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| Joel Fedak enjoying the entry rapids |
My six-week trip to Colombia was quickly
coming to a close and our team was in the southwestern corner of the
country. It was going to take a solid three days of van, bus, and
pick-up trucks rides to get back to Bogota and depart.
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| such a huge country with so much to offer |
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| Jared Page heading towards the gorge |
One more, one more, one more, is a
recurring theme in my life. After a quick discussion we realized that we
could sneak out for yet one more adventure. The boys had paddled the
Rio Junambu the previous year and spoke of a deep canyon with quality
class 4 rapids.
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| smashed into the mini van |
Access to the canyon took a little longer
then anticipated. The road had degraded over the season, and was now
exceedingly jarring. Exacerbating the situation was the fact that we
packed six deep into a mini van, with all three of our creek boats
loaded inside the van with us.
An
arching bridge marked our put in, and upon inspection the water level
looked a little low. We bumped and ground our way down the river for a
bit until we reached the first major tributary on the right. The
confluence rewarded us with double the water. From here down there was
one small tributary after the next. Unfortunately at least a couple of
these tributaries are the runoff from villages far above. These streams
brought in an abundance of trash and some interesting smells.
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| Jared Page in the boogie |
As the river got bigger so did the rapids.
It was fun class 4. We picked apart the rapids, finding alternative and
interesting lines.
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| more great class 4 |
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| Jared Page entering the canyon |
As we approached the canyon sheer walls shot straight
up. The gorge was a few hundred feet deep. It was beautiful.
Unfortunately the gorge wasn't very long, so we stopped and took a small
break enjoying the location and a quick snack.
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| our take out bridge |
Paddling out of the canyon leads you to
two different historical bridges, both are arches, and it would be
really easy to misidentify the one that your shuttle driver was waiting
at. After hiking the few hundred vertical feet out of the canyon we
continued switchbacking our way up to the new yellow bridge at its rim.
The hike was exhausting. My hope that our shuttle was in the right
location dwindled, along with the light. A handful of phone calls later
we luckily contacted Yander Gavilanes a local rafter in the community.
It took a few more calls and Yander re-coordinated the shuttle driver.
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| yes we hike to that yellow bridge |
Yander also invited us to hang out in the
town of Buesaco. The next morning we took a small tour of town and of a
local farm. Colombian coffee is amazing especially when it is served
piping hot, feet away from where it was grown.
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| enjoying breakfast on the farm |
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| the view from our 20 dollar hotel in Buesaco |
The Junambu was a great way to
wrap up an awesome six-week adventure in Colombia. A huge thanks to all
the Colombians for making this one more trip of a lifetime!
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| another adventure by Chris Baer |
