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swa1
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Joined: 19 Aug 2007
Location: Ecuador
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Posts: 58
  Quote swa1 Replybullet Topic: Ecuador--best 7 days of kayaking in 2009!
    Posted: 11 Jan 2009 at 11:43am

Hey Paddlers,

Looking to get away for a week of world class paddling?  Come to Ecuador and enjoy 7 days of what could be the best week of paddling in your life (and you only need to miss 1 week of work to do it)!

Our first ever Rios Escondidos trip was a huge success!  We just finished up yesterday, and our 6 paddlers from all over the US had an awesome week with us.  We are running another Rios Escondidos trip between Jan. 31st and Jan. 8th (fly in Jan. 31st, fly home Feb. 8th and paddle with us the 7 days in between) if anyone is interested.  It's a Class IV+/V- trip.

See the trip write up below and contact us if you are interested
info@smallworldadventures.com

Our new Rios Escondidos trip was designed with our hyper-adventuresome guests in mind—we love showing people new parts of Ecuador!  We just recently discovered this region, 2 hours north of our lodge, and all of us are completely awed and intrigued by it.  The boating is great and the rainforest is exceptionally different from the forests around our lodge.  We’ve seen completely new (to us) species of birds on our scouting trips, including huge flocks of Scarlet Macaws and Toucans.

 

Here are some details:

We will run on the same 9-day itinerary (the 1st and 9th day for traveling to and from Ecuador, and the 7 days in between for paddling).

We will start the trip and end the trip at our lodge, but instead of going to Tena in the middle, we’ll go to a small town 2 hours north of us.

 

The trip will be a Class IV+/V- trip.  All the boating around our lodge will focus on creeking (water levels permitting).  Runs we hope to do there would be:

 

Oyacachi, Cosanga, Quijos (either the El Chaco section or the Cheesehouse section, or both), and perhaps a day trip over to the Upper Jondachi.

 

Then, in the middle of the week, we would spend 2 nights and 2 or 3 days boating in the new region basing out of a hotel to the north.

The hotel is very BASIC, but it is the nicest one in town and does have AC.  If you’ve come to Ecuador for luxury lodging, then this isn’t the experience for you.  But, if you want to see a small town in a beautiful setting (you can see both the volcano Reventador and Cayembe from the roof of our hotel on a clear day), and don’t mind roughing it a bit, then you’ll love it.  We like it because it really gives you an “off the beaten path” experience, one that very few tourists in Ecuador will ever get.

 

The rivers around here that we hope to do in this area range from creeky to huge volume depending on the flows.  The rivers are a little tricky because, believe it or not, they seem to fluctuate here more than in our valley.  That is why we have rated the trip at a IV+/V-.  If water levels happened to be low the entire time, the runs would be Class IV/IV+.  But, we have made 6 different trips to this region and, while we did have some low water, things got high at some point on each of the trips.  If the runs are high, there is a good chance we can still do them all, which is great, but they become pushier IV+, and even V-.  If they are flooding, well then we’ll have go to plan b.

 

One of the runs requires a 2 hour hike in (all down hill), which may be a deterrent to some people.  But, once you get there you will be rewarded with a super remote, beautiful, and simply amazing run.  It’s a deep canyon (very Grand Canyonesque), big water Class IV if it’s low, solid IV+ if it’s high, with more humongous waterfalls pouring off the cliffs than you will be able to count.  At the end, there is about a 2-hour class II paddle out—still with great scenery.  The paddle out takes us through the “Canyon of the Monkeys”, where there is great opportunity for bird and animal sightings.  Because it is remote (the only feasible way out it to paddle to the take out), and since you have to hike in and paddle out, we need people to be good paddlers, and to be willing to engage in all this effort to get to paddle the river—but trust us, it’s so very worth it.  You need to be a GOOD hiker for this trip as well, and you need to not mind getting a little muddy.

 

The other 2 runs in this region are creek-like if the water is low, but both have big riverbeds and can handle big water.  If the water is high, they both become pushy IV+ with huge waves and holes.  All good fun if you are comfortable in big water.

 

So, obviously, the trouble with this trip is that we really need the right kind of people for it—that means people who are strong paddlers and like IV+/V- water.  People who don’t mind hiking.  People who don’t mind ‘basic’ lodging for 2 nights.  And, people who are comfortable being in remote runs with basically no opportunity for “bailing out.”

 

Having said all this, it is truly an amazing trip.  If you are this kind of person, you will absolutely love it, and the rewards for your suffering will be beautiful river canyons that probably less than 20 people have seen so far, amazing bird life, incredible rainforest, and the chance to experience a part of Ecuador that is completely out of the tourist loop. 

 

Hopefully this all sounds good to you, and has intrigued you to come down to Ecuador!  But if you can’t make it this year, tell your friendsJ

 

I hope we’ll be paddling with you soon.

Also, if you want to come paddle in Ecuador, but aren't necessarily in the mood to suffer, we still have space on 2 of our excellent "non-suffering" trips this season:

Class IV Feb. 7th-15th
Class III Feb. 14th-22nd

To read more visit
www.smallworldadventures.com

or contact us
info@smallworldadventures.com

 

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