51
ediciones
Cambios
→Season 2025/26
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* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''YYYY-MMM-DD / X days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Your name'''</span>
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<nowiki>* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''</nowiki><span style="background-color:aqua;">'''YYYY-MMM-DD / X days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Your name'''</span><nowiki>'''</span></nowiki>.
=Overview=
* General Recommendations: The section is best paddled between January and May. The primary danger would be a high and fast river, most common early in the season or after heavy rain. The river can only be paddled westwards.
The paddling portion of this section on Rio Palena is 78km and takes about 1.5-2 days to complete. Together with GPT27P, the two sections are 180km in total and take around 4 days. The ferry journey from Raul Marin Balmaceda takes an additional eleven hours, but only runs twice a week (Thursdays and Sundays). The section is stunning, interesting, unpopulated and fun. This section feels even more remote than 27P, although the river here becomes calmer. The mountains and farmland of 27P give way to hills and woodland. It is quite easy to not see another person until within a few kms of the section’s end. Combined with 27P, paddling one river down from the mountains out to the Pacific is a wonderful experience. A very attractive section.
The ferry ride from Raul Marin Balmaceda to Puerto Cisnes is spectacular. It threads along the coastline passing mountains, islands and fiords. Very beautiful indeed, and an opportunity to scout out future packrafting options.
Although Section 28P is easier than 27P, Bajo Río Palena may not be suitable for beginners. There are a number of rapids, countless tree and rock obstacles, and occasional strong currents and whirlpools. At times of high river levels, the river will not only be faster, but there will be fewer places to get out or scout. There are many more rapids than indicated in the track file. That said, the rapids are generally not above Class 2, plus, the many obstacles in the river are avoidable.
As the river widens and calms, the challenges become occasional strong head winds and potentially adverse tides. These can slow progress significantly.
=Section Log, Alerts and Suggestions=
==Season 2025/26==
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2026-01-02 to 2026-01-04 / 3 Days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Michel, Lisa & Antoine'''</span>
Day 1
We started from La Junta in the late afternoon (16:30) and paddled only a few kilometers to Camp (28P} [5.5/30], which is really nice with tons of flat, grassy spots and space for half an army if you needed it. Shade, wind protection, beautiful views, cow poop - this place has it all.
Day 2 & 3
We got started at 9:30 and floated down the river, only occasionally paddling since there was generally good flow (3-5 km/h) and no wind. It was so hot we went for swims in our drysuits from the boat and Antoine had a go at trying to standup paddle on his packraft. We thought about the names of our packraft and thought that tabaño might be a good one, then there at least would be one tábano that we'd like.
Floating down the river at 5 km/h, not lifting a finger we realized how lucky we were. No wind, no clouds, 30°C, fishing from the packraft, mate in hand, birds chirping in the background and en route to hot springs. What more could one wish for?!! (Maybe catching a fish, still unsuccessful so far)
We did the 33 km to the hot springs in 5 h 40 min with barely any paddling which is quite astounding when reading other entries here I guess.
The hot springs are amazing and we were completely alone there on a Saturday afternoon. There are two small pools, the upper one was 41 °C and the lower one must have been cooler (we didn't try/measure). The small stream that flows into a pool next to the hot pools was 17 °C cold, so a perfect match for the hot water.
While we were all sitting in the nice hot water, Antoine suddenly brought up the crazy idea to paddle on to Raúl Marín Balmaceda in the full moon light. The forecast predicted 5 m/s southeastern winds at night with no clouds and the moonrise was at 22:30, so it all sort of added up.
After apero and dinner on the island just downstream of the hot springs, still enjoying 30deg at 7pm and the view on Melimoyu, we started again at 22:00. The conditions were ideal with no wind except for a ~1.5 km stretch at 2:00 and the full moon to light up the river and surrounding landscape after midnight. All in all it took us 8 h of paddling to reach Raul Marín Balmaceda, arriving at 7:00 at the beach, where we collapsed onto the sand and slept in the sun.
--longer version for Day 2 & 3, describing the night
Got excited about the full Moon, high temperatures and no to 5km SE wind conditions and decided to flow the last 40km overnight, attempting sunrise (6am) when entering fjordo Pitipalena. High tide expected around 3.30am with a high coefficient (7m amplitude), as expected by full Moon (Sun-Earth-Moon alignment increases tidal effects). We aimed to reach canal Gerrao around then, to minimize counter currents on the Palena, counter currents on the canal during falling tide and enjoying the falling currents in the fjord to reach Puerto Raúl Marin Balmaceda.
We started at 10:30pm, very chill and excited for the first 2hr, with a great river flow, rather dark as the Moon was not yet above the mountains. Chose the calmest lines, staying safe from sunken trees and enjoying the stars. Moonrise over the mountain at 0:30 was majestic, at the same time we started observing the rising tide in the 270° section.
After km56 (past the water waypoint), the current increased with many waves (probably increased by the rising tide on the flowing water), making this ~2km stretch quite exhausting. This ceased after the turn and moderate tailwinds (incredible, right?) pushed us down to the channel on this long stretch. As it took us longer than expected, we pressed on to make it for the right tide timing. We attached Antoine's solo packraft to the double one for 6km to get faster. Exhausted but mate-powered, we entered the canal at 5am. It was already flowing out fast to the Palena but further on, when expending, this becomes less noticeable (Venturi effect). And it actually flows to the fjord in the last section, evacuating water both ways. It took about an hour to cross the channel, surprisingly nicer that expected with birds singing in the dawn, jumping fish and the fjord appearing in dim light. The fjord was beautiful, exciting to see tidal currents, feeling some sea smells, crossing the shallow bay before the water ran out in a matter of minutes. The Moon set in the west as the sun rose and gradually enlighten parts of the fjord. Another 45mn with favourable currents and we reach the beach of Puerto RMB at 7:15 where we instantly crashed on the beach after 70km/14h for a well deserved nap, waking up later to see dolphins, a penguin and a seal swimming in front of us.
Though but rewarding traverse, with a variety of atmospheres, lights and moods.
Of course, we acknowledge this was done with exceptional conditions, 2 boats and a taste for spicy memories :)
As a side trip, Antoine packrafted in the fjord Pitipalena up to Rodrigo's house. Rodrigo is a lovely man, he offered me a tea and I really enjoyed talking with him. He showed me pics he took of the wild animals of the park. I wish I had more time there.
About 2-3h with rising tide and relaxed pace, barely no wind (southern wind and waves appeared in the last 3km). Did not follow the coast in the bay but went along 2 islands in a straight line (with a lunch break on one). Came back the same wave, quite some headwind (I narrowly followed the shore for shelter), which reduced after 2-3km, and the falling tide made it rather easily and enjoyable. Down to the Pacific Ocean and the lovely popular beach, insane sunset over the fjords.
*2025-12-31 to 2026-01-02 / 2,5 Days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Anh
Water level normal to high, as some sandbanks were not visible. I had a headwind of approx. 15-20 km/h.
After 30 km, you usually have to paddle yourself, which is not so much fun.
- 1st rapid no problem
- 2nd rapid I didn't register. It was probably not a problem
As the headwind from Ferry to Bridge (Canal Garrao) was strong, I carried the boat.
After Bridge, Camp {28P} [67.8/16] (Canal Garrao), there is no possibility to camp until the fjord. I camped here at -43.799596, -72.927780, which I had checked very carefully (low tide, high tide, water marks from the previous day). However, I
would not officially recommend Jan, because at high tide the water reaches just short of the tent.
In the fjord, there was a tailwind (from the east) early in the morning (8:00).
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-12-18 to 2025-12-19 / 1.5 days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Daniel.s'''</span>
Day 1:
Started in La Junta early, a day with little wind. Flow speed of the river ~6kph. No news in regards to Rapids or obstacles. Water level was normal. Entry to termas is still possible, one treefall on the trail, but manageable to pass on the right.
Camped at the last river bend (mind tidal level) S 43° 52.370', W 072° 52.148'.
Day 2:
Went out with the tide going low (river speed ~2.5kph), didn't go through the canal, but followed the main river out to sea (very calm morning, no wind, small waves) and went back into the fjord to the pier with the tide rising. Recommend doing so only in calm conditions.
==Season 2024/25==
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-02-24 to 2025-02-27 / 4 days / Packrafting / SOBO/ RP / Daniela&Gabriela'''</span>
We started quite late on the 24th from the bridge of Rosselot river in La Junta, because we had an issue with the TZIP of one of the packrafts, so that day we only paddled for a couple of hours and camped near Fundo El Sauce (44°00’18.72’’S, 72°32’58.82’’W). We avoided Rapid {28P}[8.1/33] by taking the right flank at the previous fork. You just need to be careful with a large rock on the right just before the junction, as the current pushes you in that direction.
On the second day, we took it easy and started paddling around 12 hrs. Our plan was only to reach the hot springs so we could enjoy them in peace. Unfortunately, it was a very rainy and windy day, which made us go very slowly, so we only managed to reach the hot springs around 4:30 PM. We camped right in front (44°00’25.9’’S, 72°36’33.54’’W) after enjoying the thermal waters.
On the third day, we had to start early because our progress had been very slow. We tried to coordinate our paddling with the tide to have a favorable current, but it didn’t seem to work well. It was a physically tough day; we advanced very slowly, and there were sections where the current was not in our favor—at times, if we stopped paddling, we would even drift backward. That day, we camped near the bridge of the Garrao Channel.
On the fourth day, we woke up late to paddle the Canal Garrap at high tide, as we'd been told it was the best way to do so, and it actually worked to reach the Pitipalena Fjord. When we arrived at RMB, some beautiful dolphins greeted us; it was beautiful.
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-02-14 to 2025-02-15 / 2 days / Packrafting/ SOBO/ RP, variant G / Tomáš&Natalie'''</span>
From La Junta camp, it took us about 5,5 hours to reach the hot spring (Variant G) despite facing significant wind for the last 90min (20-30 km per hour?). The river is nicely flowing despite having several slower sections. Rapid 24.1 caused us trouble. In the middle of the two rapids I wanted to check the map for the hot springs, so we exited to the giant eddy on the right. When we tried to re-enter, Nat wanted to make a plan, but I did not give it enough time, so we ended up edging wrongly, hitting whirlpools that filled our Beluga (we named our raft!) and almost capsizing not that far from some large strainers. I was not expecting the whirlpools and eddy lines to be that strong. Natalie did not want to risk falling in front of the strainers again, so she chose to walk (more like crawl) through driftwood to the lower part of the rapid. With more care, I had no issues entering the current the second time though. The hotspring belongs to somebody, you are not supposed to loiter, make fires or camp. It has a good temperature and is clean, visit it! It does not seem to be used often, judging from footprints, so you would probably get away with camping. The two changing rooms might be big enough for one person in each to sleep diagonally, or perhaps (!) pitch a tent next to them. During the day, there were no mosquitoes there. We left around 6PM and at that time the wind had subsided. We paddled the next 10 km to here: -43.90048, -72.82275 in 100 minutes. Jen Ni notes that the tide begins to cause an effect around the large 270°turn, so we wanted to get close to there since our low tide the next day was at 10:30am (Puerto Montt). At camp we were not "swarmed" by mosquitoes like Davide, but there were many, and they were unusually vicious. We started with first light shortly before 7am the next day. It took us 80 minutes to paddle 7,7 km to the water waypoint. The next 7.5 to camp at 61.7 took 70 minutes and the last 6 km to Canal Garrao took another hour, so we arrived at the canal by 10:30am. Therefore, without headwind and with tide in your favour, you can get to the Canal in five hours from the hot spring. In the canal, which took 90 minutes, there was no significant wind or tide. We had to walk the boat for a few hundred meters on the beach, as we kept to the left, but boats passing by on the right indicated that the right was deeper. I chose to follow the RP for the last bit, which crosses the fjord to the north even though Nat was favoring staying along the longer southern coast. When you face a rising tide, my idea to stay on the RP is probably not such a good idea. Both wind and tidal currents seem to be concentrated between mainland and the island at -43.79032, -72.93086, producing a strong push against you. It employed all our strength to overpaddle it, and because all exits are covered in barnacles, there was no place to rest. It took us 80 minutes to paddle there and back to the southern shore (~3km); -43.78535, -72.94612, where the wind and current were significantly less and we saw the cute dolphines. So moral of the story, if one is fighting the tide/wind we recommend staying along the southern shore or going left of the small island.
In Puerto RMB, Hostal el Viajero is still 15 thousand per person. There are rooms for either two or three people, no dorms and a large garden for cleaning your boat. We had the whole second floor to ourselves, giving us one of the best ever price to quality over the whole GPT. Entel in town was slow (3G+) but functional. The shop selling the ferry tickets (Supermercado Isla del Palena) does not have Starlink, the restaurant/hospedaje next door does (Hostería Isla del Palena). I bought the last three nectarines in town. The next day, the ferry arrived ten minutes late at 9am and took one hour to discharge its cargo to townspeople, though we were told sometimes it comes and leaves in 10 minutes. It passes a penguin colony on these island: -43.77428, -72.95423 and -44.48459, -72.72564, which were close enough to observe. There were also many swimming around the ship as we left RMB. The stop in Melimoyu was long (1 hour?), perhaps ask if you have enough time to go walk around the carless village. The ferry arrived at 20:30, about one hour (?) late. From Puerto Cisness, a bus leaves for Coyhaique right after (well, more like half an hour) the ferry arrives. You can buy tickets in the office on board of the ferry. We had to pay the full fare of 10 thousand CLP to go to Villa Manihuales, which took 2 hours. There was a short weather window and we thought it would be easier to get to start of 29P from there. Having arrived at 11PM, we went to the river here: -45.16933, -72.14155, where there is a hidden spot you can camp; there was one other Chilian tourist tent and nobody disturbed us until 9am, when we packed and left. Town good for resupply, good fruit shop here: -45.17253, -72.14693.
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-Jan-18 to 2025-Jan-19 / 2 days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP + Variant G + RP / Davide Materia'''</span>
Written as connection to 27P:
18th-This might have been the worst day as an experience, my idea was to do 2/3 of the remaining distance to Puerto Raul Marin as I wanted to do the remaining third before the low tide peak at 12:40 of the 19th. Thing is, there are no proper camping spots at the targeted distance. In general the day went by quite calmly and all considered it was ok, by the time I reached the zone were I eventually camped, the wind was too strong to keep paddling West bound. Thus I camped the best I could at this location S 43,885427° O 72,835854°, this location I believe is only viable during the dry season to have sufficient safety distance from the river. During wet season one will have to find a spot between the present islands's vegetations. In any case, camping on the riverbed revealed to be fatal in terms of mosquitoes, a presence I hadn't yet seen on the GPT in this amount. Really, do not camp on this trait unless you are ready for hundreds of them surrounding you and your tent, so much that you will want to hold your bathroom needs for the next day. I thus suggest camping before, when the morphology of the river allows sufficient distance from the water and there is proper ground to camp on, rather than river sands.
19th- I started quite early to be sure to not take the inversion of he tide at 12:40. Unfortunately after 5 minutes I lost my insta360 go 3s in the water, and losing 45min searching for it in the low water only resulted in 45min delay. I thus continued. After few km I found three kayakers that were camping on the beach after the one I camped on. I got acquainted enough that they invited me to stay for the night with them at Puerto Raul Marin. I thus continued as they were definitely faster with a kayak than me with a packraft. The day was calm, nothing to be noticed if not the always present logs in the water. The arrival was quite rough as due to my delay I indeed had around one hour of paddling against the tide and wind, by this time the kayakers had joined me back so that I had company at least.
Overall the river is a nice paddling experience, you go over quite long stretches of uninhabited land and long nice panoramic sections.
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2024-Dec-10 to 2024-Dec-11 / 2 days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP + Variant G + RP / Roman'''</span>
Route: Did the normal RP route and the Variant G
As I was connecting from GPT27P it was easy access.
The river was quite wide and I would say with a lot of water. All rapids can be easily done and I haven't done scouting.
I would consider myself a beginner - this is my 2nd season on the GPT with a open packraft (Amfibio Delta MX).
Camped after day 1 here: -43.899418, -72.857532. I downloaded the tides and wanted to start late in the day to use the tide to the full advantage (high tide was 10:32 AM) and I started 10:30 AM. The effect of the tide (2m at RMB) was definitely noticeable. In hindsight I should have started earlier as I was facing havy headwind as the other days but as there was less current progress was slow (day 1: 6.6 km/h day 2: 3.9 km/h).
Arrived at Ferry, Camp {28P} [64.7/5] at 13:30 PM. Went trough the canal which is very calm with very slow current. As low tide was at 16:42 PM I carried the boat 900m over a bank from: -43.803283, -72.917054 to -43.797686, -72.932112 to have sufficient time during low tide. Arrived at RMB at 16:50 PM. Stayed at Camping Chungungo Expediciones Raúl Marín B. which was really nice.
Overall very nice calm and easy river, at this point in time with the given waterlevel and conditions.
Contact: https://linktr.ee/RundW
==Season 2023/24==
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2024-Jan-24 to 2024-Jan-29/ 5.5 days easy / Packrafting / GPT 27P+28P SOBO / RR / Lauren & Seb'''</span>
==Season 2021/22==
==Season 2020/21==
*<span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2021-Feb-05 to 2021-Feb-08 / GPT28P Option 5: Packrafting Seno Gala (and Ferry from Puerto Chacabuco to Quellon)Orientation: / Northbound Packrafting Dates: 2021-Feb-05 to 2021-Feb-08Participants: / Masha Ovchinnikova , Mikhail Bogdanov , Meylin Elisabeth Ubilla González and Jan Dudeck'''
Two years ago we rushed by packraft in about 4 hours through Seno Gala to paddle from Santo Domingo via Villa Melimoyu, Canal Jacaf and Canal Puyuhuapi to Puerto Cisnes (GPT28P Option 6 and 7). This left no time to investigate the lateral arms of this scenic fjord. Therefore we decided to return now and to utilize three days with optimal weather to enter the three lateral arms of Seno Gala.
==Season 2019/20==
*<span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2020-Jan-24 / Shaun / Regular Packrafting Route'''</span>
I paddled the regular routes of GPT27P and GPT28P as part of one trip, and my combined comments for both are under section GPT27P.
*<span style="background-color:aqua;">'''GPT28P / Option 1 / Isla Magdalena via Seno Magdalena, Seno Soto, Canal Jacaf and Canal Puyuhuapi / 2020-Jan-17 / 5 days /'''</span>
Meylin Elisabeth Ubilla González and Jan Dudeck
When entering Canal Puyuhuapi a decision must be taken to continue either to Puyuhuapi or Puerto Cisnes. Both towns are in 25 km distance and hot springs are on the way along shore in each direction. On the way to Puerto Cisnes two free hot springs are on the eastern shore of Isla Magdalena. On the way to Puyuhuapi two commercialized thermal springs are located.
*<span style="background-color:aqua;">'''GPT28P / Villa Melimoyu to Puerto Cisnes(Part of Option 1: Seno Gala, Canal Jacaf, Canal Puyuhuapi) / 2019-Nov-20 / 3 days / Meylin Ubilla & Jan Dudeck'''</span>
3 or 4 years ago - after packrafting the Rio Palena - we took the ferry from Raul Marin Balmaceda to Puerto Cisnes that passes 170 km along the Patagonian fjords. It was a calm sunny day, I spend most of the ferry ride on the deck and I was obviously thinking if these fjords can be packrafted.
The generally steep cost results in only few suitable landing beaches. And the forrest reaches right down to the high-tide line. The track files contain several decent beaches where camping seams more comfortable if hiding in the trees behind the open beach.
*<span style="background-color:aqua;">'''GPT28P / Packrafting from Santo Domingo to Villa Melimoyu (Part of Option 1) / 2019-Nov-18 / 1 day / Southbound / Meylin Ubilla & Jan Dudeck'''</span>
We now verified the suggested packrafting route from Santo Domingo to Villa Melimoyu that I first considered packrafting when taking this route by ferry after floating down Rio Palena.
Packrafting the 20 km from Rio Palena (next to Raul Marin Balmaceda) to Santo Domingo might be feasible on a perfect day if starting with the first light in the morning but this water route is a serious packrafting challenge as this water route traverse the unprotected Golfo de Corcovado. There are probably not more than a dozen such perfect days per season so either be very patient or take the next ferry. One of the bays along this unprotected route is named “Bahia Mala” (Bad Bay) and this seams no randomly chosen name. But when entering the “Canal Refugio“ (another well descriptive name) the wind and waves get suddenly a lot calmer. At the mouth of this more sheltered channel is the tiny settlement Santo Domingo that was founded some decades ago. Arriving here by ferry seams the rational choice if not willing to wait days or weeks for a suitable weather window.
*<span style="background-color:aqua;">'''GPT28P / Exploration Fjord Pitipalena (Part of Option 2) / 2019-11-14 / 3 days / Meylin Ubilla & Jan Dudeck'''</span>
We packrafted in the last 3 days the Fjord Pitipalena from Raul Marin Balmaceda (Puerto Marin or RMB) to the northern terminus of Brazo Pillan (Point B of attached map) and returned in two days back to Puerto Marin.
==Season 2018/19==
*Comments posted on Facebook by Jen Ni on January 5 2019<span style="background-color:aqua;">'''GPT27P and 28P (Alto and Bajo Rio Palena) Packrafting Westbound (😉): Palena to Raul Marin Balmaceda 2019-Jan-01 to 2019-Jan-04'''</span>[Comments posted on Facebook by Jen Ni on January 5 2019]
Our impression was that the river can be separated into 5 subsections, each with different character. All parts are attractive and felt quite remote. For camping you generally have the choice between sandy/rocky river banks and farm land.
==Season 2017/18==
*<span style="background-color:aqua;">'''Route description by Kara Davis after Season 2017/18:'''</span>
Río Palena continues to steadily grow as it makes its way towards the ocean. This section has noticeably fewer rapids, and mostly consists of calm, slow moving water. Camping is abundant and easy to find. There are many rocky beaches that lead to flat grassy or sandy land. Within 20 km or so from the ocean, tidal effects on the river current are noticeable. Check a tidal timetable before embarking to get an idea of good times to paddle. If the wind or tides makes paddling impracticable, it is possible to reach Ruta X-12, a dirt road which follows the river and leads to Puerto Raúl Marín Balmaceda.
Puerto R.M. Balmaceda has a few lodging options and lots of open ground for camping. There are a couple of expensive markets that could meet resupply needs, but Coyhaique or Puerto Aysen definitely have better options.
=Resupply and Accommodation=
=Permits, Entry Fees and Right-of-Way Issues=
=Links to other Resources=
=Images=