Here is the 2nd edit from our recent trip to the Veracruz region of Mexico. We bagged the Jalacingo on our last day in the region before heading back state side. The run itself wasn't as difficult as I had pictured it to be especially given the high water, but it was incredibly fun. Countless boofs of all shapes and sizes featured prominently and the run was locked inside a tight bed rock gorge. Most folks chose to hike in below the two top drops (60 foot Twisted Pleasure and 40 foot Dirty Sanchez.) We would have done the same, but no one one in our group had done the run before... so we botched the hike-in and ended up dropping in above this section. I'll tell you right now that the portage around these big waterfalls is taxing, to say the least, but the drop that we earned by putting in up top was one of the better water falls of the entire trip. A clean 20 and change with a late boof into a walled in cathedral. In my book, it was worth the hike back out of the canyon and around the biggens. The 2nd to last drop shown in the video is directly below Dungeon and is worth a second look when scouting. The two paddlers who tried to ride the toung (what looks like the best line) were both caught in the boil, resulting in one blown skirt and subsequent swim. Dan and I ran the far left side and had better results. Dungeon is a sweet looking waterfall, but after 45 minutes spent dilliberating, we ended up portaging. Looking back on it, I really wish I'd run the twisting 30 footer. It's a very unique drop and is 100% good to go. Our issue lied in the run-out from the waterfall as we couldn't see where the majority of the current was going (from our vantage, it looked to be flowing into a nasty undercut). We learned later that this hazard isn't nearly as bad as it looks from 90 feet up in the air. Oh well, I've got something to go back too.
2nd Edit from our January 2014 trip to Veracruz, Mexico. We ended up paddling the Lower Jalacingo on our last day in Tlapacoyan. Most everyone had cleared out from Tlap after the race and we were looking to paddle one last section before heading back state side. Everyone said that it would be a supremely bad idea to attempt the Upper Jala without a guide, so we opted to try the Lower section and figure things out for ourselves. After botching the hike-in and portaging around the 'Twisted Pleasure' 'Twisted Pleasure' series, we were treated to countless ledges and amazing scenery. Boof's for days. The lower Jala served as the perfecting ending to our Mexico vacation.
Stream: This is usually run as a park and huck, but there is another rapid or two upstream and while wood is present in the creek downstream from the falls you could continue on if you liked. There is even a bridge half a mile downstream of the parking area.
There is a trail to the base of the falls from the parking area for safety and media. Boaters carry their gear up the road and find a way down to river level above the falls. Scouting is easily done from the lip on river right before putting on.
At low flows a shallow lip complicates the take off, so the more water the better. It has been run middle, but close to the right bank is most common.
It's worth having someone in the pool below as swims can easily result in lost gear as it takes off downstream.
If you want to do laps it is reasonable to walk back up on river left.
Flows:The photos on this page were taken with Germany Creek fluctuating between 350-400, the Nehalem @ Vernonia at 2000cfs, the Naselle was at 2500cfs, and the Coweeman at 1200-1300. Those three drainages make a triangle with Beaver Creek in the middle, so looking at them should give you a sense of what Beaver Creek Falls is doing. The media on this page came from a day with minimal flow, where the shallow lip was affecting people's lines. The higher the flow, the better for this one. It takes a lot of rain to get it going.
Access:Take exit 36 off of I5 just south of Kelso.Take 432 west for about 4.5 miles and turn left at a light onto 433/Oregon Way. Cross over the Columbia and turn right onto Hwy 30. 5 miles later turn right onto Beaver Falls Rd where you will begin to parallel the stream. And in another 3.7 miles the parking area for the falls will be on your left. From here follow the trail to the base of the falls to scout, then walk up the road to run the falls. There are other put ins and take outs if you want a longer run but most people just do the falls. 46.1045, -123.1243
Story
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~as told by Andrew Bradley
The first time I scouted Beaver Creek Falls was two years ago when a bunch of friends and I were in search of a respectable sized waterfall to step up to. Beaver is a short 45 minute drive from Portland, it lies just off Highway 30 outside of Longview, WA. After the massive amount of snow and rain the northwest received just the week before, we decided to rally a crew and head to the infamous 45ft. tall Beaver Creek Falls! Upon arrival, the falls seemed to look like a runnable level and the group started to get excited. Further investigation of the lip however would suggest that complications could arise. It was determined that yes, paddling over the falls would be fine and it is definitely "running". However...the speed you would gain approaching the drop mixed with the shallowness of the lip could make for some interesting lines; and sure enough...interesting lines were had! Here are two gauges you can use as an idea Nehalem @ Vernonia was at 2000cfs and the Naselle was at 2500cfs.
Ben Mckenzie, Jacob Cruser and Andrew Bradley scouting the lip of Beaver!
Photo Credit: Patrick Heindel
The lip at a closer glance.
Photo Credit: Taylor Hazen
Tony Skriv taking the 45ft plunge as Jacob Cruser waits in the pool below.
Photo credit: Patrick Heindel
Andrew Bradley hucking and tucking after getting hung up on the lip.
Wiley Creek is a class III-IV run near Sweet Home with some wood, lots of read and run, and a couple of low end class Vs.
Above Richochet the creek is nondescript, but can be entertaining if there is not much wood. If you are driving just continue up until the creek no longer looks like something you want to paddle and put in there. If you are hiking, put in below Richochet (44.323889, -122.537968).
Whether you are hiking or driving will depend on whether the gate is open.
Portaging Ricochet in 2020.
The creek is fun below Richochet, the next notable spot has a creek coming in from the left over a cascade, and a nice ledge in Wiley Creek. This ledge can offer a good boof, and can be lapped. It's worth a scout, as the hole can be sticky.
Not too far downstream is Taint Natural, we were glad we scouted from the road on the way in circa 2020 because there was tricky wood in the lead in, and eddies are less prevalent here than other parts of the creek. We had a quick portage on the left in the lead in, from which point we could scout Taint Natural itself.
Taint Natural has a couple ledges, the first has a notable hole. At 450 it was no problem punching over/through.
Downstream the fun continues for a bit, then some wood was present in 2020 as things transitioned to boulder bars. This boulder bar section lasts for awhile, and islands present decisions to make. Pick the right route and you may not have to get out of your boat the whole time, pick the wrong route and you are likely to find a strainer.
Below the boulder bars things consolidate for the final mile, my favorite part of the creek. The first rapid is Cascade Falls, a powerful, unique and fun rapid with minimal consequences.
If you have enough daylight, it's worth doing a couple laps here.
Cascade is below the gate, so this last mile can be run more often than the full run.
*Sean brought this tail stand down cleanly.
Downstream, fun ledges dot the creek all the way until the last 1/4 mile where easy floating leads to the take out bridge at the rock quarry.
If you have seen everything else and want to see check out something new, head to Wiley creek, it'll leave you with a smile.
Flows: 500-1,000 is going to be the most friendly and clean, people run it from 300-1,500 according to the guidebooks. Access: Just East of Sweet Home, Highway 20 crosses over Wiley Creek. The first road on the East side of the creek is Wiley Creek Rd, follow this upstream 4 miles and turn right at the confluence with Little Wiley Creek. In less than 1 mile you will reach the rock quarry at the take out (44.36354421526515, -122.61037721129792)
To put in continue upstream on the same road. In about 1.3 miles there is a pull out at Cascade (44.34968938492463, -122.5928280449569).
If you are hiking past the gate to the put in, or flows are high, you'll probably want to put in here (44.326233531316895, -122.54251620796829), just below Ricochet.
If you are driving, continue upstream until the creek doesn't look fun anymore and put in there.
Whenever I hear someone say Wiley Creek an image pops into my head of Nate with his fist raised, crying out "Wiiileeeey!!!" similar to the way Simpsons character Mcbain cries out "Mendoza!!!"
I talked to Nate after doing this TR and he informed me the original comes from star trek. Clip shown below.
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That image came about after we had been thwarted yet again by this reputed mediocre creek in the Mid-Willamette Valley on a day other good stuff was in. Nate had been jonesing for Canyon Creek but Anna had cast a charm by posting on the Facebook and convincing us that Wiley would put a smile on our faces.
We ended up giving up that day when confronted with low water and a gate. It was one of those days everything went wrong and after hiking off a different run, cracking a boat, and various other mayhem we all had a sour feeling towards Wiley (except Anna). This culminated in Nate raising his fist to the sky and and proclaiming to the world he would never have another day of kayaking impeded by Wiley Creek.
I'm sitting here in my living room and outside the Portland weather is really bringing me down. Cold, crisp, and Clear without a sign of any precip in the coming 10 days. This has basically been the norm for the Winter 2013/2014 season thus far. No snow, very little rain, and lots of days spent indoors instead of out on the water. I've watched more football games than the previous two years combined. What to do, what to do? I've got it, why not ditch the El Nino event and head south to paddle the beautiful sections of the Rio Alseseca with some beautiful people... And some not so beautiful...
The mountains on the ride up to the top of the Big Banana
I first started kicking around the idea for a trip to Tlapacoyan this summer. Alex had been down last year with a few PDX folks and the photos looked really stunning. Couple that with the fact that I'm pretty locked in with a 9-5er right now and vacation time was going to come at a premium. I was looking for a place where I could really maximize my time on the water and not spend too many hours dicking around with shuttles, beta, and very various other logistical issues. Enter Aventurec. Aventurec is a hostel and adventure outfitter based in Tlapacoyan, Veracruz, Mexico and owned by the Reninoso family. In the summers, the hostel is a bustling rafting outfitter which caters to Mexican tourist who want to paddle the local class III Filobobs. However, it recent years the near by Alseseca River has really blown up in popularity amongst class IV-V kayakers and Aventurec has become a world renowned destination for the Annual Rio Alseseca Race. The event was designed to build awareness in the community and worldwide to the pollution and environmental degradation along the Aleseca drainage. According to Tom McEwan, one of the organizers and long time Alseseca paddler, the race has been gaining traction in recent years and inch by inch, the local communities have been cleaning up their act. That being said, there is still a long way to go before one could really call the Alseseca a pristine river drainage. It's too bad too... Because everything else about the river is world class! Multiple sections ranging from sold class IV to serious Class V. Deep committing gorges. Easy access! Oh... and Waterfalls!... lots of waterfalls!
On this particular trip, I managed to convince Dan Rubado and John Edwards to throw caution to the wind and book travel with me down to Mexico City.
We were all pretty happy to see our boats and paddles arrive safely in Mexico City
The city of Tlapacoyan
We left Portland at 6AM the day before the big race and landed in Mexico City around 5PM. We opted to bring our own boats down, rather than rent from Aventurec, and decided to rent a car at the airport rather than trying to figure out a bus ride to the town of Tlapacoyan. This is a more expensive option, but again, we were really trying to maximize our time on the river and I was worried about losing a day of paddling waiting around for buses and trying to get my kayak to fit inside. After getting eddied out at the airport of a few hours, we eventually snagged a rental, loaded the boats, and set out for Veracruz. Driving in Mexico City is an absolute nightmare and we would have been completely screwed if it wasn't for John's GPS and nerves of steel. Seriously! I was more scared in the back of the car on the way out of the city than at any point on the rio. Thanks Bud! We didn't make it to the hostel until around 1 AM.
Dan with our trusty VW Classico, complete with after market Bamboo kayak rack.
Upon waking up, we were astonished to see just how many people had made it down for the event. Not only were their our friends from the PNW and Colorado, but there was great international representation from The UK, Costa Rica, Canada, Argentina, Ecuador and of course, Mexico. I'm not sure of the exact count on race day, but I know it was the biggest turn out to date and there were easily 100 people present including safety and spectators. Having never seen the course and with reports of high water and sticky holes, we opted not to compete on this day and instead headed up to the Roadside Section of the Alseseca to boat the course at our own speed and cheer on our friends as they made their way down the course. In the end, Dane Jackson took home 1st place, followed by Nick Troutman and Eric Jackson.
The view from the front porch of our humble hostel.
We had a great time figuring out the section for ourselves. The roadside is mostly class IV, with some bigger drops sprinkled in for good measure. The water was too high to run S-Turn, but Sophie's Hole and Sticky Hole were in fine form. Dan pulled off an an amazing hand of god manauver while I was about to be sucked back into sticky. No live bait needed, he grabbed my bow loop from shore and threw me down river away from the terminal spin cycle. The award ceremony followed and the entire town of Tlapacoyan came out for the event. In addition to the typical award announcements, we were treated to a few interpretive performances by local dancers and a speech by the town Mayor. Very cool!
The usual dinner scene at Aventurec. Everything's delicious and the company's great.
The stoke was high for Day 2 and we got together a great group of PNW boaters to tackle the Big Banana Section. Led my Nate Herbeck and Sandra Hyslop, we descended into the inescapable gorge that cuts through the mountains below Big Banana Falls. This is one the best sections of river that I've had the privledge to paddle. We never ran Silencio or Meat Locker (due to the high water) but even without the signiture drops, Big B is a true classic. Dropping over the unscoutable mandatory 20 footer for the first time was a real adrenalin rush! Thanks for all the beta Sandra and Nate!
Day 3 found us back on the Roadside section for a few laps and an exploration of the bottom (less commonly run) section below the standard takeout. Again, we had a big group with Leif and Natalie Anderson joining in, along with Jake, Joni Randal, and Beth McVay. We stopped quite a bit for photos and video and had blast lapping some of the more classic drops along the roadside. I highly recommend checking out the bottom mile as well. There were some great rapids down them there hills, including a wild slide right before the take out.
More from Tlap!
That evening folks decided to do the mega rally for the Pimiento section of the Filobobos river the following day. This meant waking up before dawn to start the 4 hours shuttle up into the mountains. The drive was long and bumpy, but the scenery was top notch and we were rewarded with a spectacular day on the water. 30 kms of unmolested jungle wilderness with the first 10ks featuring a wide variety of class IV-V boulder gardens. Of our group of 12, only Alex from Quebec had done the section before and this made for some interesting break downs in communication while we were routing the upper section. I remember dropping into one rapid right on Alex's tail before he dropped out of sight over a pretty massive horizon line. After blasting through two sticky ledge holes I found Alex in the eddy below with a big smile on his face as he mentioned that we had just routed one of the recomenedd portages. It was that type of day. It took us a full six hours of hard charging to finish the section, but luckily, the take out is only a mere 30 minutes from the hostel. So we were back at Aventurec drinking Cervasa's before dark.
Everyone in Tlap seems to love kayakers, including these guys!
I woke up the following morning feeling pretty horrible. Somewhere along the line I must have ingested some river water and spent a large portion of the night visiting the John. It happens to everyone who paddles the Alseseca. There really isn't much you can do besides lay down and take it on the chin. At this point, I hadn't even rolled, yet alone taken a swim and I was still laid up pretty good. Everybody has their own 'remedy' or modality to stave off the dreaded "gringo ass." The Brits all swear that Coke-Cola is the cure, while others stick to a tried and true regiment of take-out tequila. Either way, most folks get hit and end up moaning on the couch for a day or two. Fortunetly, I pounded the pepto and was able to rally for another Big Banana lap on my "sick day". I never felt 'good' by any stretch of the imagination, but I was able to keep er upright and had a great time despite my ever present nauseia.
It was right around day 5 when most everyone cleared out from Aventurec. Most folks had been there for several weeks leading up to the race and now that the event had passed, everyone started to split up and head their seperate ways. We still had a couple more days to go and didn't miss a beat. Two more laps on the Big B and life was good. Joni took her first run down somewhere in there and performed really well. Dan and John both sat out one day with 'the sickness' but not before Dan pulled the trigger on Truchas (clean 20 footer to 50 footer series locked in the heart of the Rio Alseseca Canyon. Well done.
Despite the high water, I was determined to paddle one of the sections on the Rio Jalacingo and on our last day in Tlapacoyan, we decided to throw caution to the wind and give the Lower Jala a go. We had a shuttle driver drop us off at the start of the hike in and recieved crucial beta to get out of the river 3 miles downstream before a scary 90 foot water fall. Be forewarned! The take out for the lower Jalacingo is easy to miss! Just below the take out trail, the river makes a bend and falls 90 feet into a crack in the earth. The falls starts in class III and their are no eddies once you've commited to the class III drop! Aniol and group 5 others were swept over this drop a little while back! Everyone survived, but I don't know how after seeing this thing in person. Make sure you hit that takeout! Pay your driver extra to wait by the river if you have to... just don't miss it!
Gearing up for another shuttle up into the mountains.
After dead reckoning down into the canyon we put on the creek and immediately were faced with a perfect 20 foot boof into a cathedral style pool. We could tell that there was a bigger drop down stream but we opted to run the 20 footer and deal with the next drop when we came to it. Just so happened that the 20 was one of the best boofs we got in Mexico and well worth what came next. After everyone was down, we made the steep climb out of the cathedral to scout the next falls. It turned out to be a 60 foot waterfall called Twisted Pleasure. It gets run by the big guns and has been featured in one of the substantial videos, but none of us wanted any part of it. There was no portage option at river level so we began a strenuous jungle portage up and out of the canyon. Once above the rim we stayed high to avoid the next drop (40 foot falls called Dirty Sanchez) before descending down through a coffee plantation back towards the river. Once we were back at river level, the hits just kept on coming. The Lower Jala is jam packed with boofs. We spent the next hour boat scouting our way down over stacked 5-20 foot ledges. Before too long we got out to scout the last waterfall called Dungeon. Rafa got the first D on this drop a few years back and it's now pretty commonly run. You can't get anywhere near the lip of this drop to scout it carefully and are left with obscured views of the falls from across the canyon rim. The falls itself looked pretty good to go. A twisting lead in lead to a spirt falls size boof into a fully boxed in canyon. Dan and I were keen, but there was one factor that was really keeping us from firing. Right below where we could scout from, the outflow of the falls appeared to be disappearing into the canyon wall. We just couldn't get a good enough view to ascertain the severity of the undercut. After a good 45 minutes of scouting and a lot of hemming and hawing, we decided the roll of the dice just wasn't worth the pay off at this point in the game. We both joined John and Jake on the portage and quickly finished up the run. After getting back to the world of the internet, I'm able to see now that the undercut isn't as bad as it looks from 80 feet up in the air. In fact, the substantial guys were all hanging out in the cave in their video while the rest of the crew was finishing up the drop. Alas, I'll know next time.
Dan, Sam and Sandra enjoying some tacos in Tlap
El Pastor con Queso!
One more trip back to Aventurec after a quick stop for some tacos and we were on our way back to Mexico City. I left my tacos on the side of the highway somewhere along the line... Damn parasite... We crashed out in a hotel room late that night before catching our return flights home the following day. As I sit here writing I still long for the warm temps and clean bed rock of the Rio Alseseca. This is a trip that I definatly aim to repeat and highly encourage you to check it out as well. I didn't get a chance to paddle some of the classic drops in the area and still haven't seen the Upper Jala or the Seven Sisters section of the Alseseca, so I've unfinished business in the area. I'll be back.
Until next time,
Nate
I'm going to be releasing a series of videos (as I find the time to put them together) documenting our time down in Tlapacoyan. First up is this edit from the Rio Filobobos. 30 kilometers of classic jungle scenery and Class IV-V boogie water. Enjoy.
The Pimiento Section is one of three sections that comprise a 30k wilderness run on the Rio Filobobos in Veracruz, Mexico. The shuttle is four hours one way and traverses some amazing landscape. The river itself is cut off from the world on either side by a vertical canyon that stretches up 600 feet in some places. The first 1/3 of the run is boat scouting class IV with the occasional hairy sieve. We got on the water around 10am and reached our takeout close to 5pm in the afternoon. 12 boaters deep and perpetual game of broken telephone made for some interesting lines, but this section is certainly worth checking out if you want a day off from the nearby Rio Alseseca.
Into the Outside has taken a short break from updates to start the year. To get things rolling again we will have an extra post this week. Nate has got a TR queue'd up from his time down in Mexico for the main post.
For today we have a quick video of Opal Gorge on the Little North Santiam. There has been some discussion lately about the innocuous rapid just below the Undertaker called "Tombstone".
Here the river pinches down and splits around a boulder. The right side is a good 6' boof at some flows, but missing the boof and having the bow directed right has resulted in multiple pins. These haven't been very dangerous yet, but is certainly something to avoid. This video shows the left side line that we often take (which has it own obstacles).
This was Priscilla's first time down the gorge and she did great.
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