11/5 - Rio Paucartambo, Day 4

Flow guesses day 4:
J: 3150 4500
A: 3000 4350
B: 3200 4196
S: 2998 4450
T: 3000 4200

The guys who paddled the Paucartambo in 6-8 days clearly didn't know Andy Round, nor were paddling with him! We probably paddled an estimated 60-80km today, mostly flatwater. The amazing thing about the river was how just when you expected it to be done, you'd round a corner and be faced with more great whitewater. It just kept going. The jungle scenery got better and better, with dense, lush, green folliage, birds, and of course, the jungle humidity. It was HOT!Jungle butterflys like the green Mystic:
We began the day at 8:15 and paddled mostly flatwater until we got to a HUGE rapid around 11:30. This was a stomper. The whole river (at least 4,000cfs) crashing down over fairly steep gradient. It was awesome! This rapid was in a huge open valley with some braided channels. The right side had a bit of a sneak Class II line with 300cfs or so, but the main flow was unreal. Andy ferried down to the eddy on the left side, and signaled that I should come down and take a look. The move was difficult and as I caught the eddy, I clipped a rock under my hull. As I slid slowly off the rock, my stern caught and I flipped over right above this massive rapid. I hit a quick roll and oriented myself just in time to hear Andy yell, 'Left then right' and drop backwards into the brown maelstrom of holes and waves. Dropping blindly into a rapid where you can barely see over the wave in front of you is interesting because you don't know what's coming, but you can't focus too much on what's in front of you. You need to look at the bigger picture. It all went well and I made it through to the bottom right, no problem. Tood for scale inthe middle of the main drop:This big water canyon continued on for another 15 minutes of huge holes, towering waves and great fun. It was the highlight of Day 4. We paddled till 3:45, passing under the blue Puente Penetracion at a small town. Pierro had told us we could take out there, but we kinda missed it and all had our sights set on the Urubamba confluence. The camp that night was hot and humid on wet jungle black sand beaches:



I think Day 4 was the longest I have ever paddled in one day. Sitting for the hours was painful but rewarding, reminicient of rowing crew in high school. After 4 days of being in wet, stinky gear, the jungle made me long for a cold shower and clean clothing. A difficult but fulfilling day for the team.