Rivers of Chile

Rio Rininahue is just down the road from Salto del Nilahue. It also flows into Lago Ranco. Usually, this river has extremely high flow for its micro gorge character all summer long. Best run very late summer. 1st descented February 2008, which was a low water year, by myself and Evan Garcia. We estimated [...]

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 by jared
Filed under: chile, class 5, waterfalls | No Comments »

Located south of Pucon in the Lake District. Rio Nilahue flows into Lago Ranco. The river only has one drop a Park n Huck 60 ft sloping waterfall. The falls changed recently making the drop more runnable. 1st descented by LJ Groth and Trip Jennings before the geological change. Previous drop was a 50+ foot boof [...]

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 by jared
Filed under: chile, class 5, waterfalls | No Comments »

Located in the Maule region. Rough road to the put-in where the entire river comes from a tunnel. Put-in Notice the water from the tunnel coming in from river right. Picture taken looking downstream.Put in beauty Great boogie class five rapids. One big river wide 6ft ledge hole about 1/3 of the way down. Scout and portage right. [...]

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 by jared
Filed under: chile, class 5 | No Comments »

The Rio Gol Gol, if you can deal with the heinous culiwachos during the summer months(similar to horse flies), is in my opinion the best bang for your buck waterfall run in Chile. Easy put-in on the border of Argentina, literally at the border. Drops in order.  1st drop Salto de Novios(overlook from the road) [...]

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 by jared
Filed under: chile, class 5, waterfalls | No Comments »

Max Blackburn running Salto de Alerces on the Rio Manso Argentina.The Rio Manso about 300 km south of Bariloche is located within Los Alerces National park. You have to pay to enter the park during the day. Park Rangers leave around 5 pm, after which you can sneak by. Pay camping and free camping within [...]

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 by jared
Filed under: argentina, class 4, class 5, waterfalls | No Comments »

Getting to the Maule can be very confusing but the rewards are worth it. The Maule features warm water and 21 km of class 3-5 whitewater with a big water feel. Located in Chile’s 7th region the Maule is a good run to help break up the drive for kayakers in transit from Santiago to [...]

Posted on February 8th, 2008 by kurt casey
Filed under: Region VII, chile, class 4, class 5 | No Comments »

The Espolon is a mellow float with some occasional play and spectacular water quality. For 20 years the river has been a favorite training run for beginner kayakers visiting the Futaleufú area. With easy roadside access and close proximity to the town of Futaleufú the river sees a surprising number of visitors in the [...]

Posted on February 8th, 2008 by kurt casey
Filed under: Region X, chile, class 2, class 3 | No Comments »

The Futaleufú river is known globally for its big volume and furious rapids. Until people visit and get to know the area they are often unaware that more mellow sections of the river exist. For those groups traveling with children, fishermen, or beginning boaters the lower Macal stretch makes for a nice float.

Pablo, Diego, [...]

Posted on February 6th, 2008 by kurt casey
Filed under: Region X, chile, class 2 | No Comments »

The bridge to bridge section on the Lower Futaleufú is one of the funnest stretches of whitewater on earth. This section provides ample pushy, big volume, class 3-4 rapids. Due to an upstream dam in Argentina the water is warm (relative to other nearby Chilean Rivers)
Many kayakers running this section for the first are [...]

Posted on February 6th, 2008 by kurt casey
Filed under: Region X, chile, class 4 | No Comments »

The Azul is a nice class 2-3 run to do in the Futaleufu area. Access is relatively easy for put in and take out. The run is best done with water in early season (November/December) or after a heavy
rain. Local rafting outfits often take their clients on Ducky trips of the river and several [...]

Posted on February 6th, 2008 by kurt casey
Filed under: Region X, chile, class 2, class 3 | No Comments »