Futaleufu River Rafting in Patagonia
Thu Feb. 13, 2014
Dan & Russ
Left Jax for Futaleufu river trip, Patagonia, Chile. Partly cloudy ~ 50F at Jax. Fastest check in I've seen. Few people at American Airlines check in counter and no waiting at TSA, so we ended up at Jax gate in 15 minutes.
Flying JAX -> MIA -> Santiago -> Puerto Monte -> Chaitén Chile.
Fri Feb. 14, 2014
Arrived at Santiago, Chile ~6:30am. Lots of lines to go thru: first, reciprocity pay $160 fee, next passport control, then customs, last back thru long line to drop off luggage to check in to Puerto Monte. 3 hour layover for flight then taxi to Puerto Varas. Beautiful hotel. Cumbres on lake with view of volcano. Temperature high 70's F. Sunny skies. Met group of 7 total going on the trip with us. Another much larger group going separately. (glad not that one!) Excellent dinner of seafood.
Sat Feb 15, 2014
Took flight in 9 passenger single prop plane from Puerto Monte to Chaiten. Weather great, clear skys, calm flight. Airstrip gravel! Walked around town, ate great huge lunch variety of meats: sausages, chicken, plus bowl of huge mussels and soup. Bus ride to hike to glacier overlook, Hard! but good weather. Arrived at camp at dusk. Beautiful location by Fu river. Full moon tonight.
Sun Feb 16, 2014
Lots of white water today! Tough training course. Had to flip raft falling into the water and then climb back on. Then had to self rescue by jumping into water, floating down stream to raft. I totally pooped out, bad shape even though I had worked out every day for several months. Huge rapids! On one, one person got knocked out of the raft and had to float downstream to be rescued. I was worn out from day! Now at cave cam, just at dusk. Zzzzz.
Mon Feb 17, 2014
Cave camp hike up to Tree House. Rope traverse over the river then long hard hike up hill 1700ft elevation climb over 3 miles to TreeTop camp. Hardest hike I've ever done! Tired out! Stayed overnight at treetop. Treehouses were very nice, though plain open air. Group talked for hours around camp fire. excellent menu of steaks cooked over campfires. Lost my hat along trail and sunglasses along river traverse. Dan took much longer to arrive up mountain. Last one up. He gave a "star show" after dark.
Tue Feb 18, 2014
Hike down from Tree House faster but very tiring. Then a zip line and drop into river. But I took the raft across. No swimming for me - just too tired. After lunch did a rock climb up 40ft wall and then a 300ft !! repel down cliff. No problem for me or Dan, but exhausting. Some others had very hard time walking over the edge as it was their first repel. Pasta dinner at cave camp for the night. Saw Southern Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds and Southern Cross. So exhausted!
Wed Feb 19, 2014
Rafted several class II IV and then trained on rubber duckies for tomorrow. Easy day as we were in camp by 3:30p. Same camp as the first day. Had guitar music in the evening. Still excellent weather all week. The sky was excellent at night.
Thu Feb 20, 2014
Used duckie boats down some class II III rapids. Dan & I then road the main pontoon boat while others used duckies over class IV rapids. Most flipped but were rescued by us and other trip guides. Had lunch by an old cable car anchor. I came back to terminator camp, while rest went on canyoning walk. Very nice to just relax, take photos, and nap. Lasagna for dinner. Big day of rapids tomorrow. Weather still excellent. 70F and sunny.
Fri Feb 21, 2014
Last day on river. Huge rapids but no problems. Fun! This is quite a river! I rode on a paddle boat that had a metal frame mounted on pontoons. 4 people and guide. Afterward back at camp we had roast lamb on a spit from local farmer. Excellent and fun group. We head back in AM.
Sat Feb 22, 2014
Long school bus ride, then flights back home.
