Evan Garcia on the 18′, Upper Palguin, Pucon, Chile
When I arrived in Chile there had been clamors arising late in the night at the bar about doing something called “Todo Palguin”, ie running all of the sections of the Palguin in one day. Admittedly, all of this talk stemmed from late night debauchery and I chalked it up to hearsay from inebriated kayakers. To my astonishment, it actually materialized numerous times later on in the trip.
Patt Rogers on the first double drop on the Upper Palguin
The Palguin, Pucon’s local favorite in the summer months, has three main sections: Upper (IV-IV+), Middle (V+), and Lower (IV).
Ben Kinsella runs the middle slot on the Upper Palguin.
The Upper tends to be the favorite, semi-mellow after work run with four main drops consisting of some vertical drops and a slot. It also has some interesting put in and take out hiking…
Evan Garcia climbing down to the put-in.
Jared Seiler hikes out on a log bridge, Upper Palguin takeout.
Patt Rogers on the 18 footer from below, Upper Palguin.
Adam Johnson, Upper Palguin, Pucon, Chile. Photo Patt Rogers
Jared Seiler Runs the “Stout Crack to Wall Piton”, Upper Palguin, Pucon, Chile. Photo Evan Garcia.
“Portage” Panorama
Click Here to watch Evan Garcia Run the Portage Rapid, Palguin River, Chile.
Watch Jared Seiler’s Run HERE
The Middle then begins directly at the take out for the lower with the “Portage” (now being run at high water thanks to Demshitz), Turbino (a rapid through a tight gorge currently blocked up with some wood), Boof to Swim (a 20 foot drop landing half on rocks and half into a big hole, think Mood Ring on Red Creek, WV), and then, for the grand finale, something I have only heard referred to as “The Stout”, a 65-70′ waterfall landing in a big pool. After some runout class IV rapids, you get to the Lower Palguin.
Bradford McArthur is a monkey. This is him doing a cartwheel off a 40′ jump. He landed head-first in the curtain and came out unscathed. Go Team Marginal!
Ian Garcia runs Boof to Swim, Middle Palguin (just above “The Stout”).
Ever wondered what the lip of a runnable 70′ looks like? Here it is.
Team Marginal scouting The Stout a day before.
Adam Johnson the following day at the lip of “The Stout”; 65′-70′! Photo: Jared Seiler
Later in the sequence. Notice the paddle throw. As long as the pool is good to go, throwing the paddle makes for softer hits. Photo: Jared Seiler
The Lower Palguin is a fun run to combine with the Upper for a good days worth of paddling. It has lots of technical class III and IV rapids with two prominent drops–one of them Brennans Rapid, a seldom run 3 part stout class V that got its name after Brennan Guth of Missoula, Montana drowned in the large cave at the end of the rapid.
Patt Rogers boofs an 8 footer on the Lower Palguin.
End of Brennan’s Rapid, note the cave.
Ian Garcia on the last drop of the Lower Palguin, Pucon, Chile.
SO, back to todo Palguin. The Middle Palguin used to be a bit less stout back in the day. It was something like a 30′ and then a 40′. Then the river suddenly changed and the rock fell out of the bottom 40′, destroying the pool in between and creating the 70′–later to be first decented by Ian Garcia and Rodrigo Tuschner of Kayak Pucon. There was an old LVM that did a Todo Palguin segment; therein, the spark had been planted.
On my fourth day in Chile, Evan Garcia, Jared Seiler, Ian Garcia, and I (Adam Johnson) decided to attempt to run the infamous “Todo Palguin” and follow in the footsteps of many before us.
In the end, Jared was on top of the stand that day by running the left slot on the upper (ending in a wall that you piton into most of the time), the “Portage”, “Boof to Swim”, and “The Stout 70′”, along with the rest of the rapids on the Upper and Lower. Ian followed a close second by running boof to swim and the stout, I everything but the stout (that day), and Evan decided to take out earlyer than expected after hurting his ribs off the “Portage”.
Classic Chile! Everything is crystalline blue.
Later, Team Marginal and I were able to attempt the Todo Palguin, minus the Portage (due to low water, no bueno there), and “Boof to Swim” for them.
Stay tuned for more updates from the Rio Fuy and Tour de Stout! Cheers,
-Adam Johnson
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