Wasson’s Landslide Rapid! I’m starting this post with all the movie footage I shot of our run through Wasson’s Landslide Rapid (excepting the sections we lined, where I shot none of the action). Then, I’ll present Wasson’s in more detailed fashion:
Rocky Contos named Wasson’s Landslide Rapid for John Wasson, who led an exploratory team of boaters down the Rio Marañon, paddling 790 km with 3 kayaks and a 12′ raft, from Rondos to Imacita (Nazareth), in July and August of 1977. I first met John in June of 1971, on a Grand Canyon trip put together by John and friends, most of whom worked for a summer adventure camp called Ashcrofters. This camp was based in Ashcroft, an outlier of Aspen, and run by Dave Farny. Dave was my boss at the Aspen Highlands Ski School at the time, and gave me an intro to his staff. Myself and girl friend Marguerite, also a ski instructor at Highlands, were invited along. This trip was my introduction to rivers, and changed my life completely.

On the left, John Wasson at House Rock Rapid, Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, June, 1971. He’s signaling to the approaching raft.
Later, John and I did a hair-ball kayak run through Westwater Canyon, Utah, at 25,000 cfs and a self-supported kayak high-water run of the Yampa River, in Dinosaur National Monument.
Back to the Rio Marañon. We left camp a little after 6:30 AM, wanting to maximize daylight. Prior trips that had run into trouble at Wasson’s had had to make uncomfortable bivouacs. We caught the eddy upstream from the rapid a few minutes later.

On the way to Wasson’s, we noticed a well-constructed trail switchbacking down the hillside to the east (center top). This trail descended from a newly constructed road (not visible from this position) that traversed the mountainside in an upstream direction.

From the scout eddy. The gorge bottle-necked at the high-speed Class IV entry to Wasson’s.
From this eddy we began a long scout of the 800 meter rapid, which consisted of a Class V-VI section sandwiched between two Class IV sections. The middle section is considered un-runnable for rafts, and we lined around it.

A patterned gneiss (?) rock, seen on the scout

Scouting the Class IV initial section of Wasson’s, with (left to right) CJ, Nate and Britt

Looking down at the Class V-VI section, not yet run by rafts. The telephoto lens “stacks” the features seen, compressing the rapid and making it look shorter (and more congested) than it actually is.
Movie of the section above:

Britt takes our boat through the second part of the initial Class IV section (that precedes the lining section).

The last drop of this section. Seen ahead is a big boulder – one of a group of nested boulders that are separated from the right shore by mini-channels. Going left of this boulder would spell doom! One must eddy-out to the right of the boulder.
Movie of the section above:

The beginning of the Class V-VI section, which Rocky calls the Junkpile. The boats are collected along the river right shoreline, to the inside of the group of boulders mentioned above. The two yellow boats have already been man-handled through the mini-channels.

The cataraft, seen here in the same position as in the above photo, waits its turn to be jockeyed through the rocks (Kathy Miller photo)

and looking downstream from the same position, towards the so-called Sieve Rock, marked with a red “X”. We lined to just above the Sieve Rock.

The lining is complete, and it’s back to Class IV water. Pedro heads downstream towards the Sieve Rock.

Karl, looking across at the Sieve Rock. It’s called that because lots of water goes directly under it.
Movie of the section above:

Downstream of Sieve Rock (and a few more Class IV spots that followed). Kathy and I have reclaimed our boat, to run the final Class IV rapids of Wasson’s. To the left of the rock below us is the “Bitch Hole”. We went to the right of the rock. (Britt Runyon photo)

The view from the boat, at the same spot as in the above photo, as Kathy pulls to the right. The rapid ends not far beyond the large boulder seen downstream.

The last whitewater of Wasson’s Landslide Rapid. We had arrived at Wasson’s at 7 AM, and were finished at 2:20 PM, with no incidents.
Movie of the section above:
We had passed through Wasson’s with no incidents, and plenty of daylight left to complete the day. One of the reasons I had come on this trip was to see a Class V-VI gorge up-close and personal. Wasson’s filled the bill.

With Wasson’s in our collective rear-view mirror, we enjoyed the Class III rapids that continued, one after another. The scenery wasn’t bad, either.
That evening we were visited by the gentleman who lived in the downstream hillside farm that can be seen beyond the landslide scar. His use of a powerful headlamp allowed us to watch his approach. He had come down to fish, and, no doubt, to see who we were. Zacarias went fishing with him, but they caught nothing. Then, for the first time on the trip, the cicadas began to “sing” … at a pitch and intensity that was way beyond anything we had ever heard before. It was startlingly loud and insistent. Tomorrow, we would run the Class V- Llamara Rapid, where Kathy and I would have some of our most exciting moments of the trip! Here is the link to the following post:
https://believesteve.org/2015/12/19/peru-the-rio-maranon-day-10-llamara-rapid/
likely enjoying this Steve
LikeLike
really enjoying …lol
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLike
wow! that was some low-water. Wasson’s is a different animal a little higher.
LikeLike
I’ll bet!
LikeLike