Drive Dance Drop

Those three words describe quite well the activities of Rodrigo, Ian, and myself on the 25th and 26th of February. Late in the afternoon of the 25th we worked up the motivation to make the drive from Pucon to Salto del Nilahue. After the strenuous drive we found a spot on the side of the dirt road and deemed it close enough to the waterfall and fit for our beds for the night. We got comfortable and maybe even fell asleep, then there were some bright lights,a loud truck with some loud Chilenos and the rest of the night is a blur. They took us to a disco until about 5 in the morning then dropped us off at our tents and wished us luck for Nilahue in few hours. None of us slept well, and awoke soon after first light then were off to the waterfall. Once there, we scouted, set up cameras and dropped in. We were all off the water by 11 a.m. and ready to get back to Pucon for some rest.
Salto del Nilahue was an amazing drop. Check the photos.

Ian shot from below.

Photo by Rodrigo Tuschner

Rodrigo from above.

Photo by Ian Garcia

Chris from afar.

Photo by Ian Garcia

Middle Palguin

You may remember that the waterfalls on the middle Palguin had a little trouble keeping their balance through the high water season of last year. There was a 35 footer into a 50 footer. They pulled a little Humpty Dumpty and what remains is a waterfall with a height somewhere between the 50 and the sum of the two old ones.
The middle Palguin is indeed back and Ian Garcia, Rodrigo Tuschner, and I rallied the first D after much anticipation and scouting.

Ñews

So this is what my trip has come to; taking photos of cats in a box. Damn. There are ten of them in there though. That's photo worthy, right?
Come on, you know they're pretty cute.


In my attempts to do some hiking and scouting of new rivers I ended up getting shut down again. This time though, it wasn't a bad thing at all. On a bus ride to a river where I was going to start my hike, I met a farmer who was going to be driving up the same river. He offered me a ride to the trail that leads to the headwaters of the river. Once there, we got to talking, and I ended up going all the way out to his house and farm. He and his wife were convinced that it was too dangerous to hike up the mountain solo, but they also thought it would be a good idea to house and feed me for a few days. Not too bad, eh? They were very good to me.


After the goodbyes and thank-you's I headed towards another river to try out my hiking idea a little more. Once again though, shut down. Also probably a good thing as the locals up the river valley are in a dispute with a Norwegian hydroelectric company, so there is much unrest, especially when a gringo with light hair, skin, and eyes rolls through 'just trying to look at the river'. I was told multiple times that my life might be in danger if I continued upstream, so no news on that river either.
Locals at both rivers did say that there were no waterfalls or especially strong or deep parts of either river.

I did stumble across this little guy somewhere in there though. You might recognize it from some past high profile videos, but it has changed quite dramatically, so maybe not.


Also, while walking along a road to the second river, I ran into some road construction. Turned out that I was on the new, not yet in service road and that they were still in the process of blasting through a cliff high above the lake. High above, as in about 400 or more feet nearly vertical to the water. The workers said that it takes about two hours to drive back to the other road and get to where I wanted to go, which we could see about one kilometer away down by the lake.
So with a bamboo stick for assistance, I did one of the most exposed, scariest traverses I have ever done across to a small trail that led quickly to the town.
I also got to view(probably a little too close) the use of dynamite to blast the wall.

So, that was my little non-paddling adventure. Very fun and educational, but I am ready to get back in my boat.
Hence, another new plan: head back to Pucon, pick up my boat, and get some.