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We got our stuff packed in the boats for three days and three nights and the two guides loaded up two burros with two boats each. The mules wore padded wooden racks that were held on by leather straps. I felt bad for the mules because they were laden with two awkward boats and about 80 lbs. of gear each.
I couldn't decide if they looked more like burros with two boats and tons of gear tied to the top of them or if they looked more like upside-down gear rafts with burros tied to the bottom. Of course, considering that the other horses were each carrying one of us, each of these fellas actually had the easier task.. Ryan and the two Bens rode horses and I rode a mule. The horses were a bit faster and more nimble, but my mule was more consistent and sure-footed. I thought I would prefer riding a horse, and I got my wish later, much to my regret.. We headed up the narrow and tricky trail with one guide in front with a burro and one guide in back with the other burro. The sun was beating down relentlessly and we all wore hats to protect our faces, but we had a very enjoyable ride that included several stream crossings and a lot of steep hills on our way to the top. It was amazing to see how we ascended out of the valley and our views were absolutely spectacular. The trip to the top took us three hours with a couple short breaks. We stopped in a grassy field where cows and wild horses were grazing and had lunch with the guides. They shared their rice and beans and very sweet coffee and we shared our chocolate and bread. Finally we arrived at the old shed that was to be our new home for the next couple of days. The guides departed and we grabbed a boat and some gear and our cameras and headed for the big slide above. After about forty minutes we came to the base of the five hundred foot multi-tiered slide and immediately saw that it was not runnable. There were no lines to hold and the pool was WAY too small. |
Riding up to the Aiurouca river valley
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So now we had two strikes: The river had no water, and the biggest drop was a no-go. Undeterred, we headed upstream to see what lay above and check out the headwaters. Ben and I followed Mac up the side and the slides above were no more runnable than the big one below. Ryan ( always the optimist ) continued on upstream and Ben and I relaxed at the slides to enjoy the scenery and our circumstances.
Ben Stookesberry stands in the riverbed overlooking the Aiurouca valley and hopes for rain.
The local weather predicted lots of rain in this area, so we determined to wait for the rain to fill the riverbed. We had an enjoyable evening at the shack in the field and enjoyed some good conversation and fun laughs.
This is where we stayed while we waited for the rain to fall on the Aiurouca.
That night and the next day there was no rain in sight. We spent the night in the shack again hoping for rain. Luckily the shack had a very good topographic map of the area. We all spent several hours poring over the map and considering locations and options. The sky clouded over and we hard lots of thunder, so we were extremely optimistic.
We awoke to no rain and no water. I was ready to hike out and go find some rivers with water, but the team decided to give it one more day. We were low on food, so Ryan took the trail down and hiked for about four hours to get us food and schedule horses for the hike down in case the rain never developed. What a trooper!
After Ryan left the Bens and I hiked the entire river to get a good look at exactly what was in store. To our disappointment, the drops that were supposed to big, were not nearly as big as we hoped, and the rest of the river was fairly mellow with two huge boulder garden sieve sections that were mandatory portages.
We had a great hike and fun time hiking down the river and it was WAY better than sitting in the cabin. Unfortunately the summary from the hike was that the river was not worth running, and could be dangerous with lots of water and no good way to get out above the mandatory portages.
Scouting the upper river, which turned out to be less runnable than expected.
It took us approximately the same time to hike the river as it did for Mac to hike down, hike to the store and bring back food to the bottom of the river. Luckily we found him before he headed back up. Without much conversation we were all of the same opinion. We needed to go find a river with water!
We packed up, and this time I got my wish and had a horse to ride, which turned out to be more dangerous than I could have imagined. My horse was very young and only knew two speeds: walk and full on gallop. It was crazy. The stirrups were too high and I am not a practiced horse rider, and he probably sensed this.
The second I got on him he took off like a shot and I was getting whacked in the face and chest by low hanging branches, hurtling down the twisty single-track trail at a full gallop. I was bouncing all over the place in the saddle and trying to hold on yelling for him to slow down and all the while my boys are getting beat to a pulp on the hard saddle.
I eventually got him to slow down but he kept trying to speed up and get me beat up by the low hanging branches. The rest of the way, about another fifty minutes was intervals of walking through the sketchy footing sections and full galloping through the rest.. It was a crazy but memorable ride!
We arrived at the house a little before 8 p.m., and our ride home was scheduled to arrive at 9 p.m. We ate and relaxed until our ride arrived, packed up our stuff and headed back to Itamonte. Despite the fact that we did no paddling on the Aiurouca we quite the experience and fun hiking the river, and we were all glad we had the opportunity to explore the valley.
Looking back at the Aiurouca river on the ride out.
Once we were out of the valley we decided we didn't want to take any risks with water anymore, so we headed off to the Socorro, which had plenty of water and some huge drops, which was exactly what we needed after getting skunked on the Aiurouca..
photo by Ben Zupo
photo by Ben Zupo
photo by Ben Zupo
THIS AND MORE OF BEN AND JESSE'S SOUTH AMERICAN KAYAKING EXPEDITION CAN BE SEEN IN THE FILM HOTEL CHARLEY - NO BIG NAMES 4, DEBUTING IN THE U.S. IN APRIL 2006.