Bald Rock of the Middle Feather

Last week, after returning from a month of guiding in Belize, I officially transitioned out to California for the winter. I was pretty stoked that on day one back in the state I not only got to go kayaking, but got to check a new run off my list- Bald Rock of the Middle Feather. Last May I was fortunate enough to get on the amazingly beautiful Devil's Canyon section of the Middle Feather, just upstream of the Bald Rock section, so I was excited to see what lay downstream.

The trip came together to celebrate the birthday of charger Will Pruett, and with a crew of nine, a shuttle driver and Will's cute new puppy (aptly named Jah Lion) we all packed into Jason Hale's truck and headed to the put in.

The ride to the top was uncomfortable to say the least. We had four people across the front, four across the back, Alex hanging out the sun roof and Will and Jah Lion sitting on the boats. But hey, at least we didn't have to run shuttle!

The truck loaded up

Alex, Will and Jah Lion getting some fresh air on the ride to the put in

Our crew included about half of people new to the run, including myself, but also a few that knew it well which was a nice combo. Water level was on the low side of medium with tons of fun class 4-5 rapids (and a few 5+ ones thrown in there to really keep you on your toes). With Will and Thomas Moore leading the way down, we worked our way through the big boulder choked river.

Getting ready to go...

Will looking back upstream enjoying the scenery

The river starts out with a solid warm up before arriving at the portage of the Atom Bomb Gorge. Included in the portage is a ferry move above a number of sieves that at our level was pretty low stress, but I have heard that as the water gets higher this ferry gets very scary. Getting here is definitely worth it however, as once in the gorge you are surrounded by nothing but beautiful granite walls and boulders. I've been on a lot of California's classic runs and I will say that in my opinion, the scenery here is just as good as any I've seen.

Atom Bomb Gorge

Taking a break in the gorge

A look downstream

Charge!

The all star crew

After a nice relaxing break in the Atom Bomb Gorge it was time to keep moving downstream. The river picks up here, and the rapids get a bit more full on, though with that they also become walkable which is a nice combo to have. There were a few class 5+ rapids in this section that were walked by some and ran by others. Everyone had nice lines either way though.

Seal launching in below the Atom Bomb Gorge

Alex at Curtain Falls

This river makes you feel like you really did something when you paddle it, because after 4-5 hours of solid kayaking, you have a 3 mile flat water lake paddle followed by a short but stout hike out of the lake to the road (took me about 45 min). At the end of the time, I was tired, but fully satisfied having seen another one of California's beautiful granite wonderlands.

Sunset on the lake

Getting ready to start the hike out

Wofford College Belize Trip 2012

I just got back from another trip to Belize with Wofford College. The students came down to Belize to study the various aspects of eco-tourism and I have been fortunate enough to work as a guide for this trip for the past three years.

The first week of the trip involves exploring the main land of Belize while the second week takes us out camping on islands next to the barrier reef. Each activity is very different and allows the students to see how different eco-tours are run while also giving them to chance to really experience the country.

First up was the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave tour. This tour takes you deep into an old Maya Cave and allows you to see first hand the remains and remnants of the Maya culture. To get to the dry cavern however, you first have to swim up the cave and through some tight passageways.

Entering the ATM Cave

Inside the Cave

Ancient Maya pottery found inside the cave

"The Crystal Maiden"- one highlight of the ATM tour

Our next tour takes us to Tikal National Park in Guatemala, a UNESCO Heritage Site and one of the largest ancient Maya cities. Here we learn about the Maya culture, beliefs and social structure. It also involves climbing up many ancient ruins, with a few wildlife sighting thrown in as well. 

The Maya Tree of Life

The group enjoying the ruins

Howler monkey mid jump

Look familiar? This was the setting for one of the Star Wars films

Following Tikal we moved south in Belize to the Cockscomb Jaguar Preserve to get a little more in touch with nature. Unfortunately we didn't see any jaguars here, but we did get a number of good wildlife sighting along with jungle river tubing and a sunset hike up a local mountain.

Will and I getting ready to do some tubing

Enjoying a lazy float through the jungle

The students at the top of the mountain

After this we moved even more south to the Toledo district where we visited a local Maya village and had a cultural experience learning how these people live and sustain themselves. Part of this tour involved visiting a local Cocoa farm and learning the traditional ways the Mayas made chocolate.

That completed our "mainland phase" of the trip, but we still had more to come. Next up was what we refer to as the "islands phase" of the trip. For this journey we chartered a sailboat (from Raggamuffin tours out of Caye Caulker) to take us 20 miles off the coast of Belize to remote islands located next to the barrier reef.

Our first day we sailed out to Pompion Caye, our own private deserted island. Along the way though we stopped off at the Laughing Bird National Marine Park to have lunch and do some snorkeling.

Loading up on the Ragga King

That's Ish, one of our awesome crew members

Snorkeling around Laughing Bird

You may not be able to tell from the photo, but this is a HUGE lobster

Sailing away...

Captain Kimani teaching me to sail

After arriving at Pompion, we started our island adventures, which involves giving the students a chance to rotate through a number of different island activities. This includes stand up paddle boarding, sea kayaking, fishing and snorkeling. Along with this we also spend some time watching our fishing guide Leslie try and catch us our dinner with his spear gun. That turns out to be one of the coolest activities we do, and man does that fresh fish, lobster and conch taste good!

A first glimpse at Pompion Caye

Pompion living...

Following a few days on Pompion we switched it up and stayed on a bit more developed island called Hatchet Caye for the final two days. This gives us another perspective on how tourists can visit the islands of Belize. On the sail over we stopped again for a visit to another National Marine Park called Queen Caye. Hatchet was a big hit with the students and really rounded out the trip well.

Queen Caye

The ladies enjoying some sea kayaking

Stand up paddle boarding around Hatchet

Hobie Cat sailing at Hatchet

Time to say goodbye to the Ragga King

After a week sailing around on the Ragga King and enjoying the beautiful Belizean islands it was unfortunately time to say goodbye and head back to winter...

You Gotta Love Kayaking in Ecuador!

After a week of climbing mountains with my mom, it was time to move onto a sport that I have a little more experience with. So after returning to Quito from our Cotopoxi attempt, I headed to the airport to meet the most famous kayaking dentist in Kentucky, Clay Warren, for our week of kayaking and showing him around one of my favorite places in the world . My mom flew out the following morning and Clay and I headed to the Quijos River Valley and the town of Baeza to begin our trip.

Walking through the bus terminal on our way to Baeza (Photo by Clay Warren)

Clay and I on the Quijos (Photo by Doug)

In Baeza we met up with a bunch of my good friends and kayaking characters, including Big Drew, Kesha and Mr. Joe Ravenna. It did not take long for our first meal at Ginga's (where we pretty much eat three meals a day when staying in Baeza) and a "welcome to Baeza" Ecuadorian moonshine shot with Vicinte (Ginga's husband). That one shot turned into ten, and it became a challenge to try and turn down shots, which none of us needed anymore of.

The homemade Ecuadorian Tequila (the scale in the picture isn't the best, but that bottle is actually about ten times the size of a normal liquor bottle)

Joe having a hard time saying no

Big Drew and Kesha

While in Baeza we got on a number of my favorite sections of whitewater in the Quijos Valley and Ecuador in general, including the Bridge to Bridge, Bridge to Borja, and El Chaco Canyon sections of the Quijos as well as the lower Cosanga. Because the water is more high volume in this area, its a bit harder to get pictures, so I have very few. Sorry.

Drew and Joe floating through Chaco Canyon

Doug the "Pac Rafter"

A typical scene at Rodrigo's Place

We had hoped to get on the Cheese House section of the Quijos before moving on from Baeza, but the morning we woke up to run it we found that the rain overnight had more or less flooded the Quijos and made that no longer an option. So we quickly changed plans and decided to move on to Tena that morning, stopping at the Lodo (mud) section of the Misahualli along the way. I had not run that section in over six years and I had forgotten how fun it was.

A Volcano view on the way to Tena

The reason they call it the mud section

Me doing what I love best (Photo by Joe Ravenna)

Mr. Ravenna hitting his boof

Dr. Love takin it to the wall

Clay, being the philanthropist Dentist that he has, brought down a bunch of toothbrushes to give away to locals that my need one. We had been waiting for the right moment to give them all away, and the take out of the Misahualli proved the perfect opportunity when we were bombarded by a village of small children. Instead of just giving them away, Rodrigo helped us quiz the kids and make it more of an educational competition, which proved fun for all of us.

Clay and his happily toothbrush equipped children

The next day we planned on heading to the Jondachi (considered one of the most classic Ecuadorian runs and my personal favorite), but as we drove to the put in we noticed a bad storm in that direction with rain already beginning to fall. With many stories of people being flashed off that river, we decided to tell the taxi driver to turn around and headed off in the opposite direction to the Piatua River. I had never been to the Piatua before so I was excited to see a new river. It turned out to be beautiful continuous class 4 creeking.

Clay in a boulder jumble rapid on the Piatua

The following morning the sun was shining and we decided it was a much better day for the Jondachi so off we went. The hike in was just as muddy as I remembered it, making for a fun experience trying not to fall and laughing at those who did. Forty-five minutes later we made it to the put in and started our way down this ultra-classic run.

The Put-in

Clay seal launching in (Photo by Joe Ravenna)

We had a decent sized group, with a few newbies and only a couple of us that had been on the run before, years ago, so we made our way down carefully, fully enjoying the many great class 4-5 rapids on this creek.

Enjoying the scenery while waiting patiently for the group

Oh, the Money Boof

Me at Typhoid (Photo by Doug)

Clay coming through Tres Huevos

Joe at Tres Huevos

We all made it down safely and were stoked to have run the Jondachi. After seven days of kayaking and a lot of staying up late, we were getting a bit tired. So we decided to finish off the week by spending the weekend in Banos. Banos is a tourist town located at the base of the Tungurahua Volcano and a very special place to me as it is where I spent a large portion of time during my first trip to Ecuador and I still have many local friends that live there.

Joe, Clay and I arrived in Banos early in the afternoon and decided to hop on some motorcycles for a short ride. Clay and I were determined to do a full ride the following day (renting bikes in Banos is cheap and ridiculously easy, so I try and do it every time I'm in town), but Joe was on the fence since he had never ridden a motorcycle before. The afternoon ride was supposed to hook Joe and convince him to join us the next day. It worked.

So after a night hanging out at the club enjoying the banos atmposphere, we rented some more motorcycles and took off up the mountain.  We did a four hour ride that took us up into the hillside, offering awesome views of the Tungurahua Volcano along the way.

Clay taking a moment to enjoy the view of Tungurahua

There was only one small mishap on the ride, and I was lucky enough to have a front row seat. As I was riding behind Joe, he accidently tapped the front break with a little too much enthusiasm and  did a superman off the front of his bike. At first I was extremely concerned, rushing up to make sure he was ok. After it was determined that a bruised foot and some road rash were his only injuries, Clay started laughing and I had to join in. It was a funny moment, but one that could have been way worse. We're glad Joe was not hurt more, and it was a good story to reflect about over beers later that afternoon.

Joe showing off his road rash

A view of the Banos Valley from the road

After riding back to Banos we returned the bikes and headed off for some food and beer. It was the end of our trip together and that evening we would all be heading off to different things. Joe was back to Baeza to start guiding kayaking trips for Endless River Adventures, Clay had to get home to his dentist practice and I had to start my trip with Adventures by Disney.

The kayaking lifestyle in Ecuador is hard to beat. With really easy logistics, tons of great rivers close together, warm weather and $1.25 grande beers, what more could you ask for? Add in a bunch of old friends and new ones as well and theres no place Id rather be. That is exactly what this trip was for me. It was an awesome week filled with good kayaking, great friends and some awesome adventures. I can't wait to do it again next year!It was an awesome week filled with good kayaking, great friends and some awesome adventures. I can't wait to do it again next year!