Amburayan

Pasdong gorge

Length: 1.6km

Gradient: 46m/km

Grade: 4+(5)

Get-on: Drive up from Naguey on river right, past Pasdong and stop at the first set of rice terraces after Pasdong. There is an easy path to follow which leads to a bridge. Get on at the bridge. ( 16°38’10.04″N//120°42’43.15″E)

Take-out: River right underneath the first hanging bridge you reach after the main gorge. (16°37’18.93″N//120°42’23.51″E)

Time taken: 2 hours 30 minutes

Description: Steep creeking at its finest. Best done in a small group. After a very short warm-up the drop in gradient becomes very apparent as every rapid requires scouting. Make sure you hit the small eddies or else you’ll be running the whole thing blind!

Peter boofing in one of the first boulder gardens, Pasdong Gorge.

Several steep boulder gardens lead into the main event which is easily scoutable. Take the footpath on river right through the banana trees and scramble down when needed. You can also scout the rapid before putting on the river by taking a footpath in the centre of Pasdong (next to the shop) which follows the aqueduct down to the rapid. If this rapid looks a good level, the rest of the run will be good to go.

Erik on the last drop of the triplet, Pasdong gorge.

The main rapid (a Triple Combo) is as follows. Most of the water channels down river left, but the slot that it leads to doesn’t look appealing. Erik was the only person to run this rapid and went off the flake on river right before cutting left before the big rock which has all the water piling into it. Next up there is a double hole feature before the final drop. From here there are several more nice rapids (‘Nose job’ slot) before the river widens and the take-out bridge comes into sight.

Adam getting patched up after his nose job. #keepyourpaddlesstraightinslots

Amburayan River: Naguey – Taba-ao

Length: 9km

Gradient: 17m/km

Grade: 4/4+

Get-on: River right next to the road bridge in Naguey. It’s a 2h 30m drive from Baguio. (16°35’54.59″N//120°41’43.86″E)

Take-out: Taba-ao, river left just before the road bridge. (16°36’44.67″N//120°37’56.17″E)

Time taken: 3 hours. It could be done in an hour, but the drive takes 3 hours so it makes more sense to take your time and enjoy the surf waves rather than wait around at the take-out.

Reassuring to see the local communities are collaborating to protect their amazing river.

Description: An excellent run with an exciting gorge for starters and several surf waves later on. The short gorge contains the most technical rapids of the river, the rest eases off a bit so you can relax. Crystal clear water in a remote setting. If the drive wasn’t so long we’d have lapped it all day. Grade given is for decent juicy flows. The river is paddleable with less flows (many rocks visible at get on) but drops a grade.

Entrance rapid to the gorge.

The Naguey community are incredibly friendly so if possible arrive the night before to spend time with them and maybe even bring them a chicken to show your appreciation for their hospitality.

Some of the team with a few members of the Naguey Barangay.

Below Taba-ao we were told of large falls and even larger boulders in deep canyons. Whilst sometimes it is worth taking a pinch of salt with these stories, google earth seems to back them up. Massive boulders are visible in especially tight sections of river. 40 km of unrun whitewater exist below Taba-ao, it would be incredibly technical and very committing but potentially world class.

Erik deep in the crux gorge.

Similarly the gorge above Naguey houses some big rapids in an almost completely inaccessible canyon. The team are pretty convinced there is a waterfall in there somewhere as massive boils were seen rising in a pool from the road. We inspected the first few hundred metres of the canyon and all was good, but could not proceed further on foot. The whole thing is probably scoutable if you are willing to commit the effort by walking into lots of different points… or just splash the cash on a drone.