We were now back in Santiago waiting for Will Young to arrive for 3 weeks of kayaking, road tripping and adventures in Chile. After a fantastic season in Austria this was our first of 2 Adventure Kayaking Trips had here in Chile.
It was a 8 hour blast down the Ruta 5 or the Pan American Highway to Pucon, the adventure capitol of Chile and a kayaking mecca! We had bought a new truck and with a new roof rack fitted we were on our way to the rivers.
We got the cobwebs out of Will’s journey with a big water run down the Lower Trancura, followed by one of our favourite rivers around Pucon - the stunning Rio Maichin.
We decided to leave the waterfalls for the end of the trip, so we started our journey south. Our ultimate goal was to reach the Futaleufu in Patagonia but first we had some sweet rivers and a few kilometres of driving to get there.
The first stop was the Rio Fuy with its amazing water colours. Pouring out of the lake the river was still quite high, the lower section is relatively short and at this water level also really quick giving us some sweet laps on the pushy water.
Another blast of the Rio Fuy in the morning and then we made the short journey to the Rio San Pedro. With some of the clearest water I have ever seen at the put-in we kayaked down, surfing and playing on some sweet waves.
It was not long before the river started to pick up and with steeper drops and more volume being added along the way it proved to be a great training ground for Will.
The Rio San Pedro gets recognised as a mini mellow Futaleufu and it can easily be understood just why, the last third of the river has some big waves and pushy rapids.
It was a long day kayaking both rivers and now it was a 3 hour drive to the village of Ensenada. The views were stunning once we came off the Ruta 5. The Osorno Volcano was very imposing and the closer we got to Ensenada the more impressive Osorno got!
The next day we met up with Fredy and kayaked the Rio Petrohue. It is another river that is fed from a lake and again with clear water and the most stunning views of the Osorno Volcano. It seemed as though around every corner there was another chance to capture the volcano with a kayaker!
Ute was loving this river with its big waves and plenty of rapids and Will even managed to get a sweet surf near the end..
We celebrated that evening with a few bottles of Chilean red wine and a bbq by the shores of Lake Llanquihue.
The following day we were heading to the Rio Puelo
Steve
Kayak School Arlberg
www.gokayaking.at
