The Rio Futaleufu...

The Rio Futaleufu…

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After bringing in the New Year with good friends and a fantastic fireworks display in Pucon, Ben Robson, Jean LeTulzo and I started our transit to the Rio Futaleufu. We had heard that it could be a bit of a pain to get down there but I figured since i had 11 days until my flight back to Ottawa we would a lots of time. We left from the JAC bus terminal in Pucon at 5:30 P.M. on January 1st, and headed to Puerto Montt where we would then jump on the overnight ferry down to Chaiten leaving at 11:30 P.M. We arrived in Puerto Montt at 11:00 P.M. and proceeded to carry all of our gear to the ferry terminal with just minutes to spare before departing. On the ferry we decided that instead of spending the night in the seats that did not recline we would rather sleep on the car platform between all the trucks and cars. We were woken up early (around 7 A.M) as the ferry was pulling into one of the ports before Chaiten and lowering the platform to allow the car we slept in front of to get off. We quickly packed up our sleeping bags and thermarests and decided to go to our seats for the remaining few hours. Once we arrived in Chaiten we found out that the only bus heading to Futaleufu would not be leaving for 2 days.

In May 2008, the eruption of the Chaiten Volcano caused lahar (mud slides) to flood the banks of the Blanco River. The river excavated a new course through Chaiten, completely destroying a significant part of it and causing the government to relocate and compensate the towns people. The town of Chaiten is now a complete ghost town and has only a small number of residents left there trying to rebuild.

We were very fortunate to be greeted by a man who spotted Ben’s Kayak when we got of the ferry, he offered to drive us to the Futaleufu for a fee to cover his gas costs etc… not having too much choice we agreed. As we were packing up our things into the van getting ready to start the 3 hour drive to Futaleufu I notice a sticker on the back of his van that I have seen before on the Ottawa River on a Kayak of a Chilean paddler I met on the Ottawa River this summer (Marcos Gallegos). I asked him about it and turned out that Marcos is his son (kayaking is such a small community and one of the many reasons why I love the sport).

We were dropped of at Cara Del Indio (a campground for kayakers located in-between the Bridge to Bridge section of the Rio Futaleafu) hoping that since we had no car we can get rides to the river with other kayakers staying there or with a rafting trip.

Our first day we were able to catch a ride to the Bridge to Bridge section with a raft trip and getting our 1st taste of the big river. At the takeout we ran into our German friends Anne and Maxi who we met in Pucon (and they had a truck!!!!)

The next day 9 of off (Jean {France}, Ben {NZ}, Maxi Siech{Germany}, Anne Hubner{Germany}, the 3 Swiss guys (Ron Fischer, Severin Haeberling, Simon Seeberger, Nini Bondhus{Norway} and myself) loaded into the truck and drove 40km to the town of Futaleufu where we put on to do a complete run of the Rio Futaleufu: including the Inferno Canyon, Throne Room, Terminator and the Bridge to Bridge taking out at the campground.
The next morning we finished the remaining few rapids that we didn’t get a chance to do the day before.

Jean and I had to leave on Friday morning as the only bus leaving from Futaleufu was then or on Monday (having my flight from Santiago on Tuesday this was not an option). We took the bus to Bariloche, Argentina where we had to spend 2 nights because there was no bus for Santiago and we found that going through Chile would be the best option. We had to take a 12 hour bus ride to Pucon (having to go through Ozorno and Valdivia) arriving in Pucon at 11:30PM on Sunday night. Being my last night I got persuaded to go to Mamas one last time before having to leave for another 12 hour bus ride back to Santiago for my flights back home (Santiago to Miami, Miami to Montreal, and then finally Montreal to Ottawa).

I has been an amazing month and I cannot wait to head back to Chile real soon…