Kayaking - Rio Simpson

Last Saturday, April 9th, I finally made it on the river. Rio Simpson is a mere 10-minuet walk from my house and hosts a number of class II to III rapids. I went with Pato and three of his friends. ‘Pato Kayak’ as he is known in Coyhaique truly loves the river. He taught himself how to roll and do tricks and despite a huge lack of readily available equipment and transportation, he tries to get out on the river everyday.

It was perfect weather as we headed for the river. Sunny and even warm, by Patagonia standards. The water is low right now as it’s the end of the summer but it was clear after the first rapid that low water meant plenty of fun technical moves around rocks and between eddies.

After the initial class III rapid, Pato and I caught up with three of his friends on sit-on-top kayaks. We continued on for a while through some flat water, riffles, and rapids up to class II. A few swims later by them, some intentional and some not, we came to a small beach where more friends and some family were picnicking. I thought the day was done. I was content to have been on the river but had hoped for some more difficult rapids. After a short break Pato hopped back in his kayaked, looked at me, and said “vamos.” We went down river further and I got my wish, we went through a handful more class III rapids before taking out.

It was a great day on the river, with beautiful scenery, and fantastic Patagonian weather. The river continues much further, all the way to the sea in fact. It has many more rapids up to class IV and a few waterfalls. Naturally, I want to paddle them. I also can’t wait for big water… all the snow in the mountains that I’ll be enjoying on my skis I’ll get to enjoy again when it melts and floods the river

:)