After our layover day it was back to the usual routine of packing up the rafts and heading downstream. It was a calm morning in terms of whitewater with a number of small rapids, but the views continued to impress.
We stopped for lunch and a hike at Matkatamiba Canyon. I know, it’s a mouthful. Everyone calls it “Matkat”. It was yet another example of the layered rocks eroded away by the side creek. The hike was short and quite easy, but it was also fun. We hiked into the canyon along the side of the creek on top of a ledge. From there we explored the back of the canyon a bit and then hiked back out through the stream, making a loop. I think the photos really explain this one better than I can, so I’ll just let them do the talking:
There was only a short distance to go after we left Matkat, but it did contain the one big rapid of the day, Upset. This is an 8 that proved to be a tricky one. We got closer to flipping a raft in upset than we did on the entire trip. I watched it all happen from an eddy below the big hole. There was a moment of “uh oh…” before the raft landed upright. To top it off, neither of the passengers fell out, though they did report seeing blue sky in an unusual direction.
Once we were through upset we quickly made it to Above Ledges, our camp for the night. This was my favorite camp of the trip. The entire camp was situated on some stone ledges that protruded from the canyon wall right up to the water’s edge. Everyone simply spread out to find their rock of choice and set up their sleeping pads. Once the sun went down a headlamp was a must, because if you took one wrong step you could end up in the water. That being said, I made it safely to bed that night (as did everyone else) and listened to the bats flying around above me. I could hear their chirping above me as they flew around keeping any insects away.
Taken 11/1/21
