Nick's Bachelor Party in Mexico: little Alseseca gets wild

By Clay Wright

Where do you take a guy who’s under 21 for his bachelor party? How
about the river!

(for you who though Alseseca was a stripper – sorry bout that,
she’s just a river but a darned good one! )

EJ, Dane, Trevor Clark and I joined Nick for a pre-wedding ‘bash’
down 2 of Mexico’s finest creeks – the Alseseca and the Agua Azul.
With the help of Alex, our tour guide and Rafa – our trip co-
ordinator we were on the Roadside Section of the Alseseca the morning
after we arrived.

And what a river! The warm, tropical gorge flows right next to the
road for 3-4k and within that space there are more slides and
waterfalls than you could ever imagine. Walk upstream from El Siete
Ranch a few hundred yards from the put-in and you get a sweet 30′
slide and several more 5-15’ers on the first creek, or cross over a
bridge for the 20′ classic we’ve all seen in H20 Films for years. .
better yet, do both!

The water was LoW – making this put-in drop one of the scariest on
the run. But soon people were carrying back up or flipping of the
banks to enjoy the warm, clear water. This is not a pristine creek,
mind you, in fact the water on the first creek is downright foul when
it gets higher at mid-day (more on the ‘Derelict’ section later), but
just having warm clear water after a winter in Rock Island is
something to swim about. Thankfully the rock is volcanic and smooth,
so the drops all go fine with little or no water in them and so many
were worth a hike back up for a second round. The highlight drops
are the 20′ roller (where we all practiced tucks, paddle tosses, and
stomps) the ‘S-bend’ rapid which looks like an atomic piton but flows
like butter, and ‘the Crack’ – which requires some paddle-clacking
along the left wall in order to keep the bow left at the bottom of
this 15′ crevice/falls. The first run takes awhile – scouting and
setting ropes at the put-in falls, the S-bend and the Crack gets your
heart racing especially if you come from the sharp, grabby rock of
the Cumberland Plateau. Then you get the hang of it and we just
bombed through quickly after that.