2/12/2007 - Rio Toro - Recreo Verde Section

Todd, Heather and I had wanted to run the Class V Casa Maquinas section of the Rio Toro. We had also met a Tico, Raulio, the previous day who came with us for the ride. Todd ran it years ago and we wanted to go check it out. The putin is at the Rio Toro Dam II, about 10km up a very steep road, indicative of incredible gradient in the run! The scene at the dam is surreal: The dam was built deep in the Rio Toro canyon. The walls rise vertically over your head, and water tumbles down hundreds of feet to the valley floor. The huge hydroelectric plant is dwarfed by the immensity of this place. Its an experience just to be there. Unfortunately, we weren't able to run this part of the Toro on this day. (photos of canyon and fun nazi coming soon).

ICE (the Costa Rican power/ telecommunications monopoly) was doing work on the dam with some heavy machinery. The guard (read=fun nazi) told us that only people wearing jackets and helmet were allowed to enter the construction zone. We agreed to wear our helmets and PFDs but the guard, who also had a gun, was not amused. So we snapped some photos, tried to find another way to the river, tried to bribe the gaurd, turned around, and headed 3 miles downstream to the Class IV Recreo Verde section of the Toro. We'll be back for the Casa Maquinas another day. (photos of dam project coming soon)

The Recreo Verde gets its name from the put in at the Recreo Verde Hotsprings. We were charged 1000 colones ($2) per person to use their river access. This seemed steep, but we didn't really have another option. The Toro river is a mineral rich river, similar to the Rio Sucio. For this reason, the Toro is a brown-yellow color all the time. Although it looks very dirty, it is actually quite clean (until the pig farm... more on that later).

The Toro River canyon is quite deep, and very isolated. Although the section of river is Class III+-IV, the commitment makes it more intimidating. The walls rise up hundreds of feet above the river bed, and vines and jungle cover the walls for as far as the eye can see. It is true Costa Rica boating. (photos coming soon)

The river runs fast and gives continuous Class III-IV rapids and boulder gardens for the first few miles. Although there are few distinct rapids, there are many that run one into another, keeping the pace fast and interesting. If there is any one character of this section, its that every wall that the water hits at the bottom of each rapid is undercut. We all managed well, but it seemed like most of the run was spent avoiding undercut walls. It was great fun!

The first significant rapid is a drop on the right side that goes over some big rocks and through a big hole. At the bottom it goes into an undercut wall (of course). In general starting near the walls and paddling away from them was most effective.

The river has a cave formation on the left side as it bends right and drops through a steeper boulder garden. There was a log on the right side of the channel, making the left ideal. Super fun move off the wall on the left. (photo coming soon)

One of the coolest things about the Toro is that the walls have lots of small waterfalls and drips coming down them. Many of them are thermals, and thus have warm water coming out of the walls. It seemed like the water in the river got warmer as we headed downstream, almost the opposite of the Green Truss of the White Salmon, which gets colder as the underground springs come into it.(photo coming soon)

There are numerous boulder gardens and fun small drops as you go, too numerous to remember. They were all good to go, and would be a total blast with a bit more water. About a mile downstream there is an old stone bridge over the river. Below this is a waterfall on river left, and a few hundred meters later is the first and only portage on the river. It comes as the river widens and the canyon opens and there is a huge boulder in the middle of the river. There are many small channels that cascade down sideways, and all of them terminate in jumbles of rocks. The best thing to do is paddle up on one of the islands in the rapid and carry your boat across it to the lower left channel, thereby walking the "jumbles of rocks". At higher water staying left from the top is an option, but at low water that route closes out. (photo coming soon)

Next up is the boof rapid. This has a big boulder with a ramp of water running up on it. You can charge this ramp and fly over the top of it. Don't go right to the side of it or you might drop into the narrow slot with a piton rock at the bottom. (photo coming soon)

About 1 km below this rapid is the bridge, signaling the end of the Recreo Verde section. Most people combine this with the Lower Rio Toro, as we did. The bridge is the putin for the lower as well as the takeout for the upper. It is noted that there is a HUGE pig farm on the river right side of the bridge, and from this point down, you must be careful to limit the amount of water that you get in your mouth, eyes, ears, ect... I'd also recommend noseplugs for at least a mile (maybe more) below the farm. Yuck. (photo coming soon) The lower section that we paddled below here can be found in the Lower Trip Report.