The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 88

ThePaddler 88

After nine hours

and a few minutes after sunset we reached a
bridge where the famous Inca Trail is crossing
the river. This is the first possibility to get out of
the river. We were really happy about reaching
this point, totally tired and mentally
exhausted. You can continue with easier
whitewater downstream for another day
and you will avoid the six hours walk out. But
we decided to take out here and shared our
camp with a few billion sandflies and
mosquitos. In the next morning we were
waiting for some horses to carry our boats
uphill to the next road access. Alonso organized
everything and we told him to order some
more horses for us. So we rode the horses for
six hours and 1,500m of elevation up to a little
town where Miguel, our taxi driver was waiting
for us.
All in all it was a great adventure with heavy
whitewater in amazing scenery and the pretty
cool ‘walk out’ of the gorge.