december boating

[vertkvr]

Hello Tom,

thanks for putting this together.. this will be a great follow up to Gringo's guide.. 
I am thinking about heading to San Luis Potosi/Veracruz region in December to January.. Looking at historic precipitation, seems things will be low.. is it worth coming down that time of year? looking to run some of the classics...micos, verde, etc.. and hoping to find some creeky stuff.. any beta would be great.  cheers, nicolas

[TomRobey]

Nicholas,

The Winter holidays are the most popular time for kayakers from the United States to be in Mexico and generally is when I travel there.  Most of the rivers in Mexico have really extreme flows and those in the eastern part are too high in the monsoon season and the roads may not be passable.  September through December generally is a good time for boating.  Some runs, like the Río Verde, are better in November but often still can be run in December.  Some runs, like the lower canyons of the Santa María, are pretty scary at higher water levels and are optimum in December.  Many of the rivers are spring-fed and these often are runnable even in bad years.

There is a red alert out for the next twenty days for San Luis Potosí and Veracruz until the hurricane season slows down and river levels return to normal.  Reports that I have been getting are that rivers are too high for paddling in San Luis Potosí but it is possible to paddle in Veracruz.  I would guess that this year the water levels will be higher than average through December and into January.

- Tom Robey

[Whitewater]

If my trip last week is any indication the water will be good this year.  There were some mud slides everywhere that we went, and even though it didn't rain much while we were in the Valles area everything was out of its banks.  I can't wait to get back because our rain here in Tejas has finally run out.  When will you be coming down?

[jfcaver]

We have a group going down November 12 - 16.  We are planning on paddling the Gallinas, Guayalejo, Ojo Frio, 3rd and 4th canyon Santa Maria, Tampaon, and on the Rio Valles.  Several other rivers include the Rio Tambaque of which we made a first descent last year and we are trying to make first descent of another river south of Xilitla this year.  Any river beta tht would be helpful on the classic runs this year?  After kayaking we are headed to our project area for another week of surveying new caves around the Sotano de los Golondrinas area.

jerryfant@verizon.net
512-970-0456