Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande

THE JOURNEY EXPLORES THE LOWER CANYONS OF THE RIO GRANDE
Posted by Joe Keck, 05/02/2011


I am currently an avid whitewater paddler and adventurer who is living in Texas for a year while attending school. Now, Texas is not exactly known for its whitewater paddling, but while I’m here I absolutely plan to get the best of what’s around! In Texas, that seems to be the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande. Located in Far West Texas, these canyon walls rise up 1,700 feet out of the river, which serves as the border between the United States and Mexico.

The logistics for the trip provided a stressful challenge. First, during the summer, daytime temperatures soar to 120 degrees and only cool to around 100 at night. This is the Chihuahuan Desert after all! Hence, the best time to run the canyons is during the winter, conveniently timed with my Christmas break. Tragically, epic snowfall hit Colorado this season, so I failed in my attempt to recruit fellow boaters to make the journey. I have run much harder runs solo – Gore, Bailey, Clear Creek – but I had never spent anywhere near a week solo. The trip is 84 miles and I figured if I pushed the pace, six days would suffice.Second on my list of concerns was personal security. As everyone is aware, Juarez, 200 miles to the northeast has become somewhat of a war zone between drug cartels. I tried to get as much information as possible. The shuttle driver said the Lower Canyons were safe, the locals I met in the bar said I was likely to get abducted and ransomed for $300, and the Boarder Patrol declared it illegal for river trips to camp in Mexico. However, the voice I chose to hear was that of the park ranger, Jim, at the Big Bend National Park ranger station where I obtained my permit. He said that this was possibly the most remote area south of Canada. There are no roads into the canyons for a hundred miles. Jim thought there was zero chance of me seeing anyone, much less someone that would want to tango. I did consider bringing a handgun because everyone in Texas seems to have a spare or two, but changed my mind after finding out that possession of a gun in Mexico is a felony. As scary as cartels are, Mexican prisons sound worse!My trip randomly started at the Famous Burro bar in Marathon, Texas. If you head to the area, I highly recommend a stop at this joint. After locking the bar doors and extinguishing the ‘Open’ fluorescence at 2am, we proceeded to keep the bar rockin’ until after 4am. I picked up my shuttle driver at 8am and proceeded to the Rio!There is something glorious about setting off into the river at the beginning of an adventure. The first floating strokes are freedom in its finest. Gliding into the unknown. For me, I get a bit of relief. All of the planning is done, the trip is actually happening. Nothing to do now but breathe.By the end of that first day, I knew what it was to exist in Far West Texas. Not being a cowboy, I made the mistake of bringing nice Patagonia fleece as my only pants. The enormous thistles protruding from every branch, brush and ground cover attacked. Hailing from Colorado, I had never known why cowboys insisted on wearing boots and jeans year-round. Leaving the jeans at home is a mistake I’ll never make twice in the vast emptiness of longhorn country.Through the ensuing week, I figured out a lot about the southern desert. One aspect that I completely lucked out on was my choice boat, the Jackson Kayak Journey. I had originally planned to paddle my creekboat, which would have been completely out of its element. At the last minute, Duane from T G Canoes and Kayaks in San Marcos, TX, came through with a 14 foot Journey! I was especially thrilled because my comfort level and gear storage had just doubled or tripled! The Journey is really well considered. With two dry hatches, I was able to bring all of my creature comforts and extra food. I didn’t travel light and the boat easily contained food for 9 days, a Crazy Creek chair, a backpacking stove with 3 extra fuel containers, a large 0 degree sleeping bag, extra hiking shoes, three 24-ounce six packs of Budweiser American Ale, an aluminum fire pan and four gallons of water in addition to lots of extra emergency winter clothes! Countless class II-III rapids with the occasional class IV only minimally infiltrated the dry hatches with some moisture. In fact the dry storage was so good, I only put my sleeping bag and emergency clothes into a dry bag. Everything else including food, stove and sleeping pad remained plenty dry under the hatches without the protection of a dry bag. The mesh on top kept my necessities at hand, which allowed me to make long distances without breaking. The insulated beverage holder was the perfect size to keep my Nalgene with hot cocoa warm and a quick snack accessible.Having never been in a touring boat, I couldn’t believe how fast the Journey ate flat water. The Journey I had didn’t include the optional Smart Track Rudder, but the hull design had no problems staying straight and speedy. I was also impressed with the ability of the Journey to navigate whitewater. The boat amazingly boofed tight class IV slots and sailed smooth through mandatory low-water, mid-rapid ferries. After paddling a creek boat for hundreds of days in the last few years, the edge turning naturally felt slow, but was good enough to comfortably run technical class III whitewater. The Journey has exceptional primary stability and I never once had to brace in the whitewater. After paddling for a week, it was clear that the plastic would live up to Jackson’s high expectations for durability. Every evening, I would pull the loaded boat up onto my usually rocky campsite and after six days the plastic still looked new. I even challenged the Journey with low water boulder gardens, but I have no doubt that that Jackson Kayak will find it easy to stand behind the lifetime warranty because it will be near impossible to break a Journey. After all, it has the same plastic as the whitewater kayak lineup!Even though I measure in at 6‘2” with size 11 feet, the Journey kept me comfortable enough to paddle 6-8 hours per day for nearly a week! I added two shims to both hip pads to keep me in solid contact with the boat. One recommendation that I would have for future Journey’ers is to add a Jackson Kayak Sweet Cheeks seat pad. The included seat is plenty comfortable for a couple days, but after a week I was definitely regretting that I forgot my Sweet Cheeks at home. The cockpit fits a standard XL whitewater spray skirt rand, yet provided plenty of room to stretch my legs while keeping a dry bag with a camera, hat, sunglasses, map and GPS between my legs. I was even able to store hiking shoes and two water bottles in front of the foot pegs. Paddling my creeker would have been a complete suffer-fest, but the Journey kept me smiling for 84 solid miles!My main reason for desert expeditions is to explore all of the little slot canyons that meet the main flow. From the great Deer Creek, the minute Matkatamiba, or the dangerous uranium mines of Hey Joe, slot canyons always have amazingly different personalities. The lower canyons of the Rio Grande have some standouts. The mouth of Many Tinaja Canyon shocked me because of how many cougar prints littered the soft sand as the drainage spread into the Rio. I could clearly see a set of rabbit prints cross half-way across the sand and then disappear as a set of cougar prints over-took the rabbit prints from behind. Hopefully, the lion wouldn’t be hungry as I pushed up the drainage yelling, “Here Cougar!” Not far up, the slot looked to end in an enormous tinaja, which most kayakers would refer to as a pot-hole or hollowed out area at the base of a sandstone waterfall. Luckily, nature provided an enormous tree climbing adventure to access the upper canyon…Later in the day I found myself in Big Thicket Voyagers slot. The highlight was a gargantuan double entrance cave that had been inhabited by arrowhead chipping Native Americans. There remains ancient evidence from their work with stone blades on animal hides.After hot muggy hikes, the Rio Grande offered up a beautiful hot springs teeming with minnows. At the springs campsite, I had my closest animal encounter when a skunk ambled right up to me while I was star gazing. After a tense few minutes, I managed to convince the white stripe to leave without me needing a tomato soup bath. However, the best company I had on the trip were the turtles. They were everywhere, around every bend, in every rocky piece of sunshine. I named them Yurtle.Solo kayaking is not for everyone. It significantly increases the consequences of the slightest mistake. But there is a certain awareness, a heightened acuity of the senses that comes with a solo experience. A bit of clarity that emerges out of the chaos of life.


Special thanks to Jackson Kayaks, Marty, Duane and especially T G Canoe and Kayak!


Joe

Joe Keck Reviews The Jackson Kayak Villain

Photo by Alex Clayon. Product testing on The Escalante.

Well, fall is here. It’s always a time to look back at the kayaking season’s great memories and triumphs that we’ve had on the river. At the end, I always think back about my gear that was all shiny and new at the beginning. Did it work as advertised or is it time to try something new next spring? Well, one piece I loved all summer was my new Jackson Kayak Villain. I am a big fan of the Rocker and last winter I waited in trepidation for EJ’s newest take on the creek boat. My first few runs in the large Villain this year were on Escalante Creek. The initial impression was that the boat was fast, really fast, the fastest creeker that I had paddled. The large Villain has more volume and is longer than my trusty Rocker, but it boofs just as easily. I relate the superb boofing ability to the increased speed of the hull.

Next, the Mank Crew started making trips down to the ultra-classic Embudo. The new hull proved itself to be just as forgiving down the rocky desert funnel as the Rocker had for years before. Thankfully, she also proved easy to roll!
Later in the season, my boat and I tragically found ourselves in Texas. No matter because we joined a crew for the first descent of Bear Creek Falls!

The Official Jackson Kayak Promo video.

Pros:

• Extremely fast. It’s a huge improvement over some of the other hulls on the market.
• Boofs really well because it holds lots of speed over drops.
• Has a huge amount of storage space behind the seat and in front of the bulkhead for multi-day trips.
• I loved the foot room. I’m 6’2” with size 11 feet, so I have a hard time fitting real creeking shoes into most boats. The large Villain was comfortable right from the warehouse with the full 3” thick foam in the front.
• Even with the increased length, the boat maintains Jackson Kayaks motto of creating quick forgiving hulls that are easy to roll.
• I continue to love the Jackson Kayak outfitting with the uni-shock bulkhead. If you piton, the outfitting with take most of the energy and distribute it. I have personally tested this feature from 18’ high. The Villain also has no screws through the hull and remains one of the driest boats on the market.
• The cross-link plastic is still going strong!

Cons:

Photo:Bret Franson. Paddler:Joe Keck in his Villain.
• The new Villain comes with one less attachment rope in the stern, which makes multi-day packing a little tighter. This is easily fixed with a few carabiners.
• I didn’t get enough days in it this year!

Photo by Alex Clayton

The Verdict:

The new Villain rocks harder than Stevie Ray Vaughan playing Texas Flood! “It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.” Cheers from Texas and I’ll be off to the Southeast soon for more product testing!

Photo by Alex Clayton. Paddler: Joe Keck.

Motivation: New Zealand

This is your calling. Pull the trigger. Just Do It. No time like the present. Carpe diem. Rage-ing. And one of my favorites, "If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do." Last year, I was sitting in your shoes. I had searched kayak.com for months looking at flights. During a dreary eyed graveyard shift in the ICU, I bought one. I was on my way to Enzed. It was time for an escape from the frozen Colorado winter and into a summer kayaking wonderland. Here's Jordy, a local Hokitika huckster, waiting to get it started:

First, we need to discuss the rules of the road or in this case, airways. Rule #1: Always be early and waiting for the helicopter, not the other way around.

Rule #2: Never, ever, for any reason walk around the backside of the helicopter. As you cannot see below, the tail rotor is spinning so fast it is invisible to the human eye. It will remove any appendage more efficiently than a buzz saw. Always be able to see the pilot.
Rule #3: Enjoy legendary Bruce Dando airlines - it's the only way serious boaters fly!
Flying up the Arahura River:










Committed.

To help kayakers get to this point in their journey, may I make a recommendation of some important gear? Bring a serious paddle that won't break when you're in a deep gorges or thick wilderness. There is a reason all of the NZ boaters rock Werner Paddles. One of the most damaging things for a paddle is travel through the airport. Take a proper bag for protection. Finally, bring a serious lifejacket for unexpected out-of-boat adventuring!


Rule #4: Kayaking on the West Coast of New Zealand is no joke. It seems like a beautiful short journey up a river valley in a helicopter. In reality, when the bird takes off you are now miles up a true wilderness run in extremely dense bush. Getting out without a kayak would likely involve an overnight stay in the jungle. Pack emergency gear, first aid, food and breakdown paddles accordingly. The one bonus? You don't need to worry about water so much:



(Photo: Jordy Searle)

The rivers are still clean enough to drink straight from the crystal blue.

Time to get'er done! Here's me warming up with a boof on the Styx river:



(Photo: Jordy Searle)

The Styx and Arahura are a good introduction to West Coast kayaking. They both rate a solid IV+/V- with options to let the hair down on a couple solid V drops in the Arahura.






One of my favorite winter activities is backcountry hut skiing in the Colorado wilderness. One of my favorite summer activities is multi-day kayaking in the Sierras and Rockies. New Zealand has combined the two! On the West Coast, there are a handful of huts located perfectly for multi-day hut trip helicopter assisted kayaking! First order of business...have Barnabas Young negotiate a ride:





Airborne!





If you time it right, you can lay treats just as the Ratas are blooming. These bright red flowers bloom at the top of the trees at a certain altitude, similar to the changing aspens in Colorado. Unfortunately, they are endangered by the infestation of opossums from Australia. There are no natural predators in New Zealand, so the possums have taken over. The blooms vary in intensity from year to year, but I caught a great one.



(Photo: Barny Young)

It was pretty impressive putting in on the Perth above the Ratas and kayaking down through them. Absolutely stunning.


(Photo: Barny Young)

After a long day of hard-man kayaking, there's nothing better than rolling into a kiwi hut where the goon and grub had already been dropped via chopper.





(Scone hut on the Upper Perth River)


After the uber-classic two day Perth mission, we continued charging hard. Here's a couple shots of Jordy laying it down on the Kokatahi:




Apparently they lay browns off the stouts even in New Zealand:




One of the unbelievable scenes from the West Coast are the deep bedrock gorges that most rivers seem to cut through. They get super tight. Some contain extremely difficult class V+ and some contain easy class III, but they are all pure bliss. Here's Jordy assessing:


And me wilderness hucking:



(Photo: Jordy Searle)

I think it's important to notice the huge cave in the picture above. It's actually a bit hard to miss, I suppose. However, when kayaking in New Zealand, you have to remember that every single drop has a huge cave/sieve lurking. It is definitely some of the scariest kayaking I've done. Also some of the most beautiful and rewarding. After feeling good on the Kokatahi, the crew stepped it up to the Waitaha. I was boating with some serious locals, but here on Niki's Drop we all took the sneak - I took the far far right sneak, but here's New Orleans educated doctor turned ex-pat ER doc, Justin, hucking. Proof that ladies like Niki Kelly can slay whitewater with the very best of 'em.



(Photo: Niki's drop with the meat in the background by Kev England)

The Waitaha contains a sieve so big you can boat through it. The Cave Drop:





And I even managed to put on a smile in between the the grip:


(Photo: Kev England)

People say everything's bigger in Texas, but that's because they haven't been to the tiny island of New Zealand. Check out this epic scenery!



Here's a departing shot of Barny hucking a beauty:



(Photo: Jordy Searle)

So, if you're looking for a bit of adventure, some serious kayaking and the best fish'n chips on the planet then look up a little place called Hokitika. It's on the map, but you might have to look a little harder. If you need ideas or just want an arm chair fix, check out Jordy and Barny's blog:gradientandwater.blogspot.com. Did I mention you could get a beach vacation out of the deal too?

It's Finally Kayaking (off)Season

August 2011

As many of you loyal Colorado Kayak Supply Squad blog readers may know, I missed nearly all of the now legendary Summer of 2011 kayaking season. I was stuck in Texas. I know, you just threw up in your mouth a little and I'm sorry too. But I must have built up some pretty good Karma somewhere because I now find myself in a place that I have always wanted to be for a year.... The South East!

Now is my time to gloat because as you all sink into winter, I'm going to provide you with some impetus to get off your booty and go exploring during Colorado's off-season. We're just warming up down here.....

After unloading, but not unpacking all of the boxes from our moving truck, I did what any legitimate creeker would do. I loaded up the wife, dog, tent and paddling gear for a journey directly to Green River Adventures where I picked my very own Green River Access Key!

 

$60 entitles you access to the Shit, year-round!

And the beauty of the Green became mine. Sunshine, big boofs, warm water, and a ridiculous number of rapids deep in the Green River Gorge.


Gone Left, without dying even!

I know, I know. You have read about the Green. You have seen pictures of Sunshine and Gorilla and know they run 300 days each year. If you haven't been here you still can't appreciate how good the Green really is. There are still so many rapids and great boofs that people don't take the time to photograph. The depth of the entire gorge and the thick foliage are impossible to adequately capture on film, but I'll try for a few shots.


Mmmm....sorta reminds me of California - relaxed 8 foot boof.



The Groove Tube. Definitely one of my favorites. First you disappear, then you fall 10 feet.


The Southeast is of course home to many of the best creekers the world has known. I pretty much only hang out with the sickest, like Pat Keller and Toby McDermont.*



*Pat did not know I took this photo of him at Sunshine and has no idea who I am. I did give Toby a shuttle ride once and I think he even drank one of my PBRs.


Sunshine and clear water heading into the Factor


A smooth ride through the Hammer



One of the possible alternate lines at Hammer Factor 

Looking down into the sweet sticky goodness of the Polk County Welcome Center


So there is another taste of the off season for all of you jonsin' Colorado kayakers. Be sure to get out and get some paddling done this fall and winter! I plan to keep assailing you with Southeastern classics, so you'll be really aching if you don't. The Russell Fork is this upcoming weekend, Gauley after that and the Talluah Gorge following. And those are just if it doesn't rain!

I did manage to get one photo of me in Colorado this spring. And sure enough, it proves once and for all that I do have 3 'o's in my booof! Furthermore, this shot also proves that if I had been able to make the Race then the Buckle would be inscribed with Huckin Duckie.

Kirk, a fellow SE boater and last year's winner, agreed that this stroke alone would have guaranteed a win. Also note the awesome CKS stickers!

And I leave you with a great parting shot that you will have a hard time finding in Colorado....