A Whitewater guide to the rivers of chile

Río Puesco

Tumbling off the flanks of the magnificent 3717 meter Volcan Lanin are the headwaters of Pucon’s Trancura River. While lower sections of the river close to Pucon see hundred’s of daily visitors from the numerous rafting companies, the upper reaches of the river are rarely explored.
At a distance of only 67 KM from Pucon is [...]

Rio Palguín (Upper)

The Upper Palguín is one of Chile’s premier waterfall runs. A partial first descent was made in February 1990 by John Foss and Christine Blask. Two years later John returned with Dave Black, John Mattson and Kurt Casey to complete the run. Today the river is a popular day trip with visiting kayakers to [...]

Ri­o Maichí­n

The crystal clear, iridescent waters of the Maichí­n are home to one of the Pucón area’s classic rivers. Set in an incredibly beautiful canyon the Maichí­­n has everything one could ask forsolid class 4/5 whitewater, excelent fishing, natural streambed, consistent flow, and easy access. Maichí­n in the local dialect of the Mapuche signifies “To make [...]

Ri­o Panqui

The Ri­o Panqui is another Pucon springtime waterfall run. Although the river is referred to by local gringo boaters as the “Spank-me”, the orgin of the name is derived from the local Mapuche language and means Puma. The river comes froma relatively low drainage so only runs in winter and spring or during the summer [...]

Rio Carhuello

This springtime gem is right in the Pucon area. It was first run until the winter of 1994 when locals Robby Dastin, Gigo Castillo and Rick Bravo made the initial exploration. Several days of rain are required make this small catchment runnable. The stretch that is commonly run is 4 km or less in length [...]

Rio Llancahue

Flowing off both the southern flanks of Volcan Villarica (2840 meters) and Volcan Quetrupillan (2360 meters) is the Rio Llancahue. The river is directly south of the town of Pucon on the opposite side of the volcano. Pronounced Yan-Cow-Weh the river derives its name from Mapudungo or the local Mapuche dialect. the meaning is “place [...]

Rio Nevado

The Rio Nevado is one of Pucon’s classic steep creek runs. The river cascades off the Picos del Caburgua (1952 meters) and forms one of the upper tributaries of the Liucura. The run is just outside of the border of the beautiful National Park Huerquehue. Once again it was local Robbie Dastin who sleuthed this [...]

Rio Plata

This seldom run, low volume steep creek enters Lago Villarica directly opposite Pucon. It only runs in the spring or after an intense prolonged summer storm. On some maps such as 1:50,000 Topo titled Lago Caburgua it is also called Rio Quilque.

Nate Elliot in Plata Canyon
The run was first pioneered by locals Robbie Dastin and [...]

Rio Desagüe

The Rio Desagüe (sometimes called Rio Carburgua) is another spring run in the Pucon area. In high water years it has water into early January but in low water years it can be gone by December 1st. the river is a tributary of the Liucura and its waters eventually enter Lago Villarica in Pucon. On [...]

Rio Turbio

The Rio Turbio is one of the Pucon areas spingtime gems. It is only minutes from town and provides action packed excitement.