Dominican Republic 2015 - Part IV: Staircase Section of the Rio Jimenoa

In December of 2015 Matthew Beauchamp, Steve Krajewski, Shannon Goshorn, and I headed to the island of Hispaniola to check out the rivers of the Dominican Republic. Although the island was experiencing a pattern of dry weather, we still found options to paddle daily and enjoyed a great time in this lesser known paddling destination.  If you missed the previous parts of our trip report, you can find Part I: Rio Yaque del Norte HERE, Part II: Rio Blanco HERE, and Part III: Upper Rio Jimenoa HERE.

 Below: Matthew Beauchamp on the perfect waterfall.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.
 

The Upper Rio Jimenoa ends at a swinging bridge over the river that is also the put-in for the Staircase Section.  The Staircase Section is named for its take-out, which involves climbing 900 concrete steps up and out of the canyon.  The steps are in place as a result of a dam, completed in 1950, which was the first hydroelectric project in the Dominican Repbulic.  Operators at the dam work in 24-hour shifts and commute via the same steep staircase that allows paddlers to exit the canyon at the end of their run.  It can also be said that the name of the Staircase Section has a double meaning because the riverbed loses gradient in bedrock steps throughout the run.  Not far from the swinging bridge at the put-in the river enters a bedrock canyon that doesn’t let up for the rest of the run.  With lots of blind drops and the bedrock canyon making scouting and portaging very time consuming, it took us most of the day to scout our way down this amazing run.

Below: Steve Krajewski on one of the early drops.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.
 

At one point in the run we came to a two-part drop that consisted of a rapid, leading into a hallway with overhanging walls, that then spouted off a waterfall into the pool below.  The problem was, a log made the entrance rapid look less than appealing.  We spent some time scrambling around and scouting various options.  I decided to portage, while Matt and Steve decided they would seal-launch into the hallway and run the second drop.  After further examination of the portage options produced no feasible portage routes, I eventually resigned myself to having to throw-and-go from the much higher cliff to the right of the final spout.  A quick swim to the bank had me back in my boat and we were back on the move heading downstream.

Below: Steve Krajewski on another one of the early drops.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.
 

The whole section was pretty great, but I think the other guys would agree that the true highlight of the run was a beautiful, picturesque, drop that came about three-quarters of the way into the run.  After a really tight part of the canyon, we found a tricky-looking entrance rapid leading into the perfect waterfall.  Luckily the entrance rapid was easily skipped with a small seal-launch about ten feet upstream of the lip of the falls.  One by one we sailed off the falls… reaping the reward for the day’s efforts; this was what we came for!

Below: Adam Goshorn on the highlight drop.  Photo by Steve Krajewski.
 

After the waterfall, we knew we needed to proceed with extra caution.  One of the pioneers of Dominican Republic whitewater, Dag Grada, had told us that there was an unrunnable waterfall near the end of the run that would be terrible to blunder into accidently.  With that in mind, we rounded the corner, ran a small ledge, and then portaged an ugly boulder jumble.  The next rapid consisted of three slots, none of which looked particularly appealing at the current water level, so we portaged high on river right and lowered boats back to river level.  At this point we could see a horizon line, that we assumed was the unrunnable drop and an eddy twenty feet above the lip on the right.  However, it was hard to tell how swift the current was leading up to the eddy, so back up the right side we went, portaging high once again.  To get back to river level, we put a sling around a tree and lowered Steve’s boat down to the bedrock shelf above the mandatory portage.  Steve climbed down, unhooked the boat, and sent it back up to Matt and I.  After sending my boat down, we were in the process of hooking Matt’s boat into the rope when we saw my boat floating downriver towards the horizon line.  We could see Steve scrambling to try to grab my boat, but there was no way to do so and we watched as it went over the lip and heard it a loud bang from the canyon below.

Below: Steve Krajewski spotting his landing.  Photo by Adam Goshorn
 

We hurriedly lowered Matt’s boat, scrambled down to river level, and made our way to a pothole where the other guys could seal launch into the canyon below the drop.  Matt went first and took off around the corner to try to catch up to my boat.  I held Steve’s boat while he seal launched and then I jumped into the canyon myself.  Holding onto the back of Steve’s boat and kicking, while he paddled, we headed downstream, hoping for good news.  Luckily, the river was almost flat at this point and after a couple of curves in the river Matt came back upstream towing my boat.  Unbeknownst to us (and incredibly luckily), we had entered the backwaters of the narrow lake formed by the dam at the take-out.  Matt had been able to catch up to my boat fairly easily and had even recovered by camera bag and both elbow pads! Reunited with all of my gear, we hammered out the remaining quarter-mile of flat water to the take-out where Shannon and Jose Manual were waiting.  By the time we reached the top of the namesake staircase, it was almost dark.  Thankfully, all that was left to do at that point was to head back into Jarabacoa in search of food and beer.

Below: Video from our run down the Staircase Section of the Rio Jimenoa.  It doesn’t include all the rapids, but the ones it does include are shown in order. Edited by Adam Goshorn.

 

Until next time…

Adam Goshorn

Below: Matthew Beauchamp lowering the landing gear.  Photo by Adam Goshorn
  

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Dominican Republic 2015 - Part III: Upper Rio Jimenoa

Below: Matthew Beauchamp making the 9R fly! Photo by Steve Krajewski.
 

In December of 2015 Matthew Beauchamp, Steve Krajewski, Shannon Goshorn, and I headed to the island of Hispaniola to check out the rivers of the Dominican Republic. Although the island was experiencing a pattern of dry weather, we still found options to paddle daily and enjoyed a great time in this lesser known paddling destination. If you missed the previous two parts of our trip report, you can find Part I: Rio Yaque del Norte HERE and Part II: Rio Blanco HERE.

 Below: Scouting a drop that turned out to be a no-go due to a boulder in the landing zone. Photo by Adam Goshorn.


The Rio Jimenoa comes out of the rugged mountain southeast of the town of Jarabacoa in the Dominican Republic. It cuts an amazingly steep canyon and is know best locally for its two largest waterfalls, which are tourist attractions. Higher in the watershed, upstream of those more well-known waterfalls, are two high quality sections of whitewater, known simply as the Upper and the Staircase sections. Although they can be run in a single, extremely long day, it is more practical to attempt them separately, which is what we did.

 Below: Looking downstream into one of the tighter sections. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
 

The put-in for the Upper Jimenoa is near the confluence with Arroyo Frio. The run starts of with a few small rapids, but soon starts to build in intensity. Due to dry conditions during our trip we had what we considered to be a minimum water level for this section, which resulted in portaging some rapids that are almost certainly runnable at higher water. Almost all of the rest of the rapids would have been improved with higher flow as well, making this section perhaps a better alternative when the Staircase Section is a bit high. However, we made the most of the water level we had and made steady downstream progress, enjoying the beauty of the river and surrounding countryside all day. 

Below: Steve Krajewski launching a big boof of the best drop. Photo by Adam Gshorn.
 

The climax of the Upper Rio Jimenoa is a big drop where a house-sized boulder pinches the river against a huge exposed bedrock shelf on river right. Running the drop requires negotiating a somewhat tricky entrance rapid (which you can see me royally mess up in the video) and then rounding the boulder and off a huge kicker into the pool below. After seeing Steve and Matt have great lines, it was my turn to give this beast a try. Unfortunately, I entered much too slowly and the result was pitoning off the entrance drop and pogoing back into a nasty little alcove. Fortunately, I was able to claw my way upright, get back in to the flow, and run the bigger part of the drop in relative control; although having lost all my speed, I fell off the side of the kicker instead of getting the big boof the other guys achieved.

Below: Video from our run down the Upper Section of the Rio Jimenoa. It doesn’t include all the rapids, but the ones it does include are shown in order. Edited by Adam Goshorn.
 

Be sure to check back for Dominican Republic - Part IV, which will include pictures and video from the Staircase Section of the Rio Jimenoa!

 Until next time…

 Adam Goshorn

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Dominican Republic 2015 - Part II: Rio Blanco

Below: The road to the put-in is so infrequently driven it is almost completely taken over by moss. Photo by Steve Krajewski.
 

In December of 2015 Matthew Beauchamp, Steve Krajewski, Shannon Goshorn, and I headed to the island of Hispaniola to check out the rivers of the Dominican Republic. Although the island was experiencing a pattern of dry weather, we still found options to paddle daily and enjoyed a great time in this lesser known paddling destination. If you missed Part I which included pictures and video from the Rio Yaque del Norte, you can find it HERE.

Below: Adam Goshorn in the second half of the rapid that leads to the tightest part of the canyon. Photo by Steve Krajewski.
 

The Rio Blanco flows out of the steep mountains east of the city of Banao, almost in the center of the country. We were presently surprised at how great this section of river turned out to be! In fact, we liked it so much we ended up spending four days of our trip paddling the Rio Blanco. There are a number of things that make the Rio Blanco unique. First, it cuts an impressively deep and beautiful canyon with vertical walls that narrow to a width of less than twenty feet across in places. Secondly, the lower section of the Rio Blanco benefits from what is more often a nemesis of whitewater paddlers… a hydroelectric project.

Below: Matthew Beauchamp probing a boof on our first run. Photo by Adam Goshorn.


The unfortunate thing is that the hydroelectric project on the Rio Blanco dewaters the upper section of the river, making it only runnable during larger floods when they open the flood gates. However, the fortunate part for kayakers is that the hydroelectric generating station also provides daily runnable flows for the lower section, a section that surely would not be runnable nearly as often otherwise. The result is a dependable, dam-released, jungle paradise!

Below: Steve Krajewski and Matthew Beauchamp getting back in their boats after a quick scout on our first run. Photo by Adam Goshorn.


Our first attempt at figuring out how to access the Rio Blanco was a little bold and a little silly. We drove down the road towards the power plant until we came to a closed gate and then we walked around the gate with our boats and down the rest of the road to the power plant itself. The power plant is located high atop a cliff overlooking the river and not a good access point (and supposedly off limits anyway). Lucky for us, no one was around so we explored the area and eventually found a trail that led downstream behind the power plant, where we scrambled down a steep, overgrown gully to the river and put on.

Below: Steve Krajewski boofing into the heart of the canyon. Photo by Adam Goshorn.

On the next run we were stopped by the guards at the gate, but talked to them a bit and eventually they showed us a trail near their guard house that led all the way to river level. The only catch to this new put-in was that it was a quarter-mile upstream of the power plant. The result being that we would have to scrape down part of the dewatered section of the river and then ferry across the powerful outflow from the power plant. Once we did it a few times, we got quite efficient at this process and it would only take us about 20 minutes to hike in, scrape the quarter-mile to the power plant and make the ferry at the power plant, but the process made it feel like a mini expedition every time we paddled the Rio Blanco.

Below: This video is a competition of footage from multiple runs, but the rapids are shown in order. Edited by Adam Goshorn.
 

Stay tuned for part III which will feature the Upper Rio Jimenoa!

Until Next Time…

 -adam

 Below: Post boating refreshments in the city of Banao. Photo by Shannon Goshorn.
 

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Dominican Republic 2015 - Part 1: Rio Yaque del Norte

Below: Matthew Beauchamp boofing off the wall.  Photo by Steve Krajewski.
 

In December of 2015 Matthew Beauchamp, Steve Krajewski, Shannon Goshorn, and I (Adam Goshorn) headed to the island of Hispaniola to check out the rivers of the Dominican Republic.  Although the island was experiencing a pattern of dry weather, we still found options to paddle daily and enjoyed a great time in this lesser known paddling destination.

Below: Shannon Goshorn lining dropping into a tight move that involved ducking the overhanging wall in the landing.  Photo by Steve Krajewski.

The Rio Yaque del Norte is the longest river in the Dominican Republic and it offers several sections of whitewater ranging from class II-IV.  Its large watershed means it is rarely too low to paddle, although some sections require more water than others.  We ended up spending four days paddling on the Yaque and spent most of our time on the Las Guazarus section, which seemed to be the most channelized and offer the best option for the low water conditions we were experiencing.

Below: Steve Krajewski boofing a fun double drop.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: A completion video from several different laps on the Rio Yaque del Norte at a few different levels. Edited by Adam Goshorn.


Stay tuned for more updates from our time in the Dominican Republic!

Until Next Time...

Adam Goshorn

Below: Adam Goshorn lining up for the kicker on a low volume slide.  Photo by Steve Krajewski.
 

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Thanksgiving in San Luis Potosi

Below: Adam Goshorn approaching Cascada de Tamul, which is the take-out for the classic day-run section of the Rio Santa Maria.  Photo by Vitaly Prikhodko.
   

For more than a decade I have been traveling to Mexico most winters to enjoy the warm water and great paddling in the states of San Luis Potosi and Veracruz.  This year, Mexico was not in my travel plans and I had committed to a trip to the Dominican Republic for much of December.  However, it turned out that my work schedule created the possibility of being off-work for the whole week of the Thanksgiving holiday, which created an opportunity for a quick trip to San Luis Potosi that I couldn't resist.

Below: Vitaly Prikhodko running a picturesque drop on the Salto section of the Rio Valles in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Photo by Adam Goshorn

Below: John Kern on the Rio Tampaon, which is really the 5th canyon of the Rio Santa Maria, but the river changes names after the confluence with the Rio Gallines at Cascada de Tamul.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.


Although the state of Veracruz has been getting much more attention from kayakers in recent years, the state of San Luis Potosi is closer (for those driving from the United States) and offers up some of the most beautiful and fun  class III-IV paddling anywhere.  With our limited time window and desire to keep the trip as cheap as possible (because we where driving, closer is inherently cheaper), San Luis Potosi was the obvious choice.  Vitaly Prikhodko and Judd James had both been talking to me about wanting to get a trip together to go down there, but they had never been able to go.  Both of them only had enough time off from work for a shorter trip than what I usually planned for, so they had never been able to join me in the past.  With the two of them chomping at the bit to get down there, soon as I knew I could be off work for the whole week, I knew we already had the basis for a crew in place!

 Below: Vitaly Prikhodko seal launching back into the Rio Tampaon after portaging a section where the whole river goes underground, through a cave for a distance of about 200 feet.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

 

Below: Adam Goshorn on the final drop of the Cascadas Micos section of the Rio Valles.  Photo by John Kern.

For paddlers driving to Mexico from the United States, the ideal situation is to have around six people and to take two vehicles.  Traveling in a two vehicle convoy and having a bigger group in general adds a margin of safety to the trip and allows for running shuttle, as needed.  In hopes of reaching the magical number of six people, I contacted a few more friends and suddenly we had two vehicles and a crew of seven ready to go!  John Kern, Jenny Leaderer, Jerrod Jones, and Claire Zollondz agreed to joined Vitaly, Judd, and I for the trip.  We would have six paddlers and although she doesn't paddle, my friend Claire agreed to come along to help us with shuttles.

Below: Everyday awesomeness!  Photo by John Kern.
 

Below: Vitaly Prikhodko running the largest drop of the Salto section of the Rio Valles.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.
 

With the crew in place, we rendezvoused at Jerrod's house in Fort Payne, Alabama on Saturday morning before the week of the Thanksgiving holiday.  We loaded up and knocked out the 27-hour drive to San Luis Potosi straight through, only making stops for food and fuel.  We arrived at the Aldea Huesteca campground Sunday afternoon, quickly set up our tents, and headed up for a quick run on the Cascadas Micos section of the Rio Valles.  Over the rest of the  week we had a great time paddling multiple sections of multiple rivers in the area, with extra laps on the short and sweet sections of the Rio Valles, the Cascadas Micos and the Salto sections.

Below:  Here is a little completion video I put together from our trip.  Be sure to set the quality to 720HD to get the best resolution.


Until Next Time,

Adam Goshorn

Below: If you want to see more footage, check out John Kern's video from our trip here.

Mexico 2015 from John Kern on Vimeo.

Below: Myself doing some 'slip-n-slide' on the water-park that is the Cascadas Micos section of the Rio Valles.  Photo by John Kern.        

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