Creek Week, Panama, 10/26/07

Last year Lori & I went to Costa Rica to kayak with the Nanthala Outdoor Center Adventure Travel. We met Rob Strangia, Jeff Wood, and Craik Davis and we have been on some great paddling adventures with them paddling such rivers as the Cheoah & Upper Gaulley with them. This year our group, which also includes Mike Kennedy, Terran Viehe, and Gerry Gilligan, set our sights on some serious class IV "creeking" in Panama. We were sad that Craik had to cancel due his big job promotion and that Whitney Sanford, also on our Costa Rica trip, also had to cancel at the last moment. We were joined by accomplished creekmaster Ted Cookson. We all met up in Panama City Sat am 10/27 and toured the Panama Canal and the long peninsula of Panama City. Some of us watched the Georgia bulldogs soundly whip the Florida Gators while others partied on the town. The Hotel Las Vegas would prove to be in a great place for the nightlife and also for us to shop for halloween costumes.

Sunday 10/28 Fly to David. Motor to Boquete. Paddle the Witches Run of the Rio Chiriqui
We were up early and met our trip leader from the Nanthala Outdoor Center Rob Barham to taxi to the airport for our flight to David. There we met John Miller of Boquete Outdoor Adventures who lives in Boquete and both guides the trips and owns the local outfitting company. We dropped off our luggage and went to outfit boats and start out paddling. On the way whe sheared off some lug nuts from one wheel and had to move the boats and gear and paddlers to the beds of pickup trucks. The Witches Section of the Rio Chiriqui is a bigger water run than we would see the rest of the week and I was first to have to buy liquor because of "THE RULE" which requires a bottle to be bought whenever someone swims or gets pinned. There would be 3 other bottles bought during the week. I was in good company. Such rapids as Baja Menendez (where I swam), Pastor Herbie, and Infested Witch would challenge us all. That night one of our hosts at Hostel Boquete, Greg Lapkin, cooked great chili. Most turned in early but some went out on the town.

Monday 10/29 Rio Chiriquicito & my accident
Today was wonderful & terrible. We drove through beautiful countryside to the Rio Chiriquicito and put in immediately above our first drop which endered Jeff. It was pure relentless creeking with few major drops and was through a beautiful valley. We were almost finished when I took a blow to the top of my head and swam. Rob Barham, John Miller, & Mike Smith, our guides, checked me out carefully and carried my boat over 2 big drops and I still had to paddle to get out. It turned out to be enough of an injury to keep me from paddling for the rest of the week. Lori found a new line over the biggest drop and proved she could negotiate it backwards. Rob Strangia lent me his camera & I got some of the best pictures of the trip of everyone going over. The drop required negotiating a difficult approach and boofing off the rock on the left to be set up for the proper landing. Everyone but me got another chance to run this river and drop at higher water on Friday. Memorable rapids include Equis, Rubber Chicken, and Not Have Ocotpus. There was one major pin as well as my swim. Greg cooked Chinese tonight.

Tuesday 10/30 Rio Chochea
Today I didn't go paddle and I explored the town, toured the Cafe Ruiz coffee factory while the rest of the group Paddled the Rio Cochea after our breakfast at El Subroson. Everyone did well and there were no swims or pins. This was one of the longest runs of the week and everyone was tired and there was not much partying.

Wednesday 10/31 Rio Caldera, Lower Section
Lori stayed with me and we went to Paradise Gardens outside of Boquete. This is the retirement home of Jenny & Paul Saban from England. They came to build a garden but became involved with animal rescue and now have such animals as White-Faced Capuchin Monkeys, Geoffrey's Tamarin Monkeys, Keel-Billed Toucans, Scarlet Macaws, and a Margay. They have built Mariposario, Panama's largest butterfly house and are build both English and Japanese gardens. We gave a contribution to their cause and walked back to Boquete for naps. The others were late getting back from paddling the Lower Section of the Rio Caldera to the lake. Rob Barnam broke my Liquid Logic Jeffe but I wouldn't paddle it any more anyway. Gerry also didn't paddle today and hiked the rim of Volcan Baru. He did natrue photography. We ate seafood at Machipichu Reataraunt, put on our haloween costumes and enjoyed the company of Paul (owner of the Hostel Boquete), Molly, and Gregg. Paul brought out a table and some cups and many rounds of speed quarters were played well into the night.

Thursday 11/1, Rio Chiriqui Viejo, Bambino Section
I decided to try to paddle today and we drove 2 hours to the western side of the volcana Volcan Baru to the Bambino Section of the Rio Chiriqui Viejo. It became clear early on that there was somehting worse than I thought in my neck & I got out after a couple hundred yards and dragged my boat to the road where I found Victor and Pepito, our drivers, were parked. By now I had Rob Barham's Nikon D70 camera and we found some great places to stop and get good shots of the paddlers in this nonstop creek run which at points dropped 300 feet per mile without any major drops. Talk about continuous!!! After a few hours the paddlers came to a tree down blocking the river and luckily there was good road access for us to pick them up. We had lunch on the side of the road & started the long trip back. As it always did, the weather stayed pretty all day until about 2pm & then started tropical (usually warm) rain. Today the rain stayed hard and the Rio Caldera benind the Hostel Boquete where we stayed came up & up. That night we heard the constant noise of boulders moving in the river. Greg cooked Chinese food, sang for us, and entertained us with his dog Isabel.

Friday 11/2 Rio Chiriquicito at a higher level.
I went today to watch and forgot my video camera. Therefore I have very little real paddling video for this trip. The river was higher and the first drop sure did look scarier but everyone did well and we watched everyone disappear down the starcase rapid spiraling to the right. We went to an overlook and waited and after a while Super Richard, our driver today told me something must be wrong as no boats had come down yet. Sure enough, way up the mountain walking we see Gerry who had had enough and was willing to make the long uphill jungle hike to avoid a beating by the river. We then met the group at a bridge where some others got out and then met the group at the takeout. There had been one swim so another bottle for the bar! I have to describe this as a class IV river with a class V takeout. The tiny one boat eddy at the bridge for takeout is over a class VI rapid into a seive. I was very glad to see everyone make the eddy and get out safely. We ate at the bus and drove in the rain. On the way we went to scout out the upper Rio Caldera for a possible run the next day but the levels were too pushy. We ate at a Peruvian seafood restaraunt that night. We had great food in Panama every day!!

Saturday 11/3, Town Run of the Rio Caldera, Independence Day in Panama, motor to David. Fly to Panama City
Up early for breakfast at Olga's where we had felt so welcome all week. We would be flying back at 3pm and had to all packed so we left our orders the day before. I got some great video footage of the group coming down the Rio Caldera behind Hostel Boquete and Lori got some good still shots. It was a long distance in a short time with no eddies and no major drops but constant action. Great going guys! We really enjoyed the celebration and festivities. What a parade and what pride these wonderful Panamanian people exhibited. We all can't wait to come back to Boquete! We drove to David, flew to Panama City and ate seafood as a group so that several could go out on the town.

Sunday 11/4 Panama City
We met at 6:30am for our Taxis to the airport. Farewells were said and I am told there were a lot of sleeping airline passengers from our group. Everyone arrived back home fine and the next day I found that I had sufferred 3 compression fractures in my neck so no more paddling for me for a while but we are in a severe drout and there is little to paddle now anyway. See you on the river everybody. Thanks for a great trip to our guides Rob, John, and Mike!! /Hugh