El Rio de Oro- A Mexican Classic

A broken hand cause by a fall while scouting on the Rio de Cajones kept me from getting to kayak as much as I wanted to on my recent trip down to Mexico. Before the accident however, I did get on an awesome creek on the Eastern coast that is a must do for anyone taking a trip south.

The Rio do Oro is located on the Costa de Oro in a tiny town called Arroyo de Lisa. Gareth and I drove five hours from Tylapacoyon with essentially no beta about the run besides that we should do it. The only beta that we did have was that we needed to find a local man named Fernando that lived in the town and that he would show us to the river. After a couple hours of bad spanish and driving/walking all around the village, we finally found our man. The beta we had was spot on and Fernando knew exactly what we wanted- clean 30 footers!

After a 45 minute hike in and portaging a 50 footer at the put in, we arrived at the beautiful clean crystal clear waters of the Rio de Oro. The first couple miles involves a few class 4-5 gorges with fun rapids and a few nasty holes.

The best part of the run however starts when you arrive the waterfall gorge. First up is a 30 footer that falls off the left side of horseshoe shaped ledge.

Then after paddling only a few hundred yards downstream through a totally walled in gorge you arrive at another horizon line and the second 30 footer. This one is more channelized and falls off straight into a big boil. Super clean and super fun.

From there the river mellows out to class 2-3 rapids before arriving at the next best part of the run, the ocean. Lots of fun waves to surf and beautiful coastline make this the coolest take outs that I've ever seen. And following that up with cervesas, fish tacos and camping out on the beach makes it one of the best days I've ever had.

And with a river this good, it would be a shame to do just once so make sure you get up early on day two to get a sunrise run and conveniently paddle straight into your campsite on the beach!