The PaddlerUK magazine September 2015 issue 4 | Page 33

Darcy Gaechter

“I’ve paddled hundreds of rivers all over the world and
choosing one favourite was really tough. In the end I chose the
Oyacachi River in Ecuador. It’s not the hardest or even prettiest river
I’ve kayaked, but in terms of quality whitewater, consistency in
runnability and the smile factor at the take-out, the Oyacachi is hard
to beat.

Oyacachi
River,
Ecuador

“Whether Ecuador is experiencing ultra-low
river levels or flooding, the Oyacachi delivers.
It’s channelized enough to still provide fun
Class IV boogie and boofs galore at the lowest
of flows, and the river bed is wide enough to
accommodate all but the most massive of
floods. At super high water, the Oyacachi is
incredibly scary, but incredibly good to go
offering up some of the best and most
challenging big water paddling I’ve done.
“In addition to the normal run you’ve got the
Upper Oyacachi which is one of the most
over-looked and under paddled classic steep
sections of Ecuador. What Class V paddler
wouldn’t love two days of steep creeking with
an average gradient of 300-400 feet per mile?
Plus, the back drop is stunning rainforest
scenery, tropical birds and smooth granite
boulders.
“I love this river so much that I’ve convinced
Don to start guiding kayaking trips in Ecuador
again—this way I’ll get to run the Oyacachi at
least once a week!”

Check out our new guiding business – Global River Explorations
at www.globalriverexplorations.com

Photograph by Ian Buckley

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