Camu, DR

Camu in the rain

Camu in the rain
Photo of Dag Grada by Jeff Jorritsma @ med/low

River Description

The Mata de Platanos access point is the farthest upstream point to which a road comes. The rock bed rapids one sees coming to the river here are typical of the next 1.2 miles downstream. As the "good" water levels for this riverbed put things on the high side for the canyon downstream we have been passing on this section in favor of a put-in at paso de Mata Gorda/El Faro. Should one run this section, be forewarned that one or two barbed wire fences spanning the river are fairly common.

Using the put-in below Mata Gorda leaves one with a 3.6 mile run. The river takes off at a fair clip through fairly straightforward rockbed rapids. A couple of bends downstream the river enters a short, boat scoutable, bedrock section. A rapid with a longish split channel comes a few drops upstream of the first notable drop, a twisting flume dropping 12'-15' then ricocheting off a wall below. This drop signals the start of the canyon section. The early part of this intimate canyon is mostly read and run though by all means take some time to enjoy the scenery. Soon enough the bottom will drop out again at the second notable drop. The narrow channel zig-zags down to bounce off one boulder then drop off 8'-10' to run into a wall with a pocket hole in the outflow ninety degrees right. Set safety below here as the next bigger drop is out of sight just around the next corner.

The third notable drop is at a choke point between vertical rock walls where the river has cut a pair of channels through bedrock. At low to medium flows one can scout/portage by taking out right and then wading across the entrance to the right hand channel to the rock in the middle. At higher flows this is not possible so you'd best be planning on running it and have a fair assurance it's clean. Should you come down to this point and decide you have too much water, there is an exit from the canyon river right just upstream of the drop above this one though it could be a bit of a walk before you find a way back in. The normal line is the left channel of the drop, a mid-angle slide of ~8' dropping into a narrow slot against the canyon wall. The slide itself is tilted to the left which has much of the water slamming into the left hand wall. Power off the right corner of the tongue at the bottom and it's simple. Miss and it's a bit more interesting. More water makes the landing zone more of a hole and boily mess so more speed is warranted.

Below here there are only one or two smaller drops before you come to the biggest drop on this section. There aren't any particularly good eddies before the drop so take-out from one of the micro-eddies located against the sloping bedrock river right. The drop opens with a small sloping ledge into a fast flush in a narrowing channel, then dropping 5' or so into a boiling pothole carved out of the rock. This pothole has a hole with a backwash that appears regular and with some strength. This location is very difficult to safety, the prime reason why I've not personally run this though the drop has been run hardshell and IK. The outwash of this pothole leads into a half-pipe flume that sluices down through the narrow bedrock channel, then steepens and goes 3/4 pipe before dropping into the pool below. Total drop here is in the 20' - 25' range. Some local friends that butt-surfed the lower portion of this drop at low flow when hunting fresh water crab (jaiba) in the canyon tell me that the water from this goes scary deep at the bottom of the drop but flushed them out eventually.

The portage for this drop is fairly challenging, about an hour on average. Sufficient gear to set up a short rappel could make this much easier but it can be done with throw ropes and a bit of caution. Portage is on river right. Ascend until you are within the trees and then traverse downstream until you come to a steep ridge blocking your way. There is a steep angled rock face here with some hanging vines that you'll want to have one person ascend to a small saddle on top thence to rope up boats one by one. From the other side of this saddle there is a tiny, steep gully to descend down to where the land is less steep and then have the boats roped down. It's more obvious from this point on. To get back to the water just do a descending traverse headed downstream.

There are only a few more fun drops until the canyon opens up to boogie water similiar to what you started with for the last mile or so down to the take-out. If the government water agency (INDRHI) ever gets around to finishing the long delayed Presa de Gualgui reservoir project, all or part of this final mile will be on the reservoir.