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Argentina
& Chile
Some people love big
water and
some do not. It's an uncommon style of whitewater, with few big water
rivers containing gradient left free flowing. The feeling of control is
not the same as on a creek.
We split into two groups, one car headed north and a few of us staying here to bask in the chaotic power of the Baker. Having run the first two gorges a couple times we know it's time to see what is downstream. We can't find much beta about the third canyon of the Baker. While the road is near the first two canyons, it climbs high around the third section. We scour the internet, contact friends and come away with some basic beta. The first rapid is good, the second a portage. The fourth rapid is blind and must be run somewhere on the right. Good enough for us.
We split into two groups, one car headed north and a few of us staying here to bask in the chaotic power of the Baker. Having run the first two gorges a couple times we know it's time to see what is downstream. We can't find much beta about the third canyon of the Baker. While the road is near the first two canyons, it climbs high around the third section. We scour the internet, contact friends and come away with some basic beta. The first rapid is good, the second a portage. The fourth rapid is blind and must be run somewhere on the right. Good enough for us.
Rain every night.
A young caballero prepares for the day.
At take out river levels are...still unknown to us.
Looking back upstream the third gorge of Rio Baker is immense.
Wild lands in Patagonia.
The wind is relentless, Yoshi Takahashi finds a nice way to escape.
Soon enough we are
reunited
and float to the first rapid. It's a strange affair, really more a long
series of big boils than a standard rapid.
Yoshi Takahashi and Rok Sribar
heading
into the first rapid.
Rok and Yoshi know not to go
near the
walls, they are very scary.
Rok Sribar scouts another Baker classic.
Yoshi Takahashi flies over a wave in the same.
Rok Sribar enjoys a glorious final to the Rio Baker.
Yoshi Takahashi heading into the glory.
Yoshi is in that mess of whitewater.
A beautiful moment of sun on at the ferry take out.
A place so vibrant it gives the impression of a chimera.
Slovenia, America and Japan in Patagonia.
Headwaters on the drive out.
One last look at the river of dreams. I could spend weeks here.
Rok Sribar and Yoshi Takahashi
exit the
first rapid.
That wasn't so bad. We paddle
around the
corner and see the gorge really starts here. We exit early on the left,
not wanting to drop into anything nasty. Nasty it is, around the corner
the Rio Baker drops through a thirty foot wide notch. Pure chaos, water
exploding, boils surging ten to fifteen feet up the walls. Maybe you'd
just go through? Maybe not? None of us feel like taking that risk.
Yoshi and I decide to run the lead in and eddy out in the big eddy at
the lip.
Arnd Schaeftlein has the first and only descent of this rapid, and believe me a still image does it no justice.
Arnd Schaeftlein has the first and only descent of this rapid, and believe me a still image does it no justice.
Coming through the lead in
it's obvious
we've underestimated even this. Typical of the Baker, features that
look benign from above are powerful on the water. Coming into the eddy
a boil rises up and rejects us. We swirl on the edge of the eddy, I may
just have to turn around and run this one. After a minute of sitting on
the edge a surge lets me get into the eddy. That felt like an eternity.
A
little helmet cam of the eddy action. Perhaps boring to watch
if
you don't understand what almost happened.
We quickly portage the rapid and Yoshi scouts the next rapid. He comes
back with a big smile and a picture on his waterproof camera. We scout
from the rear LCD, the rapid looks fantastic, just stay left of the
holes.
Rok Sribar scouts another Baker classic.
It's hard to understand the
size of
these beauties, Rok Sribar and Yoshi Takahashi are in there somewhere.
Yoshi Takahashi flies over a wave in the same.
Rok Sribar and Yoshi
Takahashi cruise
through above the must run rapid.
With vertical walls
on both
sides it's obvious that we are entering the must run rapid. Right of
center right? It's a nice wave train and one of the easiest of the
river, quite a relief. Scouting the last rapid we're at an obvious end
of the third gorge.
Rok Sribar enjoys a glorious final to the Rio Baker.
Yoshi Takahashi heading into the glory.
Yoshi is in that mess of whitewater.
A beautiful moment of sun on at the ferry take out.
A much longer day than the
first section
of the Rio Baker, we can't stop expressing how glad we are to have
experienced the third gorge too. If and when the Baker is impeded by a
dam, this third gorge will be gone forever. It's a magical place and
certainly not as scary as it feels when you look upstream at the gorge.
Our time here is coming to an end, Yoshi has to fly home from an
airport a day north of here. We return to the cabin for one last night
and put a quick morning lap on the first gorge.
Water color like no other; Rio
Baker.
A place so vibrant it gives the impression of a chimera.
Slovenia, America and Japan in Patagonia.
Headwaters on the drive out.
One last look at the river of dreams. I could spend weeks here.