KAYAKING IN ECUADOR--AN UPDATE

Upper Jondachi update from the 2007/2008 Season: Big Flooding Changes Thing Up Yet Again A big flood in early February scrambled things around in the Upper Jondachi. Most of it was for the better. You can see by the large pile of logs in this photo that the water got kind of high!

One of the most drastic changes was the rapid directly upstream of the put in bridge. You can see from this photo that most of the water is now going to the river right of the big rock at the bottom and the left channel is blocked by logs and other debris.This is a shot of the entrance. The slot on river left up against the wall used to be a nice 6-8 foot boof. Now it's 1-2 feet tall and leads to some problematic logs.

Here is another overview of the entire rapid. The good news is, it's still runnable even though it's not quite as classic as it used to be. Right entrance, right exit is pretty nice now. Tres Huevos was also changed in the flood. On a previous post on this blog we reported that it has changed for the worse with the sieves between big boulders (huevos) opening up. Well now, those sieves are all plugged up again and the rapid is back to it's good ol' self again. The right entrance is super nice now and the same right exit is back.

Tres Huevos from downstream.

The last change of real note is Typhoid Falls. In an earlier flood this year, a massive siphon opened up in the middle of the rapid. This siphon is now clogged back up again, but the exit to the rapid has a log in the channel where all the water wants you to go. This photo is looking down stream just below the actual Typhoid Falls which is runnable. Most of the water pushes into this right hand channel which looks clean from upstream, but there is a VERY NASTY log blocking the exit. Last time we were there the left exit channel was clean, but things change fast down there. Definitely scout or portage.
Stay tuned for a new write up on the Piatua River.