days on the river: 11/3 - Rio Paucartambo, Day 2

Day two began early on the river at 8:15. Right below the giant boulder portage was a narrow slot no more than 3 feet wide, and then right into a Class V rapid we called 'Wakeup!' The rapid drops quickly down the left side around a tall pillar rock, and then into a series of other boulders. Scout left. Ben got worked a bit but it got us all fired up about the day to come!

Before exiting Orange Canyon, we ran a huge rapid in a tight gorge where a boulder splits the river. The line was down the left side, right was gnarly.

At 9:00 we passed under the cement Puente Sahvey (car bridge that looks like its about to fall into the river), signaling the exit of the Orange Canyon. Below the canyon, the river valley opened up a bit with some crystal clear tributaries and open Class III-IV boulder gardens. At 10:00 we reached a significant horizon line of boulders with multiple slots and sieved out channels. There is a huge boulder on the right signaling the rapid, but it is best to scout on the left. Scott and Andy ran the third slot from the right, Scott got worked pretty hard in a hole before dropping back into the main flow. Ben, Todd and I opted for a sweet rock slide sneak on the left:

The main flow below the channel Scott and Andy ran:
15 minutes below there was a marginal portage. Gian Marco had told us about a 20 foot seal launch into a pool below a riverwide ledge, and this spot matched the description. It probably would have gone, but we all took the seal launch on the right. The portage ledge:
Below the seal lauch the canyon got really spectacular, like something out of a Hollywood Set. There were steep limestone canyon walls with vines all the way to the river, thick jungle folliage, and a new diversity of plants and birds. The river kept picking up more volume from a bunch of clear, jungle streams entering the milky brown Paucartambo: We stopped for lunch from 12:15-1:15 and ran a great narrow slot on the far right after lunch. This slot couldn´t have been more than 6 inches wider than my boat. The character of the river was beginning to change from manky, creeky to normal river flows with more hydraulics and waves.

Around 2:00 we reached a great pair of rapids. 'Go left and flip' went right up on a huge boulder in the center and then kicked back hard left. Right below that was a huge pushy hole on the right, but it all went well. We were feeling really good about our progress down the canyon, and enjoying every minute of it. Todd loving it:
At 2:45 we passed under a local bridge (of sticks and rope) that had an awesome rapid below it. Ben mystery moved into the hole and the rest of us just held on for the ride:

We camped at 3:15 on a great beach on the right side, below a campesino's house. We didn´t see them, but they didn´t seem to mine we were camping on the black sand. That night we were treated to an incredible display of fireflys and jungle sounds.

We slept easy knowing we had a big day ahead, but that we were making great progress into the canyon. We also discovered that the elbow noodles with the bacon and chicken soup stock make for a mean Bacon Chicken Noodle Soup.