Image: Loren Upton - Darien Gap
Loren Upton is a retired bridge builder and served in the United States Marine Corps. Described by his wife Patty as being ‘the most determined, positive thinking, obstinate person’ she’s ever met, Loren had dreamed of being an explorer ever since early childhood.
Image: Loren Upton - Darien Gap
Patty Upton grew up moving around the globe, moving every three years with her father who was also in the Marine Corps. She was always fascinated with travel and dreamed of visiting far-off places. She ended up in Panama where she worked for the Girl Scouts, until her position was phased out. It was at this time that Patty joined Loren on his Jeep expedition crossing the Darien Gap.
Image: Loren and Patty Upton (pictured centre) - Darien Gap
Loren Upton made several attempts to cross the Darien Gap, first in an F250 Ford pick-up truck, an adventure that quickly came to an end when an expedition member was shot and killed. Then in a new Jeep CJ-7, which ended up rolling over a cliff and then later in a new Jeep CJ-5, which he was forced to abandon in a Colombian Park. Patty, who would later become Loren’s wife, joined the expedition team when Loren once again attempted the Darien Gap in a 1966 CJ-5 Kaiser Corporation Jeep, this time completing the crossing all by land.
In 1995, about eight years after the successful Jeep expedition through the Darien Gap, Patty and Loren took a two-wheel drive Rokon and successfully crossed the Darien Gap. They logged over 125 miles of jungles, rivers, mountains and swamp in 49 days, becoming the first people to cross the Darien Gap all on land on a motorcycle.
From angry Kunas holding them and their Rokon ransom for $500, to repair set backs and even coming face to face with Colombian Guerrillas, the challenges they faced and friendships made were all part of their unforgettable adventures.
Website: Outback of Beyond Adventures
By Milenioscuro - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66450819
About the DARIEN GAP
The Darien Gap is also know as the DARIEN ISTHMUS, an isthmus being a narrow strip of land connecting two larger areas with water on either side. It’s located on the Pan American Highway, known as the longest motorable road in the world in the Guiness Book of Records. Between Panama and Colombia, on the border of Central and South America, you come to the Darien Gap, just over 160 km (99 miles) long and about 50 km (31 miles) wide of jungle, mountains, swamps and rivers. Most travellers go over it by plane or around it by ship.
No Roads & Home to the Kuna
There are no roads, only foot paths or trails, no street signs. Exotic wildlife abounds, the likes of which most of have never known, such as jaguars, wild boars and venomous snakes. It's hot, muggy, the forest is thick and the mosquitos atrocious. Dangers are everywhere, there are risks of encountering drug smugglers, poachers, guerrillas and paramilitaries in the Darien Gap, which is also a refuge for murderous outlaws. The Darien Gap is home to indigenous peoples known as the Embera-Wounaan and the Kuna.
A Natural Barrier
In 1971 and 1992 efforts were made to allow a road to be put through the Darien Gap, but both were stopped due to environmental concerns, of which there are many. There is evidence that the Gap has prevented diseased cattle, which cause foot and mouth disease, from spreading in to Central and North America. The indigenous people are concerned that a road may destroy their cultures. There is the threat of making the Darien Gap more accessible for drug trafficking and the resulting violence. And there is also the need to protect the rainforest. The Darien Gap has been said to be a natural barrier which protects North America.
‘Everything That's Bad for You is in There’
For centuries, the Darien Gap has been a destination and challenge for many explorers and adventurers, and the exploration of it has usually been met with disaster. However, there have been many successful attempts at crossing through the Darien Gap, by two wheel drive and four wheel drive vehicles, rocons, motorcycles, bicycles and by foot.
There have been several notable ‘first of it’s kind’ crossings. The first successful crossing in a vehicle was in 1960 in a Land Rover and Jeep. An arduous journey moving an average of only 200 metres or about 650 feet in an hour. It took them nearly 5 months to cross the Gap, as they made their way through the jungle clearing the bush by hand, crossing streams and rivers, making bridges as they went. The first crossing in a two wheel drive vehicle was in 1961, by a team using three Chevrolet Corvairs, which took 109 days. They completed the expedition having abandoned one of the cars. Between 1971 and 1973, the first fully overland crossing was by Ian Hibell by bicycle. In 1975, Robert L. Webb made the first motorcycle crossing.
Between 1985 and 1987, the first vehicle crossing by land only was made in a Jeep by Loren Upton and Patty Mercier (Upton) in 741 days, they would return in 1995 to cross the Darien Gap again, this time on Rocons. Since then there have been more notable crossings made by motorcycle, on foot or by river boats, including when Helge Pedersen crossed by motorcycle in the early 1980’s. And more recently, in November 2017, when three US Army Vets rode, pushed, pulled and dragged their bikes through the jungle.
To this day, any inland routes remain extremely dangerous. For example, National Geographic Adventure contributing editor Robert Young Pelton and two American backpackers were kidnapped there in 2003 and held for 10 days. In an National Geographic Adventure interview by Nicole Davis, Robert Young Pelton had this to say: "The Darien Gap is one of the last, not only unexplored, but one of the last places people really hesitate to venture to... It's also one of the most rugged places. It's an absolute pristine jungle but it's got some nasty sections with thorns, wasps, snakes, thieves, criminals, you name it. Everything that's bad for you is in there."
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Darien Gap - Getting Around - How These Riders Did It
A popular adventure for motorcyclists is the PanAmerican route, from Alaska to Argentina, and to get from Panama to Colombia, you have to go through, which isn’t necessarily a good idea, or around the Darien Gap. On this episode we have four different stories about crossing the Gap, and some options to choose from with some great tips about how to go about getting your motorcycle around one of the most dangerous jungles in the world.
MUSIC CREDITS:
Title: Funky Folk Title: Greasy Wheels Title: various intros and stingers
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Title: Two Swords (ft. rocavaco, redhair)
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Title: Reverie (small theme) (ft. Pitx)
Artist: _ghost 2010 _ghost
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