Rio Caren & Rio Claro

The Rio Caren is a small tributary of the Rio Puesco just downstream of the normal take-out. On a previous trip to the Puseco, Rodrigo and I scouted() the Caren and found a huge falls above a tiny gorge and a fun looking falls at the bottom of the gorge.
On a lazy afternoon some weeks later we were rallied by the young and intrepid Gerd Serrasolses, see www.kayakgerd.blogspot.com, to go run the Puesco and the fun falls at the end of the gorge we had told him about. We were also not sure if it had been run before, so that added to the excitement.
We found the Caren with quite a bit less water than before, but all had good lines over the falls.

Freewheel (first D?)


After a successful run.


I was still curious about the gorge upstream, of which we had only seen the very tight entrance. I voted to put off the Puesco for a few minutes while we go try to explore the gorge from below. It had been impossible to see into the gorge from above before, so I was hoping that we could find something good and accessible from below. The gorge though, was quite intent on keeping its secrets hidden from us. Our upstream progress quickly ceased when we came to a deep pool below an ugly crack/falls/siphon/undercut with vertical walls of crumbly conglomerate rock on both sides. I made several attempts to climb up and around the drop but never made it more than a few feet before the rock would give way and I would fall into the pool.

Ugly.


That put an end to our exploration for the day, so we ran the falls again and walked back to the car. It had gotten cold and a little dark by this time, so all motivation to run the low water Puesco had diminished and we drove back to Pucon.

More rack problems on the way home.


After a few more local low water runs in the following days, we were ready to get out of town and paddle something new. Off to the north we went! We were not detered by the long drive(6 hours), the staggering gas prices(about 4 USD per gallon), or the guaranteed low water conditions(it's just bedrock, right?).

We stopped to scout this splashy little drop on the way up. Yes, those are rocks in the LZ.

Photo by Juanjo

And ended up running this sketchy little one just downstream.



Photos by Juanjo.

After a long drive in the afternoon, we arrived to the Claro and found a place to camp.

Photo by Juanjo

The next morning we awoke to perfect a perfect blue sky and a quite comfortable temperature. We hiked for about an hour and a half through some rough terrain, then got to our put-in and jumped around on the amazing granite for a while attempting to scout the tight entrance to the gorge.


More Scouting


Happy to be in a granite wonderland.


Paddling around above the put in.


Once on the water it was very difficult to scout or get out of our boats, as the walls were usually totally vertical and smooth. That said, I do not have many photos of this amazing run to share. It was one of the most amazing gorges I have ever seen, not to mention paddled down.

Gerd in a tight one.

Photos by Juanjo

I think this was the only drop that was possible to portage.



Gerd into the unknown. The general character of this run, seriously.



Fun falls near the end of the run.



Another fun slide into a falls.


After the run we got back to the car and found it DOA. We weren't sure of the problem, so we just camped where the car died and tried to find a ride to town in the morning. We found out that there was a bus that might be able to tow us the 50 or so kilometers to the nearest town.

Killing time.


Hey, on the second cast!


Lucky for us, a nice, wealty, Dutch(I think) couple with a pickup truck was leaving earlier than the bus and offered to tow us to town. The drive was intense to say the least, as the only things we had to connect the cars were two pieces of tubular webbing from our safety kits. I think that when the line was totally tight I might have been about 8 feet behind their truck. We did make it safely to town, and they would not accept any money for the great service they had just done for us. The repair only cost 10 dollars too!

So was the end of our trip north, except for the drive back...

Everybody Swims in Chile

I think the title says it all, but the 23rd of December was an exciting day of paddling. Well, swimming too.
Okay, here's the story...Gerd, Juanjo, and I returned to Pucon from our trip north very early Friday morning. We were all pretty tired, but with a little arm twisting and dancing in the car, Juanjo convinced us to stop at Mamas & Tapas, the local bar, for a beer or two. Of course, it turned into a beer or four, but the point is that we got to sleep at an unholy hour. It might have been getting light out. We awoke much too soon to the sound of rain beating the metal roof, and news that it had been raining quite a bit the whole time we were gone. Immediately, there was one thing on my mind: Rio Turbio. I had run the Turbio once before with a fun, but fairly low flow, so was very excited to hear that there had been much rain and that it was still raining. Gerd and I rallied and were on our way by noon(yes, it felt early). The Turbio is only about 10 minutes from Pucon, so we got to the bridge right away and were astonished to see the torrent of chocolate water racing underneath. With our excitement doubled, we sped up to the parking area and began the 2 or 3 km walk to the put-in. Even in the rain and wind, we were sweaty with anticipation to see the falls above the put-in.
When the falls came into view, we let out a collective yell of excitement and quickened our pace. We got to the bottom and it looked great, then scouted from the top and it looked even better. The curious youngsters that we are, we continued further upstream to see what we could find. Two more falls and a fun slide awaited us, so we made our way to the top of the first falls and got ready to run.
We both had successful, if a little exciting, runs on the first chunky triple drop, then ran down to the next ledge, quickly ran it, then got out to scout the big one.

Recovering from the excitement offered by the first falls. You can almost see the line we took. It was a boof in the middle, then another boof just out of site into a rocky hole with a really rocky run-out.


Our boats looking small from the lip of the put-in falls. You can see the scale of this drop as a whole in this photo. Big rapid.


We had been walking a lot and standing around looking at rapids for long enough, so I was fired up and ready to run this thing. I asked Gerd to set safety and try to take a picture or two at the cave drop in the rapid below the falls. I jumped around and ran some laps around my boat while I waited for him to get set up, then gave him the signal that I was ready.
I took one last look at the rapid, then walked slowly back to my boat. I knew I was going to have to hit every move and make every stroke with great efficiency if I was going to clean this rapid. I splashed some water in my face and peeled out of the eddy and into the fast current above the drop. I made my boof in exactly the spot I wanted, landed just where I wanted to in the boil, where it would slow me down enough to take a stroke before the next drop, then before I knew it I was screaming down the big slide towards the final ledge. 'Boof, boof in the middle' was all I was thinking when I got pushed a little too far left to really say that I was in the middle.
Boof, I did. Clear the menacing hole at the bottom of the ledge, I did not. My paddle was immediately ripped from one hand, but I managed to pull myself up for a breath. I windowshaded again, and this time the hole wanted everything from me. Now with no paddle, I could not get upright in the hole. I spent a few seconds thrashing around doing my best to pull myself out of the hole but felt that there was no way I was coming out of this hole in my boat. I pulled my skirt and was immediately ripped out of my boat to the bottom of the hole where I did some lightning fast body-cartwheels. I still didn't really feel like I was making any downstream progress, so I balled up and quickly flushed out of the hole and conviniently onto a log where I could climb out of the water. The rumors are true! Balling up works for hole escape!

Anyway, I came over the lip a little too fast for any photos, but I snapped a few of Gerd. He is an amazing paddler with a slalom background and made the rapid look easy.

About to boof the top falls.


Just below the falls, in the beginning of the rapid.


Boofing a big hole in the rapid.


Big one, eh? The slide is just out of the bottom of the frame.


Gerd about to enter the big slide.


In the big slide.


Late-comer Florian flying down the slide.


About the boof the ledge that ate me.


ps. the car died again and we had to get towed back to town again.

Rio Florin

After a couple runs on the Gol Gol, some of the group was ready to call it quits and head back to Pucon. But Scheepers and I still wanted to get after more water, so after little deliberation we decided to head to the Rio Florin. We had limited to no beta on the run so were expecting a pretty exciting mission to find access and scout the gorge. All I knew was that there were supposed to be some big drops in an amazing canyon, so I told Scheepers and he was in.
We dropped the rest of the group off at the bus station in Osorno, then began our drive to the Florin. We arrived in the late afternoon and drove around on some horrible roads while looking for a route upstream. The Suby held strong, but there is only so much 6 inches of clearance can take, so we thought about licking our wounds and going to check out the hotsprings we saw on the way in. Upon arrival at the hotsprings a woman came out to talk and immediately invited us inside. She told us to sit and then disappeared into another room, but soon returned with a photo in hand. She showed me and it was the group who did the first descent a couple years ago, including the familiar faces of Ben Stookesberry, Devin and Ryan Knight, and Eric Seymour. I was excited to see that they had made a good impression on these locals and that we were enjoying the reciprocity they had built up with the farmer and his wife. I hope we did the same.

The farmhouse.


They offered us a cabin to stay in and use of the hotsprings and a guide to go check out the river. We gratefully accepted and took off to check out the river with Ricardo, a farm hand. He brought us down to the first gorge and told us that we couldn't walk any farther, so we went back to the cabin and rested for the night.

The view from our cabin. Down the valley and towards Lago Ranco.


The next morning was beautiful and had us up early and ready to get on the water. We hiked from the cabin up the road for about one kilometer to the put-in bridge. We took our time putting gear on and stretching, had a little safety conversation, then put into the cold water. We had seen everything down to the first big drop, so we quickly arrived at the first drop and ran it without problems.

Scheepers in the first rapid.



After this we moved down some bouldery drops on our way to the first gorge.
Scheepers above the first gorge.


We got out to scout the entrace drop, but didn't spend long, as we had seen it the day before. I went first, then climbed back up to film Scheepers. Taking photos was very difficult because the gorge was deep and not much light could get through to the river and we couldn't stand far from the lip.

Entering the first part of the first drop. You can see that it was an amazing gorge.


From the first part you would rocket out through a veil falling from the side then fly off the second ledge.
About to fall off the second ledge.


Resurfacing at the bottom, for scale.


Looking back upstream from below the first drop.


Soon after this was a fun slide into a pool above a huge horizon line.
Sliding.



Scouting the next drop.


This falls needs no description.
Committed at the lip.


Tucked and ready for impact.


Scheepers at the top.


I took a big hit at the bottom and have a black eye and the top left side of my face is bruised and a little scratched from my helmet liner. Better my helmet that my eyebrow or lip or cheek though. Got to be proud of the wounds!

There were a couple more rapids then we got to the portage gorge and instead of jumping in, we started hiking out. We got out of the gorge and onto a farm where we found a road that eventually got us back to the river so we could cross and return to our car and the hotsprings.

Resting after the climb out of the gorge.


We spent some time in the hotsprings then thanked Alejandro again before departing for Pucon.

We arrived in good time and split ways, so Scheepers could prepare to go back to South Africa and I could go to sleep. Another amazing river completed.

A Litte Tip

I am not sure why the photos are loading so large when clicked on, but to view one at a size that can fit in the screen, just right click on the photo once it has finished loading and choose 'view image'. It should make it smalled and fit in the screen. Hope it works for everybody and check again very soon as I have another TR from an amazing river.

TR: Rio Gol Gol

First, a little info about the last post: the whole thing with the Futaluefu did not work out. Ferries and passports and cars and whatnot did not add up to making it to the river. We spent a couple fun nights in random port towns then made our way back to the Gol Gol for another day of great paddling.

The scene in Puerto Varas.


Here is a little story to go along with the photos. 'Little story' mostly means the same as any other post, so here are some photos of the Gol Gol.
After being rejected on our final attempts to get farther south to the Futa, we decided to head back north for another day or two on the Gol Gol.

Rack problems added to the excitement of the drive, as with every large bump, of which there were many, the racks would shift and sometimes fall off.



We eventually got to the river with all the boats and a few more scratches on the roof. Everyone was pretty excited to get on the water, so we headed straight to the put-in, ate a quick lunch and had a little talk with the border folks, then got in the water. There is a flat stretch for about a kilometer, then the first horizon line.
Here is South African Scheepers Schoeman running the left line.


Next comes some fun boogy water with some surprisingly powerful holes, as I found out in an extended surf at a small drop with a big hole. We all made it through this section quickly then got out to check the next drop. It is a small ledge leading into about 75 meters of fast water class 3 with a ledge with a munchy hole at the bottom.

Scheepers again about to get eaten.




Phillip same.
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5009521247980618722" />

This rapid always promises to offer up some excitement, and this day was no exception. With one near cave and undercut exploration under its belt, and a hole beating this falls was still not content with the state of things. Adrian was last to go and spent quite a bit of time in the eddy above the drop. Any boater who has sat at the bottom of a drop and waited to see first the paddle blades then the face and boat come flying over the lip knows the feeling of anticipation and anxiety about your buddy having a good line. I think we all had quite a bit of anxiety built up by the time Adrian came over the lip on the very wrong side of the falls. He plugged in deep and came up in the hole, rolled quickly and pulled himself out with a fit of powerful strokes. We were excited to see this, but not excited when he stopped paddling and drifted directly into the undercut left wall. A roll attempt and some concerned yelling on our parts couldn't stop the inevitable though. He pulled his skirt and quickly came out of the undercut and into the hectic pool below the falls. We gathered up his gear and continued downstream with some encouragement and respect for the dangers of this river.

Next up was the double drop. This was an interesting rapid with two avaliable channels. The right side was a pretty straight forward double drop and a big soft hole at the bottom. The left side looked a little more exciting, as it was a single slide with spray from rocks on both sides coving the middle with a thick blanket of water.
Scheepers about to meet the huge hole at the bottom. Everybody went very deep through this then rocketed to the surface to some impressive heights.


I liked the looks of the left line. This wasn't a very big drop, but was definitely one of the funnest things I have run. Coming over the lip to see the water spraying up on both sides and covering the whole slide to make a tunnel of water was amazing. It was a total white-out with pressure from both sides and a huge hole at the bottomg. I went really, really deep in the bottom hole with some underwater cartwheels, then rolled up at the bottom laughing. No photos though, sorry.

Phillip in the lead-in to a mean ledge. There were big boils pushing off the left wall and into the very nasty right side so some strong strokes were necesarry to stay left.

Scheepers making it left.


Next was one of the more exciting drops on the run. Again, the river split around an island with a nasty rocky rapid on the left, and a clean falls on the right. Okay, clean is a little misleading, but it looked pretty good until you started noticing how big the hole at the bottom was and all the undercuts next to it. The lead-in was no walk in the park either. To run it safely you had to charge left through some surprisingly big, powerful waves then straighten out and fly off the lip. To my surprise, everybody liked it and decided to give 'er.

Phillip making it left for a perfect line.


Scheepers going for the boof and another great line.


After this was a little slow water leading to the grand finale of the run. Making our way down to Salto del Indio.


Salto del Indio was an amazing waterfall with a pretty high intimidation factor. It has a fast, boiling lead-in and about half of the river goes up on the right wall then drops back into the left side. The left side is a smooth ramp into a complete white-out from the curtains of water coming off both the left and right walls. Needless to say, you go very, very deep at the bottom of this falls.

With some discussion and camera juggling, I headed up to my boat to run first. I was surprisingly relaxed at the top and didn't really concentrate on the lead-in, which is probably what led to me getting pushed a little too far left. It all worked out though, and I went over the lip, disappeared into the curtains coming off both sides, then went deep with some underwater cartwheels in the violent boils. I rolled up, collected my elbow pads which had been ripped off, but conviniently surfaced next to me, then paddled to the bank satisfied with another day on another amazing river.
Myself about to disappear. You can see the water coming off the left side and the immense amount of water coming off the right wall. You hit that wall of water about halfway down, then go deep with all the water.


This is one of my favorite photos from my trip.
Scheepers about to take the hit and go deep.


On our sunny day, the bottom of this falls had an amazing rainbow over the boil and great light. Phillip enjoying his view of the rainbow.


Starting to fall.


The take-out bridge was just around the corner and ended our wonderful day on the water. The Gol Gol is an absolutely amazing river and I am very glad to have had the opportunity to paddle it. More coming soon.