Return to Chili: part 2

Sorry, it took more then a couple of days to finish the report...We had a couple of cold beers in Pucon... Pucon has changed a lot over the years. The keywords now are outdoor and adventure. A lot of kayakers around as well. From all over the world, paddlers find their way to Pucon. In the last issue of KAYAK Session, local kayak hero Rodrigo Tuschner describes Pucon as: 'the ideal one stop kayaker's destination' and 'it is a sleepy mountain town that springs to life during the southern hemisphere summer and is considered the gateway to Chilean / Argentinean Patagonia'. I totally agree!!! There is even a brand new kayak guide book: Pucon White Water Kayak, written and published by Rodrigo. Check out his web-site www.kayakpucon.net if you are interested in ordering this high-quality guide for steep creeking around Pucon.

Back to paddling. We drove towards the Argentinean border and paddled the Puesco-section of the Rio Trancura, one of the classic runs of the region. Steep creeking, boulder rapids, boofs and easy scooting. At the take-out you will find a nice bar/restaurant where they serve cold beer and good food. The fun-part of the day was that, at the take-out, we met long-time-no-see-friend-for-life Kees and Iwan from Holland with their Silver-Sport-Lada. Kees just re-entered Chili, coming back from the Futa.
Next day we had a relax day on the Maichin; beautiful scenery and a not to hard river.
Time to head a little more south, Pico was running out of time since he had to catch a plane back to Dubai. Unfortnately it started raining. The Llancahue was running high, grey-brown- coloured water, but was worth a paddle. We could not complete the whole stretch due to the rising water. A perfect excuse to come back another time. I'm curious how the river looks like further upstream and downstream? Probably a lot more waterfalls to be found. (note: recently pictures from upstream have been published, respect!!!)
Another classic run is the Fuy-river. The take-in is at the outflow of the Lago Pirihueico in Puerto Fuy. The Fuy was running high as well. Nice and long rapids, and lots of gradient. The Salto Leona was, once again, the high-light of the run. This is one of my favourites!

We continue heading south, towards the Futaluefu. On our way down we hear from different sources that the Futa is running high. We can't wait! On the way towards the ferry in Hornopiren we paddle a part of the Cochamo. I wish we had more time to hike up the valley with horses. Anyway, we paddled a minor part of Cochamo and we are hoping to get back one day.
Futa:
Yep, the Futa was running high! It was big fun. The play-section, Casa the Piedra and Terminator were paddled in record-time. Big waves, big stoppers and big fun. Unfortunately we did not manage to paddle the Inferno-canyon. Road-construction created some new and sharp rapids. Maybe, when the water gets lower that it can be paddled again.

On the way up to Chaiten we paddled the Michimahuida, another local-beauty; volume-creeking.
It was worth coming back to Chili. The beauty and diversity of the country and its rivers make it a unique paddle/travel-destination. I know I need to go back, still to many rivers to be paddled. Creeking around Pucon in november, paddling Patagonia in february, ...

Steven Van den heuvel