First on scene to motorcyle accident on the way to put in
• Flat tire at put in
• Broken paddle during first mile
• Dropped video camera in the water during second mile
• Hail storm on Day One
• Swim off of a log pin
• Swim on first rapid of day on Day Two
• Ben falls off cliff and gets helicoptered out
• Swim at last rapid of day on Day Two
• Strong headwind on lake paddle (ok I guess that ones standard but it still sucked)

***Ben Blake Update: After being evacuated to a hospital in South Lake Tahoe, Ben got X-rays to determine that he broke two bones in his ankle and needed surgery. A couple days later he flew home to Gainesville to be with his family during surgery. The surgery went ok, but was extremely painful for him, and he has still yet to be released from the hospital due to their inability to manage his pain. It could be six months before he is walking on his leg again. Please keep Ben in your thoughts and send all the good energy you can his way. He's an awesome friend, boater and all around person and deserves all the love and support he can get. ***