Final Days of my Chilean Adventure

Like all good plans our plan to escape Pucon and head south was formulated in the early hours of the morning after a few drinks, not only this it was also the early hours of  new years morning. Much to the surprise of everyone and with a little help from a highly motivated Jakub we somehow managed to rally by 10am and set a beeline for the Florin river. Hopes for the river were high however expectations low as it had been 8 days since rain and typically water is gone after 4. We crossed our fingers regardless and after 3 hours of driving and an hour of navigation issues we found ourselves at the put in with more than enough water. The sun was shining and we were not in a rush so decided to chill and swim for the day then camp out at the put in ready to fire in the morning. Putting on in the blazing sun next morning we quickly realised the flow was on the high side of good and portaged the first major rapid, immediately below was a fun 20 foot slide a pool then a perfect 50-60.

Nick rolls off the lip

Jakub fires clean as always

Snapshot of myself about to begin the freefall!

We all fired with clean lines, nick gave himself a punch in the face however nothing serious enough to dampen the mood. Our limited beta on the river said either take out and walk up a steep hill immediately following the waterfall or continue downstream for super burly class 5 and roadside takeout. The choice was obvious so we continued onwards quickly to find the river canyon in to a must run 30 which flows round the and corner out of sight. Feeling fired up we nearly committed however decided to take the safe option and walk back up to the previous take out. With the limited paddling at high flow Rio Florin is still the goods and a highlight of my trip.

Over the next few days we found ourselves paddling a bunch of classic grade 3-4 due to uncooperative water levels and freedom camping on some stunning lakesides. Our next stop was to be the Rio Gol Gol! We were all fired up for this run after hearing so many good stories from everyone else who had visited. Upon arrival we saw immediately that it like most other things was running on the high side of good at exactly the same flow as on Grand Prix race day. Only myself and Jakub decided to put on and we had an epic run, another absolute favorite of the trip with 5 big volume pushy waterfalls all of which are good to go!
Next morning we rallied another quick lap then were joined by the others to run the "lower Gol Gol"  which we expected to be G3-4, this was the case to start with but it quickly steepened into big class 5 then huge 6+! Needless to say we walked a bunch but also paddled an amazing gorge and plenty of solid 4-5 it is a well worth while extension to the short standard Gol Gol run.

Myself flying of the first waterfall

Jakub disappearing over the lip of Princessa! 

Princessa! This waterfall is all class

Jakub punching through a burly weir on the lower section

The Gol Gol was the last of the solid paddling i managed on my trip, from here we ventured south towards the Cochamo however it was a big brown monster so we turned around and began back to pucon. Managing some relaxed trips down the San pedro, Fuy, Palguin and Trancura was not a bad way to finish such an epic adventure, not to mention the life styling and amazing freedom camping!

Freedom Camping at the magnificent Lago Ranco

Another stunning place to spend the night!

Especially when this is the view from my tent!

Five star tree house on the Fuy river

Salto the kayak hostel guard dog happy as ever regardless of his wounds!

Well that about raps up my trip, im back in NZ now working 8 hours a day behind a computer just dreaming of my next journy wherever it may take me. Thanks to everyone who helped out along the way it would not have been possible without you!

Stuck in the Pucon siphon!

So firstly don't get me wrong here Pucon is a beautiful place with amazing whitewater. However before setting out for Chile the one strongest pieces of advice i received was "do not get stuck in the Pucon siphon, there is much appeal in Pucon however the rest of Chile is just as good". Ignoring this piece of advice i found myself for a multitude of reasons spending well over half of my trip stuck in this paradise and in all honesty i am stoked!

After returning from futa we made it into Pucon with primo water levels after a solid week of rain and were fired up to rally those runs that had evaded us on our first week here. Immediately this fire died with Greg breaking his back on day one, following this i spent two days with Greg in Temuco hospital then returned solo to continue my trip here in Pucon. The next days flowed past in a blur containing a the Palguin race, Zac swimming above Mariman on the Trancura and losing his boat, Christmas and a high water day on Puesco which was amazing! All of this with virtually no photos, sorry i was having to much fun and rallying to fast to get my camera out. After this We went for a super fun high water double date on the Nevados and Middle Palguin.

Daphnee lines up one of the few "clean" drops on the Carhuello

All the troops helping greg into the ambulance immediately post accident!

A very clear reminder not to follow to close, this was not fun for either of us!

Another clear reminder to remember who is left to run and do not eddie out to early.

Late evening park and huck, Nicole coming through clean.

This late evening park and huck to celebrate Geoffs last day turned out to be a total shit show to say the least. Jakub ran first with super sick line, Nicole followed with an unfortunate deck implosion and her boat took off down stream. This left myself and Geoff at the top, Geoff ran clean but tossed his paddle and did not recover it till 100m downstream. This left just me I flopped the seal launch and found myself upside down floating quickly towards the lip, rolling up just in time to feel my stomach start to fall but backwards life was an unhappy place! Quickly i tossed my paddle back over my head, tucked and braced for impact. It was not good with a very violent ejection, luckily my boat washed into the eddie and i was not seriously hurt. My paddle disappeared down stream and both my knees were in relatively violent pain however we made it out all somewhat smiling and Nicoles boat rescued unscathed.

The next day following this epic i bussed back to Temuco to visit Greg and give him his gear so that he could fly home, by this time he had been discharged from hospital and insurance was paying for a 5 star hotel for us both until he flew home in two days time. Perfect, what an amazing place to recover for both of us after our unfortunate accidents!

Life has its funny ways of working out.

The amazing sunset out of the hotel window

Making my way once again back to Pucon i found myself with no gear except my camera rallying with a big crew to the Nevados. Everyone was fired up to run Demshitz drop, im a little gutted i missed out however still managed a good day roping into the lip to shoot pics.

Seth launching off the wall drop

Issac about to reconnect! 

Happy times, the boys share the stoke after 4 solid lines

The next day I made it back onto the water and straight back to the Palguin for redemption! This time life went according to plan, seal launch, paddle, begin falling, throw paddle, tuck, impact, roll up, Happy! Clean lines were had by all and this time it truely was smiles all round.

Jakub launching in, no turning back now.

Carson looking good at the lip.

Myself about to take the plunge

New years followed swiftly then a brief escape southwards for more classic boating! This brief escape did not last long as i am now sitting back in Pucon writing this and preparing to return home, one more update to come in the next week or so. keep posted!