Nevermind

So, as with almost all the other long-term or extended paddling trip plans, this last one has also come to a premature close. I left with very high hopes and expectations for the following week or two of paddling and exploring, only to turn around the next day and return to Pucon. I guess group motivation was lacking and I could not come up with the words to keep us going. Now Gerd is off to the Futa and I think I am also going to head south.
This time though, I am going to leave my kayak behind. Unfortunately, I feel like the kayaking part of my trip has spiralled to an end. I have no crew, as usual, to paddle and explore with, so will now take some time to go south in Chile and just be a tourist. It has been very hard to come to this realization and now is very hard for me to say that I will be travelling without my boat.

We did paddle a little on our small drive.
Gerd on the entrance falls to the Middle Llancahue.


We had a little excitement after this falls, including Gerds blown skirt and me jumping in the water, and rock, to pull him into the eddy before going over the next falls.


The next falls was great, but there was no exit and the water was too high to continue safely downstream. I hurt my hand and leg while pulling him into the eddy, but I think it was moslty my sickness and vomiting from drinking the Llancahue water that kept me from running this falls after him. I got to be pretty miserable, but recovered in the next 36 hours. But I was not helped by the broken down car and getting stuck and towed multiple times.

New years resolutions are safe for a while now. I guess updates from here on will probably be a little less kayaking and a lot more tourist. Maybe I'll start writing poetry?

So This Is The New Year...

Was 2006 good: yes.
Would I like 2007 to be different: yes
Resolutions to do things differently this year: of course.
Accomplished anything so far: no.
Have plans to do so: Hell Yeah!

But first; so far this year I have:

Driven a lot. Well, make that "been passenger a lot".


Seen lots of cool stuff while sitting in the car.


Had my gear taste-tested by a friendly colt.


Scared that little piece of, well, horse away.


Paddled a little on the Futaleufu



Drove more.


Acquired a boat(YAY JEFE!).


Had a party, of which no photos are available. I hope.

I am pretty excited about having my own boat down here finally, even though it is a LiquidLogic. Now, I'm no hater, but you must understand that my luck with LL has not been the best when it comes to the lifetime of the boat. Performance is second to none, but even the best designs don't function when full of water.
The 2006 destructometer includes 3 broken Gus' and a broken Jefe. Maybe not a lot if you get your boats for free, but those boats put some hurt on me. I'm not sour though.
But on to the new year and the new boat...

Crazy kid Gerd Serrasolses(shown below on a trip to Argentina without me, argh) and I are planning to head south again for a while.


For how long we are not sure, but we tentatively plan until the end of February. While much of that time will likely be spent at the Futa, this promises to be a very worthy road trip. We still can't pass into Argentina(something I am also very not-sour about) but I think Chile has plenty to offer to keep us entertained.
I think we are going to see some good stuff early so stay tuned and I will try to keep the updates rolling.

New years resolutions watch out.

Rio Plata

Another Pucon area classic. Steep hike in, steep creek all the way to the lake.
Sorry for the muddled order. I am having a little trouble putting things up right now.

Rio Claro: Round 2

Rio Claro again? But why?
Maybe this will answer that question:


The last time we were here, we went down into this canyon with no beta and ended up at the lip of a waterfall of which we could not see the bottom, and at the top of a gorge we did not really want to enter without knowing what was around the corner. So out we went with hopes of scouting this immense gorge. Getting out, by the way, was no walk in the park. Only once out, did we realize the scale of the gorge, and with time restrictions holding us back, we left the Claro and returned to Pucon.

Gerd and I still wanted to know what was around the corner, so we decided to go there again to find out. Long story short, we rode buses and hitch-hiked our way to the park again and ran that mysterious gorge.

Actually very comfortable. Waiting for a bus ride to Talca.


Our final ride that took us up the hill and to the put-in.


The first day we did a mega-scout of the whole gorge, walking up and back and climbing, scrambling, and falling to try to see the water. In many places, the past vertical canyon walls made it impossible to view the river, and in some unsettling cases, impossible to view the rapids.

Gerd holding tight and trying to get a glimpse of the whitewater.


We put on early the next morning, tired from the scout but excited to see the gorge from the inside.

Gerd on the third drop of a triple drop above the gorge.


Sliding through another fun rapid at the entrance to the gorge.


Once in the gorge, these two drops came in quick succession.


This slide-falls put us in the pool just above the slide we hiked out above before. Poorly framed, timed, and exposed, typical chrsk photo.


Scouting the big slide.


Gerd rounding the corner and about to fall into one of the most amazing gorges I have ever seen, much less paddled through.



Myself emptying my boat above the falls. But, oops, no more photos. Got video though, don't worry.


The walls let very little light into some parts of the gorge and kept the tempurature quite low as well. It was about 85 degrees outside of the gorge, but we could see out breath in the deepest part. I dont't think sunlight ever hits some places in there.


A tributary falling into the Claro at one of the more open stretches.


There were actually quite a few more rapids, but the nature of the gorge kept us from taking more photos, or scouting for that matter.
The canyon opened up quite a bit on the way to the take-out.


This ended up being a great trip, and I will always remember this gorge as one of the most beautiful places I have been.