Southern Colombia 2011

In Colombia, just north of the ecuador border, the Andes Mountains are cut by the Rio Cauca and the Rio Magdalena into the three cordillera that sprawl north across Colombia.  In the South of Colombia, near the headwaters of the Rio Caucua and the Rio Magdalena the Andes Mountains are a wide and sprawling mountain range and Colombia’s greatest concentration of white water rivers is found in the South.  Previously the furthest south I had explored in Colombia was around San Agustin.  When I arrived in Colombia this year Kees Van Kuipers and Maud Verboven were in Ecuador and on their way north to Pasto, in the far south of Colombia.  I landed in Bogotá on New Year’s Eve and I paddled a couple rivers near Bogotá while I waited for the holidays to end and for the map shop to open again.  The holidays in Colombia last forever and the urge to get out of Bogotá eventually overpowered my desire to buy some maps, so I caught a bus to Pasto in the south of Colombia and I met up with Kees  and Maud.  We spent a day or two in Pasto and then caught a bus to the nearby pueblo of Buesaco.  Buesaco rests on a ridge above the Cañon de Juanambu.  The ridge the Buesaco rests on is narrow and the pueblo is only a couple of streets wide and long and narrow and the views are amazing.  

 

Mark Hentze dropping into the Cañon del Rio Juanambu

photo:  Kees Van Kuipers

 

The mayor and director of tourism in Buesaco warmly greated us and helped us make shuttle arrangements and showed us around the area.  The day after we arrived in Buesaco, much to the dislike of Kees, we caught a shuttle vehicle at 7:00 AM to the put in for a run on the upper Juanambu.  Kees made a horrible fuss over our hour of departure, but the mayor did not give us much choice.  When we arrived at the put in a few of the locals told us the river was flooded, but we did not really believe them.  The river was indeed brown like it had rained previously, but the first rapid looked bony so we assumed a rain shower from the night before had washed some sediment into the river.  We paddled the first kilometer or so and the river was indeed high, the rapids were big and pushy and pools between rapids were few to none.  Maud decided to hike out so we left two boats on the side of the river and helped Maud drag her boat back up to the put in.  The next morning Kees and I returned to the put in and swam and waded back down to the boats.  The water was still high and the Rio Juanambu drops through a narrow  jungle canyon and portaging most of the rapids was not an option.  Scouting was difficult and usually was done from a rock just a few meters above the river and above the rapid.  Moving up and down the side of the river was almost impossible in the canyon.  But, all of the drops in the upper canyon were good to go even at higher water.  Just above the last gorge we portaged the hardest rapid of the run.  After the portage the Rio Juanambu drops through a deep sheer walled gorge.  The view of the gorge from the river and from the bridge above is spectacular.  The Juanambu is one of the most scenic rivers in Colombia.  Below the Cañon de Juanambu is another canyon that drops down the Panamerican highway, but Kees was out of time and had to head north to Medellin.  Some non paddling mission, poor guy.  

 

Mark Hentze on the Rio Juanambu.

photo:  Maud Verboven

 

From Buesaco Maud and I made our way to San Agustin where we met up with another American paddler, David Kashinski.  It had not rained in days and the only thing worth paddling near San Agustin was the Rio Magdalena, which is certainly a worth while run while in the area.  After a few days of paddling on the Magdalena and on a whim we traveled a couple of hours back to the south to Mocoa in the department of Putumayo.  Between San Agustin and Mocoa, on the Eastern slope of the cordillera is the watershed of the Rio Caquetá, one of the largest rivers in Colombia.  Putumayo has just recently become safe to travel in, but if one travels much further south from Mocoa the risk of encountering guerrillas is high.  The Rio Caquetá passes near Mocoa and after some hasty studying of google earth we dropped into the upper canyon, about a 30 km section which drops about 300 meters.  After about three hours of some fine class IV-V paddling the river steepened a bit and then dropped into a deep sheer walled gorge.  The entrance to the gorge is a must run 8 meter waterfall, and once you drop in you are committed to running the gorge.  We spent four or five hours with machetes in hand trying to scout the gorge, but the canyon walls were too steep and covered with thick jungle vegetation.  We still had 200 meters to drop and after the first waterfall we could see another horizon line, but no way to scout or portage the second horizon line.  We decided to hike out.  Just upstream we found a trail that was most likely constructed by the guerrillas.  We carried the boats part way out the first night and returned the next morning to carry the boats the rest of the way out the canyon.  About 300 meters of climbing up to the highway.  

 

The upper Rio Caquetá where we were gorged out.

photo:  David Kashinski

 

When we returned to Mocoa, David and I were exhausted and sore and Maud was ready to go paddling.  Maud had been studying maps, google earth and talking to people while David and I explored the upper Caquetá.  After laying on the bed for an hour or so I was mostly recovered from the upper Caquetá mission and ready to pack up for the lower Caquetá.  The lower Caquetá cuts a deep gorge through the Parque Nacional la Cueva de los Guacheros and in 50 kilometers drops about 240 meters.  The first 10 kilometers and the last 10 kilometers are fairly flat and the majority of the gradient is concentrated in the 30 kilometer long inner gorge.  The river was once used as a clandestine route to transport illegal liquids past Mocoa to the cocaine laboratories further south in Putumayo.  A couple of “muchachos” would escort a bunch of 5 gallon jerry cans full of kerosene, hydrochloric acid and other essential liquids for the laboratories.   The Rio Caquetá is a massive river and the rapids are impressive in the inner gorge.  The scenery is equally impressive, numerous waterfalls plummet down the sheer walls of the gorge.  All of the side creeks are clean and their water is crystal clear.  There are not many house or pueblos on the upper Caquetá thus even the river is clean and unpolluted.  

 

 

The entrance to the first gorge of the lower Rio Caquetá.

photo:  Mark Hentze

 

We finished the gorge in two days after four long and grueling portages.  Two of the rapids we portaged were long class V+ rapids, one of which ended in a mandatory portage, but I think they both had a line or two.  The mandatory portage is where the entire Rio Caquetá disappears under two massive boulders that are choked into the bedrock gorge.  The lower Rio Caquetá is one of the most beautiful rivers I have ever paddled.  The gorge is full of quality big water whitewater, clean sandy beaches for camping and the scenery is impressive.  The take out in Puerto Límon, is a small pueblo on the banks of the Rio Caquetá and the people are very welcoming and friendly,  While we waited for transportation back to Mocoa, most of the people from Puerto Límon came by to great us and ask us about the canyon.  A friendly women repaired Maud’s shorts and most everybody invited us to stay for a while.  I believe the lower Rio Caquetá will one day become a world classic.  

 

Mark Hentze and Maud Verboven scouting the Rio Juanambu

photo:  David Kashinski

 

After exploring the Rio Caquetá we ran out of rivers to paddle near Mocoa so we caught a bus to Melgar, did a quick day trip on the Rio Sumapaz, and now hear I sit temporarily eddied out in Bogotá.  Next is Santander and Antioquia.  

 

Comments

[facebook]

This is an awesome river. flying there in sept

[Craig]

hey great blog...what time of year is this?

[Mark]

January of 2011. Some of the best rivers in Colombia.