BORDER CANYONS First descents in Chihuahua, dodging big rapids, sheer cliffs, and narcos

We all dream of meeting our heroes. But what happens when we finally do, and they push us beyond our limits? Willie Henkel met his and found himself chasing first descents in Mexico, dodging narcos, plunging into Vertical Vietnam, and questioning how long he could keep up. Over 18 days of self-supported paddling, he and Ben Stookesberry made the first kayak descents of the Rio Mohinora and Rio Batopilas, tracing waters explored by the Tarahumara and their ancestors long before them.

Willie Henkel

On our way south, Ben talks in short bursts about buena gente, cartel wars, and these unrun rivers slicing through mile-deep canyons: “Mohinora, Batopilas… that’s the dream, Willie!” An international overpass bridges a steel bollard wall, riparian razor wire, and the bone-dry Rio Grande. “The US-Mexican border. Fucking hell,” is all I can say. Heat waves blur the endless USA-bound traffic jam, a mirage tangled with thoughts of those desperate, often deadly, desert crossings to the west. By contrast, our American passports and Ben’s truck make the trip south cheap and easy down four tollway lanes to Chihuahua City, where a neon-clad shopping mall appears grotesque against the book’s descriptions of unrun Copper Canyons. The book, The Rivers of Northern Mexico by Rocky Contos, “is unlike any other guidebook,” Ben…

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Kayak Session (Digital) - 1 Issue, Spring 2025

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