Billy-Bob Harris (aka Guido, our trip organizer and lead man, who also happens to be a top Canadian kayaker) delivered and in no small amount. Our Guido did a great job; coping with everything from transmission trouble on the big Suburban on a road trip to female mood swings to driving us around in the wee morning hours, to just coping gracefully with my own excessive behavior... My Sahib turban goes to Billy-Bob.
The group of 8 paddlers and 2 guides was often split in 2 to cater to the different skills/head space levels. Billy/Guido was taking the "B" team on class II/III runs and teaching at the same time. While Kurt Casey (local guide who opened a great many runs in the 20 years he has been there) stretched the envelope of the more advanced group.
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| Leah and Lenny in the back on a calm section |
For those just green with envy, hopefully this long blog entry and Billy's own will have you salivate.
You can expect Billy to run a similar trip next year, but do not expect a copy of the same trip; it will be different runs and all new adventures...
Let's start with a quick presentation of the players:
- Billy Harris, (aka Billy-Bob or even better Guido!) head honcho and organizer.
- Kurt Casey (aka Mister-knows-it-all - and yes he does) our local kayak guide and translator.
- Chuck McDonald (aka Chuck Meister, aka Mr Bush), old fart who will die a martyr and a saint thanks to Billy-Bob, hoping every day Guido will get a real job and deliver a grand kid, but otherwise getting younger every day now.
- Leah (aka Princess Leah) formely Miss Ben Wilder
- Wayne (aka José), that is Leah's Han Solo.
- Leonard (aka Lenny) team boat anchor and quiet comic relief.
- Sandra (aka the Merkin Princess) my excellent room and CdB club mate.
- Marie-Eve (aka Frenchy) the acting teen on the team, always ready to dive head first or go out late at night.
- Christo, the surfer/climber/leadership consultant and our main barometer and comic relief.
- Myself (aka Sahib) time keeper and Guido's nemesis, always dressed for the occasion.
- David Hughes, our host down there. Pucon Kayak Hostel/Hughes Experience/etc owner, general good guy and local pimp for teen canuks.
Moving on to a bit of a diary:
Feb 5: get to airport at 10h30 and depart to Chile. Landed in Miami where I hooked up with Sandra. Naturally, I didn't even follow my own plan and it took us 1.5hr to hook up... Next, overnight flight on nice LAN airplane to Santiago.
Feb 6: Landed and went through Chilean customs, paid the Immigration fee of 132$us. Move to the other terminal; bit of a maze. I had to jettison the remaining food I had brought in prevision to the poor food service at AA. Arrived in Temuco, bargained a taxi hop to the bus station to Pucon thanks to Sandra's Spanish skills. Got in Pucon, found the local bus stop toward Caburgua. Jumped off at the right spot thanks to the good instructions from David's PKH website and about 30 hours after leaving home sweet home, we are now at our destination. Prep a Nomad.
The Nomad is a typical Dagger kayak, made for creeking with 79 gal and has the typical high cockpit lid ending in a single lip that has the tendency to wedge itself in-between 2 vertebrae.
Feb 7: Lower Rio Trancura (III)
Getting used to Nomad - flater/catchier tail, needed a lot of additional padding on the outside knees to make it somewhat comfortable.
Billy had a number of things to to do, but squeezed in this first Chilean run for Sandra and I with the Chuck Meister. Beautiful scenery. Water is not too cold, just fresh. Volcano in the back drop.
We're in Chile, baby!
That evening , in Pucon, we came across Leah and Wayne and got them on board for the next day's volcano climb - they didn't know what they were getting into...
Pucon is a touristic city, jammed pack in the summer evenings with long car delays after 18h00.
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| Nice scenery on the Lower Trancura |
Feb 8: Climbed the Villarrica volcano - no small picnic walk. Billy-Bob woke up before 6h00 to get us into town - thanks Billy! Every participants was attributed crampons, ice axe, helmet, shell and over-pants and a butt sized crazy carpet. Too much wind for chair lift, so we had to walk it all.
Saw 4 condors. Sulfur swifts on whirl of wind had immediate effect to breathing.
We could see several others volcanoes around. The glide down on the butt was fun and _fast_.
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| The slide down was much more fun and way fast. |
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| 2800m of volcano ready to erupt. |
Feb 9: Rio Machin (IV)
Our first run with Kurt and a great creek run through boulder fields in a tight canyon.
This run is a must-do.The rough start with a log jam at 1st rapid got Kurt completely worried with an unknown crew. The huge tree trunk was part of the original bridge way up over our heads and must have fell on the last earth quake - these quakes are quite frequent; we had a 6.8 and a 6.1 near by. Several nice boulder sections. After a mandatory portage of a deadly section, I did a nice 15ft pencil seal launch for re-entry. We all did the so called crux section - although Leah flipped and recovered. On the last rapid, all walked but I, I opted to run it left side away from the crunchy hole - exit on 2nd channel. The tid bit of climbing they did seamed more dangerous and a lot more work then my pleasant run of the left side.
This was followed by a very narrow and deep canyon, with the walls spotted with drips and tiny waterfalls and several bird of prey nests on the last wall. On the last soft section, we saw locals bathing playfully including a boy with diving mask at the take out; we played with them a bit... Kurt hopped on his mountain bike to fetch the Suburban while we ate sandwiches and enjoyed the sun. The bamboo is a strange and amazing plant; my engineering brain is intrigued.
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| I think I saw Billy-Bob naked over there. |
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| Lenny on the crux section |
Feb 10: Rio Truful Truful (continuous III)
Long trek today; Suburban bearing/transmission failure - Billy-Bob/Kurt got local Oscar (nice man) to carry kayak in his big open truck. Learning a few Spanish words riding in cab with him. On the way back, he showed my his house.
The drive to the put-in goes through a national park that was wiped by the last lava flow. The road was bulldozed over at a few spots to uncover the road. Talk about a lunar expedition. Leaving the truck and Oscar, we hiked through an old lava field that made us feel what the burgers must be feeling in my BBQ. Interestingly enough, the rocks spread around us looked exactly like the rocks I have in my BBQ...Was I dreaming or we were being cooked for some Chilean god?
Truful means waterfall in Mapuche and since they do not have a plurial form in their language, you have to repeat the word twice. Truful Truful indeed has several drops at the end, past our take-out.
Marie-Eve swam twice - once under my care - gulp, sorry girl. The second time was at the big corner under the majestic basalt crystal wall. She ran that beautiful section upside down, hitting a few big rocks on her way down. Too much for her. We should have had the Dynamic Duo for her. Kurt and Marie bailed out.
After this first section, a long unending class II/III; then the angle sharpen and finishes with a more than sturdy 20-25ft waterfall that was not inviting. Came back to the PKH at 9h30pm that day. Want more adventures???
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| The differential acted up on the way to Truful Truful |
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| Pickle in a bag! How amazing! |
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| Not everyday you get to play for the President |
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| Hot Cookie |
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| One Frenchy girl coming down |
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| Why this is called Truful Truful |
Withe the long day yesterday, we had a slow start and the "K" team went for a local run.
More poll and drop. Ends right before the bridge, at the PKH.
The first major drop was a fairly straight forward 8ft ledge down a steep vein. I flipped and rolled back.
The next rapid was scaring me: fairly long and steep with a big hole 2/3rd in and the a last hole that was in fact not much after all. I must have veered off course a bit and ended up at the edge of the hole and got swallowed; I offered a solid brace but slid further into the hole to the "Catcher's Mitt" and got violently flipped. I had my camera on attached to my back deck pod for those 2 drops. Shows interesting video of me flipping like a coin. Ended backward near the last lip. Leah, from the shore, helped me point in the right direction again as this was an uneasy spot and off I went.
Next was a big folding (Fea) drop with a big rock on the right side. I took my pod down, anticipating a beating. But I had the best line of the group and didn't even get wet...
Next came Salto del Mariman. On the prelude to that big drop, we did a semi boof that I slopped, then off the boat to skip that strong 25 footer. As we were walking it, some peruvian kid styled it while working security for a rafting company operating regularly on the Upper Trancura. On to the final section and the Last Laugh that got Leah pretty good.
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| Leah vs the Rock on the Last Laugh |
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| Nice bar for the upper granola society |
Feb 12: Turbio (waterfall practice)
This was our big rainy day. Not to let this disturb us, we went for a boofing and waterfall study and practice and the rest of the group went for a boofing/run practice on the Lower Liacura I believe.
Wet day. We did a lot of walking, a good technical talk on how to launch and how to land based on the waterfall conditions. Checking the foam pile and under cuts. Then hurried up through 4 little run of a 2m drop to test that out. Time to exit and get the B team. Not the best day.
Feb 13: Lower Fuy (III)
Start of the Fuy road trip. Long drive to Fuy area through dirt roads then went down the Lower Fuy (III). I filmed all the way down to a bridge where we waited for Leah where she adjusted her boat. For this road trip we stayed at the Hotel Rucapillan from where they also support a rafting operation.
Breakfast were rough with that infamous traditional hockey puck bread and everyone dreaming of the great breakfasts served at the PKH. Dinners were good. Chilean eat a lot of meat. Cereals are not very popular, except for kids apparently with that extra load of sugar and funky shapes.
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| Sandra after the Lower Fuy |
Feb 14: Upper Fuy (IV+, waterfalls and boulders fields)
We all started the day by driving over to the Baobab Hotel to reserve our dinner for the next evening and have a look at the main 3m waterfall. The Baobab Hotel is a strange place to say the least. The waterfall impressive and the start of the most difficult section of the Upper Fuy; that was a tough run.
The K team shrunk to Leah, Wayne and I and was led by Billy, this time, who had done that river the year before.
A good chunk of flat water lead into a long III/IV broken section, into the main meat of the day; 5 waterfalls spread by good class III/IV segments opening with a solid 9m waterfall followed by a 3m one. A bit more boulder garden class III/IV leads in to a river wide ledge with a retentive hole at the bottom.
That main drop (Salto La Leona, 28 footer/9m) had a nice approach to the deadly horizon. Billy styled it. I broke my nice all carbon Select paddle on entry, but still managed to roll with a remaining half paddle.
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| Bibi entering Salto La Leona |
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| Good feel for how high 28ft are. |
Thankfully, Billy had a spare break down paddle for the rest of the day. We all hopped the following 12 ft (3m) drop and drifted through the boulder field and the river wide ledge; on the way down, Wayne decided to spend some quality time in a small hole. Now at the lead in to the river wide ledge, "This is the most dangerous part and just don't miss your boof...". Great pep talk, Guido... Gulp! I went full speed and did the required boof. Wayne followed, but Leah struggled with a late and timid boof stroke and swam. Billy got her out before being swallowed. All is good. Stressed out but good.
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| Another waterfall on the Upper Fuy by Wayne |
Well, by this time, Leah, Wayne and I were phasing out, but more solid class IV boulder field was waiting for us. Wayne and I got tricked by one particular boulder, he managed to rolled back while I struggled upside down speeding up toward the last big 16 feet drop.
Bail! Bail! Bail! Ouf...not a pretty swim, but better than that retentive 16 footer. My kayak went for it and got stuck into a sieve just below acquiring a nice puck in the process...collection time.
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| Good sieve kept my kayak close by |
Leah went for that last 16 footer and got sucked back in. Rope went flying and got her out. Her Little Hero enjoyed the shower so much, it stayed there for over 24 hours.
After a few failed attempt to retrieve it, we organized a graceful exit... Thanks to Billy we are still in one piece but the learning was hard. Bed time...
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| Banana suited Billy-Bob Harris going kayak fishing... What do you use for bait? |
Huilo Huilo has 2 big waterfalls in the 90ft range; Huilo Huilo and Puma (about 80) that have never been run. Some very nice very tight and tortuous basalt gorges just above - a la Rio Claro.
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| Baobab hotel, a mix of Swiss Family Robinson and Ewok Architects had too much Pisco Sour |
Feb 16: San Pedro (big water III with a IV rapid)
Packed up and left the Fuy area; we drove over to Rio San Pedro on nice new paved roads. They are building a dam on the Rio San Pedro and we might have been the last team kayaking down this big water river. This is mostly a Class III river with long flat sections with a beautiful scenery. Evidence of the dam work in progress could be witnessed.
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| Waiting for car shuffling for the San Pedro |
Trickery Kurt had one big surprise hiding in his sleeve; one of the rapids was clearly a solid notch above and everyone got a run for their money. "What the f...!".
End results; 4 swimmers. Stripped the camera threads on my XP10 on a solid encounter with the main boulder restricting the exit. Duh!!! Slightly shaken and unhappy with my results and self-rescue, I went back again through that section with Kurt and Sandra. More class II/III rapids and flat sections led to the take out at a high concrete bridge with over 100 wooden steps to climb back up to the Suburban with the heavy kayaks. "Mommy? My legs hurt...". I think I slept most of the drive back to PKH.
We did stop on the way to free some space in Kurt's beer heavy bladder. This led to a talk and presentation from a farming family with a pair of strong Belgian horses.
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| Down to earth farmer with wierdo gringo Kurt |
Feb 17: Upper Palguin (class IV+, waterfall run)
David Hughes joined us on the Upper Palguin and provided excellent step by step instruction to go down that signature waterfall run near Pucon (a class IV+ run). This video shows a good run of it with; interestingly, the exact same kayaks seemed to be used in that video as the ones we used to for our trip. I think they were sold to David when they left.
After a steep hike deep into the canyon's bowels, we seal-launched from the natural arch into the start-up pool a good 10 feet below.
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| Seal launching to start off Upper Palguin |
I had good lines, but my IR skirt imploded twice - grrrr; once on the 2nd and then on the 3rd waterfall as well. I managed to rolled my kayak on the first pop with my kayak full of water. On the last drop - and the highest, 7m high - my skirt imploded again and I somehow managed to roll again, but my Nomad was full of water and was being sucked deeper and deeper in the middle between the 2 waterfall flows in true Malaxer fashion. That wasn't too funny. Made me feel I need a much better skirt...
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| The last drop on Upper Palguin |
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| Taken by Sandra from way above at the edge of the canyon |
We returned to the PKH and I then had 1 hour to dry my material, eat, pay the bills, say bye bye and pack up before we left for Temuco.
Local Culture
The Mapuche have been in the area for a long time; they pushed back the Inca and then later the Spaniards. Although they formed a quiet nation, they didn't like to be invaded and resisted invasion for centuries. The area is called Araucania from the name of some of the oldest trees on the planet - the Araucaria - also known as Pehuén by the Mapuches.
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| Araucaria: 2nd oldest tree genus |
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| Straight from a Sponge Bob Square Pant cartoon |
Those trees are very strange; they look like a mix between a Pine tree and a Blow fish.These columnar trees are living fossils, dating back to early in the Mesozoic age. The female cones can be up to 25cm in diameter and were a main source of food for the Mapuches.
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| Ex-President Bush, son-in-law Billy-Bob, Crazy Cristo, Frenchy Marie and Merkin Princess |
All those volcanoes are also offering a few perks.
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| Thermales Geometrica |
And yup, this was our local guide...
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| Will paddle for free beer - good man! |
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