Humla Karnali day 4-6

We started day IV weary of dropping into the second large canyon on the Humla Karnali. We had traveled very little distance in the grand scheme of things. In fact it wasn't until day three that we covered more than 20 kilometers in a day. We had paddled 70 k's in total and still had a remaining 315 kilometers to the take out. We were about to descend in what some who have previously paddled the river, described as the hardest section of the Humla. We set off cautious, but hopeful of covering some solid ground. We still had aspirations of reaching our resupply in three days.
The first few rapids we clung to the bank avoiding the full force of the Humla. The river had grown in volume, again doubling it's flow from the day before. Day four and the volume already was huge. It was obvious the largest monsoon season in 70 years had left the Humla Karnali river full and raging even late into the season.

The canyon walls were towering high overhead protecting an oasis of exotic flora and flona. Palm trees and Cacti coexisted in the arid pristine canyon. Toby charging through one of the many long pushy wave trains. Look closer and you can see him. (photo Will Stubblefield)

Will Charging through a large pour over.

After completing the canyon we were exhausted from the physically demanding white water and portages of the first four days. We opted to cut our paddling short in order to rest for a hard push on day 5. We found a small beach under a large overhanging cliff face and unpacked in time to have a quick bath in the freezing cold water before the sun set.

Up and adam, we packed our boats and powered through a mostly scenic and uneventful three hours of paddling. It was a much needed mental rest. The Humla was joined by several large tributaries and we knew the steep and powerful third gorge loomed further down stream.

Will tucking into a crashing hole.

As the day pushed on we hoped to get close to the town of Thirpu a known rough and rowdy town of thieves. It was thanksgiving and we were searching for a secluded beach to prepare a feast with our fast dwindling rations. We struggled to find a suitable place to camp and blew past a few small villages.

At one stage Toby got out to scout a rapid and a young man was shouting in my ear for a rupee. Toby was trying to explain the rapid to me while sitting in my kayak. The young man gave up on me and quickly moved on to Toby. Tired and frustrated I got half of a signal of where to go before Toby retreated to the repose of his kayak. We tried to follow him but quickly lost site all having questionable lines. Regardless, we trudged on reaching a large horizon line close to dark.

In the hopes of keeping things moving along, we walked this rapid mainly out of fear. Cooper opted to run the rapid and lined up the crashing seam trying to break through the massive hole.

He was quickly swallowed for a few scary seconds but submerged upright.

Isaac gets a hand from a local man portaging.

Late in the day we finally spotted a beach amongst a large boulder pile. We pulled our boats up to the beach realizing we had stopped just above a huge horizon line. Finally a peaceful place to stretch out and enjoy a thanksgiving feast. We still had some potatoes and planned on making some chicken stock flavored soy balls, mashed potatoes and gravy.

As soon as we set our kayaks down an began to change into dry clothes the hill sided was littered with children running to see what we were up to. Quickly, some 30 children, young adults, and a few older fellows gathered. We needed to get a fire going and get dry but we were scared we had reached Thirpu and if we unpacked our gear would slowly walk away. Cooper stepped up as head of PR and led the mob away from us singing playing games and even leading a crowd in the "Hokie Pokie". He headed up the hill side to their village as we began to set up camp with only a few remaining spectators. He returned with bags of food and had found a school teacher who Cooper had explained thanksgiving to. Learning of our "festival" he insisted on giving us a large pumpkin and some more potatoes and fresh coriander. We cooked and ate for 4 hours straight serving up a 4 course meal. We finally crawled into our sleeping bags at 11 PM exhausted and stuffed.

The locals assembled in the morning before school to watch us cook breakfast.

Will firing through the top hole of the first rapid of the day.

The run out was just as tasty as the entrance creating a massive powerful rapid to start the day

Finally the rapid began to relent.

We continued our way down entering another long section of steep and massive rapids with ominous looking holes and exploding waves. We were in constant fear of being swallowed and beaten in the powerful current of the Humla.

Toby fighting to keep his boat straight above a large hole after being swallowed by a lateral.

When ever you thought you were alone on a remote river far from civilization, you would look up to find someone leading their water buffalo to the river for a drink, or workers collecting rice. Often times you felt like their worlds' stopped for as long as it took us to pass by. In this case traffic on the bridge stopped with what seemed like half the village watching us float by. We continued on again late into the day stopping in the final long hard 3rd gorge of the upper stretches of the Humla. Will found a flat area on a terrace high above the river and we again feasted late into the night. We were close to our resupply now only another 80 kilometers and we couldn't eat enough in an attempt to replenish the massive amounts of energy we were burning. Day 6 ended with thoughts of finishing off the last class V stretch of river as it eventually would ease in gradient and continue to increase in flow making a friendlier bouncier class IV float down the remaining 200 kilometers.