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