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Just after dark on the day we ran the Rio Minas Viajas (see Mexico 2013 Part I HERE<\/a>), we were driving down the narrow driveway into the Aldea Huesteca campground when we met a van going the opposite way.\u00a0 There were no boats on the roof, so at first I wondered if it might be the campground employees leaving for the night, but then the silhouette of kayak stackers caught my eye.\u00a0 Windows rolled down on both vehicles and someone inside the van called out from the darkness, \u201cIs Adam Goshorn in there with you guys?\u201d\u00a0 The voice was Brett Barton.\u00a0 Our mutual friend Matt Taylor had told both of us to be on the lookout for each other since we would be in the same regions of Mexico around the same time.\u00a0 Brett and I had briefly corresponded online, but hadn\u2019t made any firm plans to meet up due to both of us wanting to stay flexible and being hesitant to commit to a specific timeline.\u00a0 However, here we were on the evening of our second night in Mexico already running into each other and staying at the same campground.\u00a0 The frequentness of such encounters with friends and acquaintances from the paddling community while far from home continues to astonish me\u2026 despite it happening too many times to count over the last decade.<\/p>\n Below: Team Previa deep in the cane in route to the Rio Frio, photo by Evan Alfano<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Below: Unloading at the put-in for the Rio Frio, photo by Evan Alfano<\/p>\n Brett and Joni Randall had driven Joni\u2019s 1997 Toyota Previa from WashingtonState to Colorado, where they picked up Jake Perizzolo and kept driving all the way to San Luis Potosi, Mexico.\u00a0 Team Previa (as we dubbed them, soon thereafter) had run the El Salto section of the Rio Valles on the day we had paddled the Cascadas Micos section.\u00a0 On the day we met them on our way home from dinner after paddling the Rio Minas Viejas, they had just paddled the Cascadas Micos and were headed into town to get a few beers.\u00a0 Later that night, after they returned to the campground, it was decided that all of us would head to the Rio Frio together the following morning.\u00a0 Team Previa had run the Cascadas Micos with another pair of paddlers who had arrived at Aldea Huesteca while we were out paddling the Rio Minas Viejas.\u00a0 They also asked to join us for the Rio Frio and we agreed, bringing our combined crew for the following day up to nine.<\/p>\n Below: Early ledges on the Rio Frio, photos by Brett Barton<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Rio Frio is one of the three main tributaries that combine to form the Rio Gallinas about an hour\u2019s drive west of our campsite at the Cascadas Micos.\u00a0 The shuttle for the Rio Frio is only a few miles, but the road is quite rough so having two vehicles saved us from what would have been a somewhat miserable bike shuttle, had we gone there on our own.\u00a0 Our group of four was riding in my truck while the other five piled into Joni\u2019s Previa.\u00a0 The closer you get to the put-in for the Rio Frio the worse the road conditions become.\u00a0 The last quarter-mile is especially muddy and a few sections required everyone riding in the Previa to get out and walk to prevent it from bottoming out in the deep muddy ruts.\u00a0 Eventually, we arrived at the put-in, unloaded boats, and Jake and I retraced our route through the mud two more times to set shuttle.<\/p>\n Below: Matt Beauchamp on the first of the \u201cnew\u201d rapids on the Rio Frio, photo by Evan Alfano<\/p>\n Below: Evan Alfano on the same, photo by Brett Barton<\/p>\n Leaving the put-in, the Rio Frio starts off slow with only the occasional small travertine ledge and a large down tree to negotiate.\u00a0 Locals picking oranges high on the left bank waved to us and then proceeded to toss oranges straight from the tree, into our outstretched hands.\u00a0 As we ran a few more ledges in the three-foot to four-foot range, I explained to the group what I remembered about the first of the slightly larger drops on the run.\u00a0 I was the only one who had paddled the Rio Frio before, so I was doing my best to remember what I could from my previous runs.\u00a0 However, without stopping to scout our whole group paddled into what I had described to them as an easy rapid-to-slide combo.\u00a0 What we found was something completely different, but luckily nothing dangerous.\u00a0 High water had blown out several travertine dams and dramatically changed the set of drops.\u00a0 For once, I can say that high water actually changed a river for the better!\u00a0 The \u201cnew\u201d drop was a really fun, fast rapid that accelerated paddlers into a nice water-boof off an eight-foot ledge.\u00a0 It was so much fun that most of us walked back up to run it three or four times!<\/p>\n Below: Shannon Goshorn on the biggest of the drops on the Frio, photo by Brett Barton<\/p>\n Below: Adam Goshorn on the same, photo by Matt Beauchamp<\/p>\n The changes that took place at the first bigger rapid were an indicator of what we would encounter throughout the day.\u00a0 Many small travertine dams had been partially or completely broken.\u00a0 In one spot, a three-foot travertine dam had a vertical crack in it that swallowed most of the volume of the river, but was slightly too narrow for a kayak to pass.\u00a0 At the site of what has always been the biggest rapid on the Rio Frio, we found more dramatic changes.\u00a0 What had previously been a six-foot ledge into another four-foot ledge was now a ten-foot ledge with a sticky U-shaped hole.\u00a0 The high water had caused the second ledge to collapse\u2026 along with much of the hillside on the right!\u00a0 A few people tangled with the hole, but we completed the rest of run without incident and over dinner that night in Cd. Valles we made plans to paddle the second canyon of the Rio Verde the following day.<\/p>\n Below: Getting above the clouds on the drive over the mountains to the Rio Verde, photo by Evan Alfano<\/p>\n Below: View of the Rio Verde from the shuttle road, photo by Evan Alfano<\/p>\n We woke up early, ate a quick breakfast at camp, and were on the road by 7:00 AM.\u00a0 The drive over the mountains to the Rio Verde usually takes about three and a half hours, but a new toll road sped up our pace considerably, shaving almost an hour off the trip!\u00a0 We unloaded boats and left most of the crew on the side of the road where the hike down to the put-in begins.\u00a0 Shannon would be shuttling my truck for the day, but since she had never been there before, I wanted to show her where the take-out was located.\u00a0 So, Jake followed us in the Previa to park it at the take-out as well.\u00a0 An hour and a half of terrible roads later, Jake, Shannon, and I arrived back with the rest of the crew, geared up, and began the hike to the river.<\/p>\n Below: Adam Goshorn on the Rio Verde, Photo by Brett Barton<\/p>\n Below: Brett Barton on the same rapid as viewed from below, photo by Adam Goshorn<\/p>\n The second canyon of the Rio Verde (a.k.a. Middle Verde) is one of the best runs in the area when it has good water.\u00a0 After having found great water levels on the Cascadas Micos and Rio Frio, I was optimistic about our chances of having favorable water levels for the Rio Verde as well.\u00a0 However, the glimpses of the river I had seen from the shuttle road looked low, but then again I was far away and looking deep into a shaded valley, so I didn\u2019t mention it to anyone as we geared up and hiked in.\u00a0 Not to mention that having driven almost three hours to get to the river and another hour and a half to run shuttle, I was planning to run the river regardless of level and I\u2019m sure most of the others felt the same way.\u00a0 Upon reaching the sandy bank at the put-in, it was clear the water was low, but thankfully not unrunnablly low.\u00a0 There are still several well-channelized, fun, rapids and drops on the Middle Verde, even at low flow.\u00a0 The down side is that there are also some long sections of slow moving water, a portage, and quite a few shallow cobble-bar rapids in the wider sections of the river. \u00a0\u00a0As we made our way downstream I tried to push the pace of the group as much as I could.\u00a0 I knew the low water would slow us down and I was also anticipating the group spending a fair amount of time at the biggest drop on the run, a waterfall in the 35-40-foot range, known as Puerta del Salto.<\/p>\n Below: Matt Beauchamp on the Rio Verde, photo by Adam Goshorn<\/p>\n Below: Warm springs trickling into the Rio Verde, Photo by Bret Barton<\/p>\n We made pretty good time throughout the day and indeed we ended up spending almost an hour at Puerta del Salto.\u00a0 Everyone scouted for a while and then one by one each person made their decision to fire it up.\u00a0 I took pictures and video of everyone else and watched their lines off the drop and the mixed results.\u00a0 The low water was making the entrance especially tricky and almost everyone was checking the left wall at the lip and struggling to salvage their line for the rest of the way down.\u00a0 Eventually, I was the only one left at the top and opted for the throw-and-go off the cliff on river right.\u00a0 Once we were headed downstream again, pretty much everyone\u2019s thoughts turned to making downstream progress as quickly as possible, not wanting to be out on the highway late at night.\u00a0 We hammered out the rest of the rapids and the flat water at the end, reuniting with Shannon and our vehicles around 4:30 PM.\u00a0 After winding our way back to the pavement at the put-in and eventually the highway, the new toll road once again whisked us over the mountains in record time and we were back in Cd. Valles eating dinner by 8:30 PM.\u00a0 Hoping for better water levels and missing the easier logistics provided by Aventurec (www.aventurec.com), on the drive home from dinner that night our group decided that we would depart for Veracruz early the next morning.<\/p>\n Below: Matt Beauchamp running Puerta del Salto in the second canyon of the Rio Verde, photos by Adam Goshorn<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Below: Evan Alfano on the same, photo by Adam Goshron<\/p>\n Stay tuned for Part III, when we encounter high water, a few beat downs, and an all around good time in Tlapacoyan.<\/p>\n Until Next Time\u2026<\/p>\n Adam Goshorn<\/p>\n Below: Waiting on shuttle, photo by Evan Alfano<\/p>\n Below: Jake bouncing off the wall at the lip of Puerta del Salto, photo by Photo by Adam Goshorn<\/p>\n Below: Matt Beauchamp between basalt walls on the Rio Verde, photo by Brett Barton<\/p>\n Below: Joni cork-screwing off of Pureta del Salto, photo by Adam Goshorn<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n