FIRST DESCENT OF THE UPPER MARAÑON

John Wasson was a young Colorado kayaker in 1977 when he joined a group of 3 other Coloradans (Tom Fisher, Steve Gaskill, and Elen Toll) in a 790 km descent of Río Marañon from the Lauricocha-Nupe confluence down into the jungle. They used three recently introduced Hollowform kayaks (first ever plastic!) and a 12' army raft with frame and oars.

Ellen took over the 12' raft, but had to portage a large section of upper ~200 km of river as it was "just not raftable" due to many long boulder blockades. The group reunited by the Puchka confluence and continued downstream over another ~22 days to the jungle. They used a balsa raft for several days in the mellow valley section downstream of Chagual. The trip ended completely at Nazareth (Imacita). John Wasson wrote an short article about the trip for the first issue of South American Explorer.

Wasson is also known for other first descents. In particular, in 1981 he joined Lars Holbek, Rob Lesser, Don Banducci and Rick Fernald on the first descent of the Stikine (British Columbia). Wasson tumbled in a notorious hydraulic on an upper part of the river and nearly drowned. The hole has since been referred to as "Wasson's Hole".

All members of the 1977 Marañon descent are still alive. Wasson lives in Jackson Hole and may get back down to run the Marañon again - in a more relaxed mode where he can really appreciate the river's beauty instead of the anxious "tunnel vision" they all had on the first descent.