The reason I had come to Futaleufu was to go whitewater rafting.
Whitewater rafting wasn’t a new experience for me. It was, however, an experience I had vowed never to repeat after a terrifying ordeal on the Kaituna River near Rotorua in New Zealand 18 years ago in 2002. The Kaituna is an extreme rafting experience on a short section of the Kaituna River taking in a series of rapids in quick succession and culminating in going over a 20 foot waterfall. It’s the only commercial run in the world where you go over a waterfall. It was extreme and it was terrifying. As we went over the waterfall the Canadian guide in the front stayed in the boat, but Steve who was from England, the guide in the back of the boat, he fell out and even though he was wearing a helmet he bashed his head and this was severe enough to break his cheekbone and there was blood gushing out of his forehead. I fell out of the raft, but I’d hung onto the rope, so it was just a case of me being hauled back in and then paddling to rescue the others that had fallen out of the boat while coughing and spluttering and not being able to see with all the water in my face.
When we got back to the office to get changed, I heard the boss say, “that’s three guides we’re down now”. What happened to the other two?!
Suffice to say, I thought this was highly dangerous and I was far too much at risk from injury to ever contemplate whitewater rafting again. There are occasional deaths, but there are also quite a lot of injuries because unlike something like bungy jumping where you have people making safety checks and although it looks extreme, you would have to be very unlucky in a freak accident for something to happen to you, with whitewater rafting, you can’t control the river. You can see what it’s doing, but you can’t control it. My friend in Canada came up with a great quote once, “no matter what you do, the river always wins”.
As you can see, even after 18 years, I had vivid recollections of what happened on the Kaituna in New Zealand, so I had to think really carefully about whether I was prepared to risk whitewater rafting again.
But I wanted to push myself a bit on this trip to Patagonia, volcanic ascent, long distance hike and so I decided to do the whitewater rafting.
Futaleufu was a pleasant surprise. It was a very smart and tidy town. Most of the other places I’d been on my journey along the Carretera Austral seemed to be run down, scruffy places. Futaleufu wasn’t like that. The buildings all looked well maintained, the town square was smart. I found an Italian restaurant that served really good food. The supermarkets sold nice stuff. I found blue cheese and green tea! I wasn’t that bothered about the blue cheese, but the green tea was a godsend. I hadn’t been able to find any along the Carretera Austral so far. And don’t even think about Earl Grey! I’d barely seen that in Chile, there were 2 teabags in the hotel in Frutillar and I used them both at the two breakfasts I had there. I gratefully purchased a box of green teabags in Futaleufu, just in case I didn’t see any again.
I went along to Patagonia Elements who I had booked my whitewater rafting with months earlier. I like to plan everything even though it’s usually totally unnecessary and things often don’t go according to plan either.
In this case my booking months in advance had been totally unnecessary. They didn’t even have the minimum numbers for the Bridge to Bridge tour the following day yet, although they expected to get them, and the day trip I had planned was unlikely to go ahead because the river was too high. It made it too dangerous because if the raft flipped, they might not be able to rescue everyone in time. I had no desire to take a risk like that, so I was fine with any cancellation for that reason.
However, the reason for the height of the water in the river was because there was a dam in Argentina that the Argentinians would open and close at will and they never told anyone in Futaleufu what they were doing with the dam. The border with Argentina is just 8km away. I said so it was Argentina’s fault. Mauricio, one of the guides, said it was always Argentina’s fault!
I chatted in the office to Mauricio at length that evening, explained that I was nervous and hadn’t rafted for 18 years. He’d never been to New Zealand, but when I said about the waterfall, he said I must be talking about the Kaituna. He was aware of the Kaituna River because it’s so notorious and also the only commercial whitewater rafting run that goes over a waterfall. He said the Futaleufu was completely different and everyone assured me that I would enjoy it.
It wasn’t only my bad experience in New Zealand that was making me nervous. Those of you that have read some of my other posts will be aware that I have not been blessed with a natural athletic ability. I have no athletic ability whatsoever. When it comes to sport I am useless! I’m quite a good dancer, other than that, anything that hints being in any way sporty, I’m hopeless. My total lack of any natural athletic ability makes it probably twice as hard for me to do these adventure sports as anyone else. I’m always the one right behind the guide or who the guide is watching, always the one everyone else is cheering on because they can see it’s a struggle for me.
So why do I keep doing these things? I still want to have the experience even if I’m not as athletically adept as other people. Even with my limited capabilities, I am still capable of completing these things. I might need a bit more time, help and guidance, but I can still do them. I love the adrenaline rush and also have a feeling of accomplishment when I’ve completed these things that certainly are challenging for me. So that’s why I do them.
The rafting trip I was going to do, that was always safe, even if the dam was open, was the Bridge to Bridge section of the Futaleufu River where you ran 12 sets of rapids which ranged from Class 3 to Class 5. This is the easiest of all the whitewater rafting trips and is suitable for beginners and people with no previous rafting experience, although I was told that all the sections were suitable for beginners as the guides all gave full training on the day.
The rafting was going to take place the following afternoon. I was really nervous. There were 17 of us in total and 3 guides. The boats took 6 people and since I was on my own I ended up in the boat with 5. There were also two guides on safety rafts ready to help if we fell in the water.
I never really got over my fear of falling out of the raft into the raging river. Even though I found the experience very enjoyable and my tension gradually eased, that fear was a constant.
The one thing I did remember from my experience in New Zealand was the command “hold on” where you had to grab the rope and get down low inside the raft. “Get down” was the equivalent here, grabbing onto outside the rope and jumping down into the raft. I was pretty fast at doing that! Otherwise it was mostly just “forward” to paddle down the river and “stop” to stop paddling. There was some jumping to the left and right that we might have to do, but actually we didn’t need to do that at all. Just as well.
I had Mauricio as my guide, which made me feel better after speaking to him at length the night before. He knew what my fears were. The other paddlers in my boat were a couple of Italian blokes, Matteo and Stefano, from Lake Como who were travelling from Santiago to Montevideo and a couple from San Francisco, Scott and Sophie.
We were told that we should always hold our paddles over the water when resting. Scott was sitting behind me but on the opposite side and he had this annoying habit of not holding his paddle over the water but leaving it forward and inside the raft, which he actually wouldn’t have been able to do it there had been someone sitting in front of him, instead of the space being free as we were an odd number. This meant if we were told to jump to the left, I would have to jump straight into his oar and probably hurt myself. I refused to practice while his paddle was still there, I wasn’t going to injure myself for no reason. But every time we were resting, his paddle would be inside the raft. This really didn’t seem to sink in with him. I was grateful when he was moved to the front; he couldn’t do that kind of damage when he was sitting in front of me.
So, we had been briefed on commands and now we were ready to go. Calm water to start with and then to our first rapids, Class 4, the Pillow.
It was a very different experience to my previous whitewater rafting. This was a big, wide river. Mauricio was at the back with two oars, steering the boat, unlike in New Zealand where the guides just had one paddle each like the rest of us. Mauricio steering the raft made a huge difference. We started paddling through the whitewater and then even though we were still in the rapids, we’d get to a spot where we could just ride the waves and it was only when we started to turn again we had to paddle. I was paddling hard, trying to keep in sync with Matteo in front of me and also trying to stay in the boat.
I noticed from the photos I seemed to be leaning forward more than anyone else. That seemed to help me with my balance. My right foot, the foot closest to the side of the raft was wedged as hard as possible under the inflatable part in front of me, my left was behind. I didn’t seem to be sitting as far over the side of the raft as the others either, that just seemed to be the position I adopted.
Anyway we got through the first set of rapids safely. The next rapids were actually class 3 rapids, but there were more waves so we would get tossed about more. I seem to think it was this second set of rapids with all the waves where my foot became dislodged and I was sliding and fearing falling, but if I’d fallen, I would have fallen into the raft, not out of it. I wedged my foot again and carried on.
The next set of rapids we had to paddle to the right side of the river, so we missed the really big rapids. We steered round them where there was a narrow stretch on the other side of a large rock where there was less water. I think that was the third one. We had 12 sets of rapids to negotiate, I can’t remember the whole sequence.
We then had two more sets of rapids and I was starting to feel a bit more confident now. All I had to do really was paddle, paddle harder and stop. And get down twice. That was it. Mauricio was doing the hard work steering the raft. I was looking down into the water when I was paddling, really concentrating, so I didn’t see the waves coming, apart from when I occasionally glanced up. But when we were simply riding the waves, then I could enjoy the scenery and enjoy the river. And the Futaleufu is a beautiful river. The scenery is spectacular. Whitewater rafting allows you to see your surroundings from a completely different perspective. This was a great experience.
Mundaca was the only Class 5 rapid on our 9km journey. This was one instance where we could be hit by a wave and the raft could flip. Mauricio talked us through it again, said not to panic if the raft did flip and that the boats would go through one at a time so that both safety rafts were on hand if anything happened. The first two boats went through without a problem.
Now it was our turn. We paddled, paddled hard, Mauricio steered, we had to get down at one point and then up again and start paddling, but we made it through without the raft flipping. That was a relief. And I’d made it through a Class 5 rapid!
That was us halfway through the rapids. Three Class 3 and three Class 4 left. I don’t remember the details, but I was starting to enjoy it now, I was feeling confident. Presumably my adrenaline was pretty high now, so I was having a great time. I was getting used to paddling, I’d got a comfortable position where I felt stable. I was enjoying the river and the scenery. This was a fantastic experience. We got through the final half dozen rapids without incident and I enjoyed paddling and being on the river. While it was hard work, it wasn’t as physically demanding as a lot of adventure activities I’ve tried and should be within the capability of most people.
Finally we pulled up to this rock and were asked if we wanted to climb onto it and then jump off it into the river. I decided to go for it. This was not my wisest decision ever. I needed to take a run so I didn’t land too close to the rock, in doing so I launched myself forward and landed face first in the water! Thankfully it wasn’t from very high up, so I got a lot of water up my nose, but I didn’t break it. All in all though, it had been amazing. I loved it.
I was glad I’d given whitewater rafting another go. It had been a wonderful experience. I was really hoping that the water level would be low enough the following day for us to raft a different section of the river.
Sadly that wasn’t to be, the Argentinians still had the dam open and so the river was too high. But I’ll always remember my Bridge to Bridge rafting on the Futaleufu River for the experience that gave me enjoyment from whitewater rafting.
I thought when I’d jumped off a rock into the river as an optional extra at the end of the whitewater rafting and landed face first, that was the stupidest thing I’d do on this holiday. I far surpassed that the next day.
I had a free day because the river was too high to raft another section of the Futaleufu River. I went back to Patagonia Elements and was given the option of rafting the same section of the river again, ziplining or canyoning. I saw no point in doing the same section of the river again, especially after the success of the day before. Why risk a worse experience when it had taken me 18 years to enjoy whitewater rafting again? I was definitely going to quit while I was ahead on that.
I’ve done a lot of ziplines and I’m addicted to them. I know I enjoy them and have great fun when I do them. Did I go for that option? No! I’d never tried canyoning before and decided that since I’d never tried it, I should give it a go. What a bad decision!
I’ve done a lot of adventure activities in my time, including abseiling which I really enjoyed. I abseiled into two caves, one was in California where the first part I was going down rocks and the second part was open. The New Zealand abseil was a long open abseil. They were relatively easy and very enjoyable.
I knew canyoning entailed a variety of things such as wading through rivers, climbing over rocks, jumping into rivers and abseiling down waterfalls. I’d always thought this would be a bad idea and not something I would enjoy. I was told that this canyoning was just abseiling down three waterfalls, no wading or jumping or climbing involved. I was assured I would enjoy it.
I should have gone with my instinct all those years ago that told me that canyoning was a bad idea and not something I would find remotely enjoyable. It was an ordeal from stat to finish. It was horrible, I got absolutely no enjoyment out of it whatsoever.
I did Via Ferrata in Canada 18 months ago which was difficult, scary and I couldn’t sit down for 4 days afterwards because my muscles were so sore. But I did feel a sense of achievement after doing it and I did quite enjoy it.
Canyoning was just thoroughly unpleasant. What the hell was I thinking? Why did I think abseiling down waterfalls would be in any way remotely enjoyable? I got nothing out of it except for a very impressive collection of bruises. My left hand looked like I’d had a drip in it. My arms and legs were black and blue. I looked like I’d been beaten with a baseball bat! I didn’t even feel a sense of accomplishment at the end. I just felt like I’d been released from a prisoner of war camp after being bashed about.
I always have to go too far. I could have stopped at the volcanic ascent and the whitewater rafting, and done a lovely zipline course, but no, I have to try abseiling down waterfalls. When am I going to learn I am not Bear Grylls?
I already had my bikini on and put a surfer’s wetsuit on top of it. It was an old and tatty wetsuit with some holes in it. Definitely not enough padding at the knee.
We were going to abseil down 3 waterfalls, 6 metres, 8 metres and 10 metres. That doesn’t sound very high. When you’re up there, it looks very high. We hiked to the top of the first waterfall and were given instructions on how to abseil down the waterfall.
I actually already knew the theory. You have to go down with your body in a sort of L shape and take small steps. Now that’s easy enough if you’re going down a dam or something with a straight wall. But the rocks here were uneven and they were wet and slippery.
I couldn’t really get the hang of it. I’m not sure how I managed to get down the first waterfall. My first attempt was so bad, I abandoned it and let everyone else go ahead of me. I wasn’t really in control and the figure of 8 carabiner was constantly lodged into my left hand, cutting deeply into it, so I looked like I’d had a drip in it by the time I was finished. I just edged down, tried to stay out of the middle of the waterfall and then I was at the bottom. The guide asked me if I wanted to try it again. I declined. I wanted this over as soon as possible, definitely no repeat performances.
The second waterfall, we actually went down the dry part. The first part on the path was fine, then the rock, which was sort of okay. Then I got to this hole in the rock where there was nowhere for my feet so I had to let myself down and just bend my knees.
But I was finding handling the rope really difficult, I must have used a different system in New Zealand and the States because I know for a fact it wasn’t as hard going on either of those descents as on this tour. Then I got to the wall again. This was easier than the last descent, but by no means easy and I still got quite bashed about.
The third descent was also supposed to be easy. It wasn’t. None of this was easy. This was abseiling down a waterfall where you have the full force of the water going over you and the water was so powerful and the rocks were so slippery, it was impossible to get a foothold, so you had to walk down using your knees instead of your feet! The instructor said this one was the easiest. That’s what she’d said about the others!
This was difficult to even start because I couldn’t get into the right position at the top of the waterfall with my knees against the rock. When I finally did get over the edge of the waterfall with my knees against the side of the rock I could hardly move. I started to edge down. It was really hurting my knees that weren’t strong enough and really hadn’t been built for this kind of abuse. I kept going down using my knees but the waterfall was really powerful and at one point it was just coming down on my head and I didn’t know which way to go. I eventually edged away from the waterfall, but I still couldn’t move down. With the help of the only man in the group, I finally got into the water at the bottom.
That had been horrendous. I hadn’t enjoyed one minute of that, an ordeal from start to finish. I think the instructor knew how much I had hated it. That was definitely the most stupid thing I’d done on this trip so far.
When I stumbled back to my accommodation I took a look at my bruises. All over the bottom half of both legs and my knees, both elbows and forearms and my left hand looked like it had had a drip in it.
It was my first and last time canyoning. I have to add that I have no complaints about the instructor. She was qualified and competent in canyoning. But there was a good reason I’d always passed on it before now. I should have trusted my instincts and stuck to that and then I wouldn’t look such a mess now. On the other hand, if I hadn’t done it I would have always wondered if I hadn’t done it. At least I’d satisfied my curiosity.
Although I was in pain for a couple of days afterwards and the bruises took a week or so to disappear, it wasn’t physically as hardgoing on my body as the Via Ferrata had been. The pain came from the bruises, not aching muscles. The bruises did go eventually. And the canyoning had given me a new experience to recount in another story.
As for whether I would recommend these activities, the whitewater rafting on the Futaleufu River, yes. I would unequivocally recommend this wonderingful experience rafting this turquoise river in this amazingly scenic part of Patagonia. The canyoning I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. It just was not for me. It was one adventure too far.
If you ever go to Futaleufu and I would say, do go there if you can, raft along as much of the river as the water level allows, but if you have any spare time and are offered another activity, choose the ziplining!
I travelled in Northern Patagonia in mid January 2020.
I booked my whitewater rafting with Patagonia Elements in Futaleufu. You can book in person at their office in the centre of Futaleufu or you can book online. I thoroughly recommend them for their professional, knowledgeable, encouraging and reassuring guides. The lovely office staff were friendly and helpful and very prompt at answering my emails. The staff are all fluent in English for anyone whose Spanish isn’t great.
I did the Bridge to Bridge Tour which runs 12 rapids from Class 3 to Class 5 along the Futaleufu River. This is the easiest, most popular and most frequent of the 3 whitewater rafting and always runs subject to minimum numbers.
I also booked the canyoning trip through Patagonia Elements who can arrange both canyoning and ziplining through their office. While the canyoning was not for me, the canyoning instructor was competent and qualified and this would be a good activity for anyone who enjoys these kinds of adventure activities.
I stayed at the excellent value Cabanas Aguas Blancas in the centre of Futaleufu in a large self contained ensuite unit with breakfast included and car parking available. I booked direct by WhatsApp in Spanish.
I drove to Futaleufu along the Carretera Austral. It is an approximately 4 hour drive over 190km of both paved and gravel road from Puyuhuapi to the south.
I flew to Balmaceda Airport from Puerto Montt with LATAM Chile. The flight takes about an hour.
I rented a pick up truck from Europcar Chile from Balmaceda Airport to drive the Carretera Austral. You can book with Europcar in advance. Other local car rental agencies are open at the airport if you do not have an advance reservation.
You can only drive to Futaleufu from Puerto Montt in January and February using 2 seasonal ferries.
It is also possible to drive to Futaleufu from Argentina via Esquel. The border is not open 24 hours, so you need to check the border times in advance of travel if you are driving independently.
Read the three part series about my hike on the W Trek in Torres del Paine
The Lazy Writer’s W Trek – Days 1 & 2
The Lazy Writer’s W Trek – Days 3 & 4
The Lazy Writer’s W Trek – Day 5 & Glacier Grey
Read my experiences driving the wild, rugged and remote Carretera Austral.
My Tips for Driving the Carretera Austral
Driving South on the Carretera Austral
Check out my other adventures in Chile.
This is the post about my Via Ferrata experience in Canada
Waterfalls, Via Ferrata and a Religious Theme Park
