The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 98
Fun fact:
Chile has one of the longest coastlines in the world, but also
one of the smallest at being 6,500km long and 200km wide.
ThePaddler 98
The following day we explore the town and then
go to buy a ferry ticket. At this point we are told
(after a long and difficult Spanish conversation)
that the ferry actually leaves from a place six
hours drive south of here. We would have to buy
a ticket from the office there and then and the
ferry was departing in six and half hours. At this
point we decided it was getting to risky, there was
too much chance of getting lost and missing the
ferry, thereby losing our money. Really we just
wanted to go paddling, so we turned Black City
Car around and headed back to Pucon.
After a day of paddling and licking our wounds
another idea had percolated: the Rio Claro, a fair
drive north of Pucon. Since I have always wanted
to paddle this river I jumped at the chance. Our
crew was now one bigger with the addition of
Canadian Sara-Jane Daub. An extra person in our
tiny car meant we would all have to travel light.
A sleeping bag each and two tents fill the tiny
boot of Black City Car. Our paddling gear is
tightly packed into our boats. I suggest we try
and stay light weight and so leaving almost all of
my belongings locked at the hostel I pack only
one change of underwear, my toothbrush and of
course my ski suit.
The drive to the Rio Claro takes Black City Car
around 11 hours and we arrive at nearly 3am.
After hastily assembling our tents we hunker
down for some sleep. When morning comes we
negotiate a deal with the local hostel for a few
night’s stay and breakfast and dinner. Then we
suit up and head to the river. The first section we
head to is the 22 Teacups section.
An hour of hiking gets us to the put on of one of
the most (If not the most) beautiful rivers I have
ever been to. Crystal clear blue water allows you
to see all the way to the bottom and the river
bends through a narrow, steep gorge with many
fun drops and chutes. At the first bigger drop, no
more than two minutes into the run, Sara breaks
her paddle. With no way to climb out and no
break down paddle, I give her my paddle and use
her half paddle for the rest of the run. This
definitely made the run somewhat more sporty!
We spend our other days exploring the other
sections of the river and enjoying the sunny
weather and daily blue skies. Paddling the
Garganta el Diablo waterfall (The mouth of the
Devil). A perfect 180 degree downward slide into
20ft of freefall. Kind of like getting violently
flushed down a toilet. We explore the seven
teacups section further downstream and are lead
to the wrong place to put on, which leads to an
hour and a half of bush whacking, one sketchy
abseil, one assisted climb back up, a lot of lining
boats up and down until we eventually made our
way to the correct put on. All of the sections were
a similar character, narrow steep gorge walls and
crystal clear blue water, and clean fun waterfalls.
S
New crew, new
same great Chi
All Chile trips rely on two key ingredients a vehicle and a
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