Four more Rivers in Chile

Since our epic journey down the Rio Claro our group has continued to kayak our way down south.  Following the Claro, our team headed south to the Rio Nuble, where we had a beautiful day of paddleing on a big water class 3-4 stretch of river.  The scenary was outstanding, with clear blue warm water, snow covered mountains surrounding, and a sweet hike out through rural farm country and sheep.

After the Rio Nuble, we headed down the volcanic wonderland of the Rio Laja, near the Vulcan Antuco.  The Laja was extreamly scenic, with the river starting at the mouth of a lava tube spewing water out into the river.  The Laja was cold and steep (and it was late in the day), so only two group members ran the short 3 mile section to the lake.  That night the weather changed for the worse, and we endured a good rain storm that lasted through the next few days.

The next day our team packed up the boats in the truck and headed down to the rio Bio Bio to look to get on a classic river before it is completly locked up by dam construction.  Upon our arrival at the Bio Bio, we entered a hurrican force storm, with driving rain and wind.  Instead of paddling, we opted to sit in hotsprings for the remainder of the day, (along with some rowdy chilian friends), to weather out the rest of the storm.  We spent the night in a small cabin rather than outside to avoid blowing away with the storm.

The next day we awoke to slightly improved, (but cold), weather, and drove a short distance to a tributary of the Bio Bio, called the Rio Queco.  The Queco was a awsome classic class 4 run, with great rapids, and scenery, and the recent rain storm had helped bump our flow up to around 4000cfs, making it a quick exciting day with fast rapids and big holes.  We took off the river extreamly satisfied, and headed south in the truck to the Rio Cautin.

We camped in a gorgeous setting, amid cattle ranches and snow covered mountains, and spend the night trying to keep our wet firewood aflame.  In the morning we headed down the mountain to the Cautin and ran the 6 mile stretch of class 3 and 4, in a jungle-like setting, but with extreamly cold water.  Everyone was chili at the end of the day, so we decided to stop by Hans´ place (Andenrose) at take out for hot chocolate, food, and soup.

We are now back in Curacatin, and are headed down to the rio Trufultruful for our last stop on the way to Pucon.  Enjoy some photos.