My trip log - Day 3 Tomata Falls
We got our wake-up call from Ben around 6:00 a.m. that morning - we got to sleep in a bit - collected our gear and headed to our “Breakfast of Champions” stop - a market/restaurant during the day and a strip club by night, “Yes, for real!” We laughed and joked about going to that strip club every morning, but they were the only place open! This particular morning, there were three Mexicans left over from the festivities of the night before. One Mexican bought our table a bottle of beer as he came over to us, slurring his words and asking us questions. His friend on the other hand was totally passed out, with his head plastered to the table and no movement. Most of us passed up the beer, but EJ and Eric figured it would be polite to take one sip. After breakfast, we headed out to Cascadia De Tomata (I asked Rafa what Tomata meant and he said “Jump”, so this might be called the “Jumping” waterfall). We figured with all the rain and the river high, that it would be wise to hit up this waterfall instead of exploring other sections of the river.
We hiked down to the waterfall and started scouting. Meanwhile Ben and Rafa went to check river levels from a local. They were gone for quite a while, so after scouting for what seemed like an eternity, we made ourselves comfortable on the rocks and chatted, while others fell asleep.
Eric Seymour measured this waterfall to be between 65 and 70 feet. It was about 50-60 feet wide with tons of water going over it on this particular day. I sat there staring at the waterfall, studying my line and rehearsing in my head what I was going to do once I went over the lip. The nervousness that I usually get before I run big drops wasn’t there this day. I felt very calm, focused. I hadn’t committed 100% to the drop yet, however deep down inside I really wanted it. Rafa and I paddled over to river left and looked at the drop from the other side. “Rafa, tell me your line.” I said. (I like to verbally talk about the line, the timing of each stroke and the landing) Rafa replied, “Okay, well I’m going directly left of the hump, take one more right stroke and go for the tuck.” “Perfect, that’s exactly what I want to do.” I shouted. “Let’s give ‘er!”
I continued rehearsing all the moves in my head. Ben gave us the signal to get going. He got in his boat, eddied out directly over the waterfall, peeled out and headed over. He landed in the center of the waterfall where the boils are the biggest, so he got worked in the boils a bit. “Hmmm, I thought, that didn’t look fun. I told myself, that I’d watch Rafa go and see how well he came out. Since Rafa’s and my line and timing where exactly the same, I wanted to see how he came out. Rafa got in his boat, paddled over, tucked and made it! I decided that it was now or never! I rehearsed what I needed to do for so long, that my confidence to come out of this and be successful was pretty high. I got in my boat and paddled to about 10 feet above the falls. I gave the media crew - video and photos- a victory fist and a pretty smile, took a deep breath and started to focus. I lined up, paddled, took a right stroke off of the lip, and started my tuck. I forced myself to keep my eyes open as I went into my tuck just to see what this whole experience looked like. I remember looking over and in a very relaxed, calm state, saying to myself, “Whoa!” (Insert pic of me going over) After taking a quick peek, I continued into my tuck, wrapped my arm around the bill of my helmet and closed my eyes for impact. “Clunk”, I rotated a bit forward and hit my paddle against my boat. My knees came out of the thigh braces which automatically pushed on the release bar of my skirt and sent me out of my boat. With my boat and paddle in hand, I swam over to Rafa on an outcropping rock below the falls. After getting myself situated, I sat down to watch Darin. Darin styled it. As we were helping Darin with his boat, Rafa yelled out. “Heather, don’t sit there. . . look!” “Too late Rafa, Gross!” Right where I was sitting was a dead, plucked chicken. No wonder my seat was so soft! We laughed about it for a while. Nick was the last to go over and styled the drop as well. “Didn’t think you would actually do the drop, Heather” Rafa and Nick said. “Way to go!” We all exchanged high fives and big smiles.
The hardest part of this day was yet to come . . . the take-out. The rapid we took out above is the rapid in Burning Time where they are talking on walkie talkies about the drop. Ben and Rafa scouted this rapid for a long time and we all decided to take out. The take-out was pretty intense for me, almost more so than the waterfall. We had to free climb slippery rock above a 50 foot waterfall for about 15 feet and then lift our entire body while stabilizing ourselves with our toes on a little rock outcropping and our fingers in little slots in the rock, up onto a ledge. Thankfully, Darin let me scramble up the back of his life vest onto the shelf. Once on this ledge, we pulled our boats up and made a chain, passing our gear all the way to the top of the cliff.
It was hard for me to sleep that night. I was a bit sore from the impact and my adrenaline level was still at an all-time high. Thinking to myself as I laid there in bed, “Man, would I ever do that drop again? That was freakin’ huge!” The feeling I had looking down 70 feet into huge boils at the bottom is unbelievable. I can’t explain why I had the calmness I had. I remember thinking, above the falls, “Why am I not nervous and tense?” “Why am I sitting above a 70 foot waterfall, smiling and waving at all my friends across the river?” I don’t think I can answer. All I do know is, “Yes, after all the emotions came down from running the falls . . . I would do it again!”
~Heather~