Rio Claro (molina)

photo mike goglin//kayakers mira kodada, jakub sedivy



El Rio Claro is located east of Molina Chile. Molina lies in the heart of chiles wine country and is home to Gato Negro wine as well as great whitewater. There are about one hundred different "rio claros" in Chile so i refer to this one as the Molina Claro. El Rio Claro is one of the most beautiful places i have ever been with some of the best waterfalls any kayaker can dream of. This is a must run on any trip to Chile. There are many runnable sections to the claro but i will stick to the class IV-V upper parts.

There are a few distinct sections to the upper claro. From the top down, Veinte Dos Saltos, Cinco Tazas y el Garganta del Diablo, and Siete Tazas. All of these can be run individually or linked together. The river is best in Nov. and Dec. but can be run @ low water later. The water gauge is visual. To get here head east from Molina To Parque Ingles. This is a great place to stay for a few days with your choice of a littel hosteria or camping.

Veinto Dos Saltos: Class V. Length 2 k. The key to running this section is having the ideal water level and finding the right put in. The water should be medium-medium high. The take out is the bridge at the campground near the restaurant. Sounds vague but its clear once your there. Thats the easy part now finding the put in can be difficult but crucial because putting in to high could have disastrous results due to an unrunnable gnar death sieve cave dealio. There are two ways to get to the put in. One is walking up river right for an hour and a half or poaching the road that exists. Being the scumbag i am i prefer the later. We will use the restaurant at el parque ingles as our starting point. Here is a brief description written By Dave Hayes of New River Academy.


Let me add to this very vague description. drive toward molina from the restaurant at the take out a few hundred feet. take a right at the first road. you should see a wooden lift gate, cross under this and drive your jankey ass rental as far as you can. most likely you will be at the bottom of a very rocky section of road. park off the road and start walking up hill. At the top of this hill there are a few stumps about 1ft in diameter cut diagonally there is also a creek that is parallel to the road here. It may or may not have water depending on the time of year. Whatever the case is take a right turn off the road and over the creek into the woods for about 15 min. you will come to a creek bed 20ft across with about 8ft walls. the rocks are brown and tan. follow this creek bed down hill toward the river. This will bring you to a cliff with a small notch in it looking down at the river. what you are looking at here is the second rapid a 25 foot falls. the lip is about 6 ft wide and because your dirrectly above it the drop looks like its about 5ft tall, dont be deceived. Once you are positive you have found this rapid move up river out of the little creek. The easiest path to the river is right here. Use ropes to get down to the sand below and move upstream again. The put in here is either a sketchy seal launch above an L shaped 6ft ledge or have someone climb into the water and hand boats down. Now the fun begins.

photo mike goglin//kayaker mira kodada

This is the second drop. you can see the little notch above the waterfall where you should be looking down on this drop. You can boof the dog shit out of this drop. Run some boogie and you come to this beauty.


photo mike goglin// kayaker jakub sedivy

This drop is followed by a 12ft sloping ledge then some more boogie. You will soon come to the crux of the run an un scoutable un portageable 3oftr. I can't exactly remember what number rapid it is but i think its around 5??? It doesn't really matter though because you will know because it sounds big and it is. There is a great eddy under the cliff on river right and most of the current on river right as well. The line here at medium-med high h20 is to gently peel out of the eddy with very little speed and drift of the left part of the lip. You dont want to boof flat, plug the mo fo. Note this is not the line at lower water. There is a ledge about 5ft down that creates a lot of problems. I am not sure of this line at lower water.


The unscoutable unportagable 30ft crux // photo yo

Directly below this is a rapid is a right turn. In the words of Dave Hues you will enter this rapid and go "Oh shit, Oh shit but dont worry its all over soon." There is one more rapid to look for down stream and its a two part ledge. The left part of the second drop is a bit shallow so go right and keep your bow up. You will be at the bridge shortly after.

Cinco Tazas y Garganta del Diablo: Class V. The bridge @ the campground is the begining of this section. In my opinion this is the hardest section of the river because there are a few nasty sieves and the river becomes completely closed in with over hanging walls. There is some chance to scout by crossing the bridge to river left. This is also a great way to look at the "caricoal" (snail) rapid which was featured in the 2007 edition of kayak session magazine. If you decide not to run this rapid you will want to scout the take out above on river left before hand or run all the way through to siete tazas. This take out is two rapids above caricoal, below a 12ft ledge with a strong tongue on the left and directly above a ski jump looking rapid. It is easy to identify this rapid because you are obviously committed to the gorge below after running it.

photo mike goglin//kayaker jakub sedivy

cinco tazas photo mike goglin//kayaker jakub sedivy

The last rapid before committing to El Garganta del Diablo. There is a potential take out here on river left. photo mike goglin//kayaker jakub sedivy

The Caricoal (snail) There is about 30ft of vert here. Below this rapid you are closed in and completely committed. Down stream is a fifty foot long narrow slot rapid you will run. There is a possible take out further down on river left. A set of wooden steps.


If you choose to continue through the caricoal you have a few options. One is to take out at the steps on river left or continue on to the siete tazas. This rapid is diretly below a bridge below the steps.

Siete Tazas. Class III-IV. water gauge visual from the over look.

Put in: There is an obvious park entrance to the over look for the tazas. Hop the board walk fence and walk upstream for about ten min. There is a large rock kern here. make sure you save yourself some energy and find the correct put in. You will need ropes to get your boats down safely.
Take out: Taza over look. The take out is probably the most dangerous part of this run. Use ropes, teamwork, and extreme caution.
Description: This is a great section for beginner waterfallistas and those looking for good clean fun. The saltos are stupid fun and as clean as it gets.

Before you head to the river make sure you have an awesome roof rack.

the 1,000,000 photo of the siete tazas



This is the first water fall of siete tazas and Frans first waterfall ever!
photo gonzalo doerr//kayakista Fran


numero seis
photo Gonzo//kayakista Fran

Long Creek in Jauary!

Howdy Fellow ScumBags,

This is my first post here on the TeamScum blog so i might as well introduce myself! My name is Arlyn and im a Van Dweller. My mom has come to terms with my lifestyle and preferred living method and has taken to calling me that over more common terms such as Dirtbag, Scumbag, Homeless, Derelict or Vagrant. I like to go kayaking and when im out on the river i usually bring my camera. Since this is my first post i figured i would give paddlers what they really want and that's carnage. Check out some of the action at this past Green Race.

In other news some Folks in Long Creek decided to race the Chattooga. I figured it would be a nice way to escape Asheville so i busted on out of town after school on Friday. Quite a few people made the hike down the hill to watch the race. Chris G ended up taking top honors but that packs were pretty tight. So close in fact that we got to see some folks boofing on top of those stuck in the hole at Soc em Dog.


That's Eli Helbert going off the Pad


Then Zach Dean boofing over somebody in the wrong spot.





The crew of Racers

---------------------------------->
An unknown paddler setting safety at The Dog

FROZEN CREEKS

Well it seems that I have been invited to participate on this blog as the token mountain biker. I'd like to introduce myself more as a member of the DSC or Dangerous Sports Club. I like fear. It is a great teacher. The skills that I acquire while facing my fears in sports I apply to love, life, and the resolution of my karma.

I found teamscum by a sticker that said "support soulful lifestyles". From that moment I was hooked. I sent some emails and some pics and became an honorary member. I won't bore you with too much blah blah, here's the cool shit I did recently to scare myself.


This is Sam's Branch coming off the backside of Sam's Knob about a week ago. The climb was about 1000' of elevation. We meandered over frozen pools and up small falls for about 2 miles until we got to the top. The final pitch was about 100' of verticle and near verticle. We free climbed (no ropes) the entire creek.



At moments on the falls, you could hear the water roaring underneath you, the ice gently vibrating. The ice was NC style, meaning thin and risky at times. There were many holes large enough to fall through to your death into the quickly moving water below.

At one point I did break through the ice on a flat pool area. Only one boot in the water and clutching a tree, I looked down to see pool was about 8' deep.


This is Winding Stair Gap. Its a road cut that freezes up near Franklin, with about 120' of pure verticle. This was my 1st time out there and my second lead climb. Fun and intense.

WINTER TRAINING

UNOFFICIAL CHATTOOGA RACE 2010

RIO NEVADO

El Rio Nevado is a must run river while visiting the Pucon area. The river is short but sweet. I would recommend running it with someone familiar since there are a few tricky spots along the way and simply finding the put in and take out can be difficult. To find the river first take the road to Huife then head towards Lefincul when the road forks. Soon after the fork there is a bridge, after that a road off to the left. Follow this road to get to the put in. Water level, visual. Class V.

This is the put in. The take out is about 1 mile down the road through a little nook next to the road. Make sure you locate the correct take out above a very deep difficult gorge. The rapid here was run by the demshitz crew but i decided it was a bit gnarly for myself.

// the first rapid // photo:vallentine grollemund // paddler:mike goglin

// this is the 2nd rapid // photo: jakub sedivy // paddler:mira kodada

This is the fourth rapid. This is where the river gets tricky. It is a mandatory 30ftr that you can't see the bottom of or portage. I call it the reverse groove tube because it has a similar barrel to it. Just plug and go deep. Right above Vallentine is a very powerful hydraulic. The line is hard left. Below Val is a 20ft ledge. The line here is about 6ft off the left wall in a little nook. This will put you in an eddy on the left deep within an inescapable gorge. From here you will see a rapid on the right and a huge boulder on the left with just enough space to slip under. The rapid on the right is a portage due to wood.



// photo:mike goglin // paddler:vallentine grollemund

The portage -under the boulder to grandmothers house we go.

// photo:mike goglin // paddler:mira kodada

// photo:jakub sedivy // clown shoes:mike goglin, vallentine grollemund

Finish this portage and then do one more before the take out. Be carefull here, you want to portage right but the eddy can be very difficult to catch.The take out is river left immediatly belown the second portage or if your felling froggy a very big rapid lies just down stream. Consult the demshitz crew for further details

RIO TURBIO

El Rio Turbio is about a ten minute drive outside the kayak mecca of Pucon Chile. Along with bearing an awesome similarity to my own title, the river is littered with great rapids. The river follows the path of Volcan Villaricas last eruption. This makes for a unique and sharp river bed.

the take out waterfall // photo: mira kodada // paddler: mike goglin

To get to the river start by heading east out of Pucon until you see a sign that reads El Cerduo. This is your turn up the river. If you cross the river on the highway you have gone too far. The dirt road will cross several little streams. Travel about 4 miles up the road until you reach a bridge. This is your take out.

put in // photo: mike goglin // paddler: jakub sedivy

The river generally runs after a good rain but can be run low. You can gauge the flow by walking 100 yards down stream to a 25ft falls. If the falls looks good, upstream should be too. Note that the rapid above the bridge looks boney but understand the river is more narrow higher up. You walk upstream on a 4x4 trail on river left and scout as you walk upstream. All the rapids are easily scoutable and easily portaged. The put in is an unmistakable split falls followed by one of the longest slides in Chile. The 30ftr at the top left of this slide is runnable but lands in a narrow and shallow pool.

photo: jakub sedivy // paddler: mike goglin

This run is mostly just stupid fun with an overall rating of IV-V.