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=Overview=
* General Recommendations: The section is best paddled between January and May. The primary danger would be a high and fast river, typically most common early in the season, or after heavy rain. The river can only be paddled westwards.
Section 27P is 103.5km and takes 2-2.5 days to complete. Together with Section 28P, the two sections are a total of 180km and take around 4 days.
The section is stunning, interesting, unpopulated and fun. Although, in reality, much of 27P is not too far from a road or occasional buildings, these are rarely visible and the river feels remote. Even more so for the continuation onto Section 28P. Alto Río Palena passes through farmland with a mountainous backdrop. It is very scenic. The many rapids and constantly changing features of the river make it stimulating. Combined with 28P, paddling on one river from the mountains to the Pacific is a wonderful experience. A very attractive section.
Río Palena may not be suitable for beginners. There are many 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, and some of the earliest and most challenging ones, can be portered around. Plus, the many obstacles in the river are avoidable.
=Section Log, Alerts and Suggestions=
==Season 2025/26==
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2026-02-14 to 2026-02-17 / 4 Days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Pierre & Clotilde'''</span>
(Our entire descente, alto y bajo)
Thank you for the previous comments, which are indeed very accurate. What can change your trip is the flow rate and the amount of debris in the water depending on the time of year you're paddling the Palena. Currently in 2026 February, the flow was good, but there are still submerged logs that you need to be careful of.
We arrived from Argentina by taking a bus from Esquel to Carrenleufu, which runs three times a week at 8:30 am (monday, wednesday, friday). It drops you off around noon, and then you just have to walk to the border posts, which are quite close. To reach the village of Palena, you can either walk 9 km past the Chilean post or hitchhike.
Campsite below the bridge -43.609681,-71.816991.
First day: Class 2 rapids and sometimes 2+ or 3 (for the two mentionned) depending on the water level. Portaging or scouting is possible. At the 4.2 rapid, there's a tree to watch out for if you take it. At the 23.4 rapid, take the left fork. At km 47, there are several trees in the rapid, try to stay on the left side to avoid being pulled by the current onto the tree in the middle.
There are eddies, but this is common throughout the river. The campsite at -43.75009, -72.281043 is a very peaceful grassy area.
The water is clear and doesn't cause illness without a filtration system or boiling.
Day two: fewer rapids but some have good waves. A nice section with a possible exit at -43.955479, -72.397964 allows for a 2 km portage to the center of La Junta.
Day three: re-enter the water at -43.961937, -72.396105, near the bridge. Reconnect with the Rio Palena by taking a section of the Rio Rosselot. Fewer rapids; the two main ones are less impressive than those of the previous days. Scouting from the bank is possible, and portaging is also an option to avoid them.
The river widens, the scenery changes, watch out for eddies, but the same applies as the previous days. At the end of 24.1 rapid, there is indeed a shear zone with whirlpool, but by going slowly and staying with the current, it's manageable.
The hidden Termas Puerto Bonito are incredible, not to be missed -43.955159,-72.733642. It's possible to take refuge there for a night in bad weather as there's a changing room with a sheet metal roof, but camping is normally prohibited according to the rules, so it's best to avoid it. Camping is available on the opposite bank.
Day four: check the tide times; we started to feel the effect around the ferry. We were on a rising tide at that point, and we weren't really slowed down until we reached the ferry. The 3km ferry crossing to the canal is a bit slower, but in calm conditions it's fine. On the canal, with the tide coming in, you get a boost at the beginning, and then you don't really feel it as you make progress. You can stop at the bridge to wait for the low tide, which will greatly help when entering the fjord.
We were still on the incoming tide, so it worked, but it was even slower; the opposing current is more noticeable, but it's manageable. An low tide is definitely preferable. We were greeted by sea lions and other seabirds. We disembarked on the beach at the first pier. It's a charming village, we really enjoyed our four days in Raul Marin Balmaceda. Hostal El Viajero is the perfect place to stay : inexpensive, clean, with a washing machine available, and the owners are incredibly friendly. They also usually accept credit cards. If you stay there, the Wi-Fi works on the outside stairs near the kitchen door but the network stay poor, but Isla del Palena has Starlink if needed.
Kioscos accept cards, but sometimes it glitches, so consider bringing extra cash just in case.
The fjord teems with life: Humboldt penguins, dolphins, sea lions, and all kinds of birds. The Hermanas Islands opposite offer the chance to see whales, otters, and more.
Free hot springs are accessible by packraft to coordinates -43.837496, -72.710591 (to be confirmed). Check with the locals.
We left on Sunday by ferry to Puerto Cisnes. Tickets can be purchased online or at the kiosk on Isla del Palena.
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-12-30 to 2026-01-02 / 2 Days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Michel, Lisa & Antoine'''</span>
A lovely section where the river nature and landscapes keep changing. Relaxed, fast flowing and many camping options.
Attractivity: 4.5 (more remote/wilder would be a 5)
Difficulty: 2 (our experience given the exceptional weather and favourable winds)
Day 1
We took the bus running from Palena to Futaleufú at 13:30 for 5mn and got out at Bridge (27P} (2.3/194]. We put in and started paddling down the beautiful river. The rapids were not an issue and we paddled all but rapid 24.3 (??). Antoine in his 1 person boat paddled it though. There are many places along the river that look like great campsites. Many of them are most likely on private land since there are settlers and cows everywhere (it should be easy to hide though). We continued to [-43.64793, -71.91816] in 2 h 30 min where we found a really nice campsite at the confluence of Rio Palena, Tigre and another small stream. The land owner was cutting wood nearby in the forest and we asked him if we could camp there. He said yes of course and didn't seem to mind one bit. Best to ask anyways if you can I guess.
Day 2
We continued down the river without any issues. The canyon scenery was splendid and felt wild. Rapids were all fine to navigate, even though we got sucked into the wrong line on one of them. After paddling 5 h we found a really nice camp spot here [-43.71026, -72.16098] with a big old log for wind shelter, an open area with beautiful views of the mountains and sheltered spots among the trees to pitch our tent. Had a warm relaxed afternoon, swam in the river and celebrated new year with a bottle of wine and Antoine even managed to make a small fire in the still pretty fierce wind (with a lot of wind protection of course).
Day 3
The views from the river were absolutely stunning today and it got pretty warm with sun all day long (just like the last days). Rapid {27P} (47.1/104] was really easy, without any problems. The confluence of Rio Frío is wonderful and the water color changes so much! We did 32 km and camped on a rocky bank (no wind or sun protection though), here: [-43.73649, -72.34523]. On the other side of the river there seem to be nice grassy spots that are more sheltered from wind and sun, so that would be an option for camp, too. It's closer to the road though.
Day 4
We paddled to La Junta quite efficiently thanks to a good flow. Especially closer to La Junta the flow was good so we just floated. In the village we bought some additional food and continued directly with GPT28P.
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-12-10 & 2025-12-16 to 2025-12-18 / 4 days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Dave & Siyuan'''</span>.
Day 1: Nice easy paddle on the river. Several rapids, but nothing over grade 2. All are easily portaged by those in flatwater rafts. We had a strong headwind all day. We exited at the El Tranquilo cable ferry. There was bad weather forecast so we hitch hiked back to Palena to wait it out.
Day 2: After the storm we rejoined at the same spot. Again, nice easy river with just a couple of easily portaged grade 2 rapids. We camped at a great spot at -43.74537, -72.27095.
Day 3: Again very easy river with no notable rapids. The river widens and slows quite a bit today. We camped at a great spot at -43.87958, -72.37532.
Day 4: River widens and slows again, no notable rapids. We exited at La Junta.
==Season 2024/25==
<span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-02-11 to 2025-02-12 / 1day / Packrafting / SOBO / regular (partly) / Thijmen Scholten'''</span>
* Water level was low at least 1m under the algae line on the rocks
* Due to low waterlevel Rapid 7.9/168 was dangerous because all of the current went underneath strainers. So I walked.
* Read river early and go were most water goes, to avoid hitting rocks.
* It's beautiful!! Alot of small little rapids.
* Many campspots next to river and good fishing.
* After rapid 23.4/135 There is a split in the river take left even though it's shallow! I got suck into strainers and had to jump and abandon my packraft that was sucked under. I think with high water levels you can easily avoid the trees but now with low water levels it's impossible.
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-02-11 to 2025-02-13 / 3 days / Packrafting/ SOBO/ RP / Tomáš&Natalie'''</span>
BUS INFO: From Futaleufu, we tried to take the 10am bus to Chaiten with the plan to get off at Puerto Ramírez, but it was full. Apparently the 6am bus was full too (Buses every day @ 6am & 10am). You need to reserve at least a day in advance. The ticket office opens at 10am and is closed Sundays, expect a queue in the morning. They said this does not apply for the bus to Palena (Tuesdays 9am & 430pm, Thursdays 430pm)- for that you just show up at the terminal. We did not want to wait, so we hitched: it took us 4 cars and 5 hours. We arrived in Palena 18:00, so we slept in a hospidaje here: -43.61753, -71.79944. 40 thousand for two with an early breakfast.
Buses from Chaiten to Palena go daily at 12 and 16:30. From Palena to Chaiten they go at 6 and 11. To Valle California (27H Option 1) Monday and Thursday at 8 and 16, going back an hour later. Buses that go along the Palena river to El Tranquilo (-43.73151, -72.16549) leave Monday at 8:30, Wednesday and Friday at 11 (going back at 11 and 14 respectively). This bus could be used to shorten the Palena or used for the first 5 km of 27H.
ROUTE:
Walking from Palena, you do not need to cross the bridge, there is a staircase to a beach on the left just before the bridge. What others said about the river largely holds, we had even lower water than most reports. The river was probably half a meter under its maximum (in narrower places more in wider less). At the beggining ground contact was a concern, but could mostly be avoided. In the second section, there are indeed trees, but largely easy to avoid and there is not that many of them compared to 17P. The first section goes through a beautiful gorge. In the second, there are magnificent pointy mountains on the left. We wondered if they have ever been climbed, given their relative remoteness, namelessness and moderate prominence and altitude (~2000m). Side streams for drinking were pretty regular until km 85.5, after that until the sea you can easily got 10–15 km between drinkable accessible streams.
Entel internet good in Palena and La Junta, also about 20 km downstream from Palena, there must be a tower as our e-mails got randomly downloaded. In La Junta, we spent too much time shopping, so ended up camping 50 m downstream from the takeout, where there is a table, but it probably belongs to someone.
As for the rapids:
- In 4.2, there is a tree trunk in the middle, complicating it, but one can go left of it. More complicated in shallow water as your line gets narrower.
- We walked 7.9 as the main current runs you into willows.
- 23.4 was easy on the left, it is a rock garden (two, actually, with a break in the middle). Class II at this river level, it could be harder with more water.
- 47.0, where mad nomad capsized, is an uncomplicated class II rapid with high (~1m) waves if you manage to hit the V between the trunks. However, it then pushes you against a head wall with some speed, so remember to exit it in time. We did not and hit the wall at a slow speed (via backpaddling), regained strength in an eddy along the wall, and then exited- but it wasn't easy.
Overall we took our time with this section, late mornings and early evenings but it was very nice and the landscape was surprisingly beautiful - try to get a weather window!
Nat's Notes:
-Jen Ni's 5 part Wiki post is a great general overview, a must read.
-At this point in time I would not say post Rio Frio was "fast flowing", maybe only moderately fast in the bits with rapids. There was a lot more padding than expected, I think we averaged only 6kph.
-Loved the mountain scenery!
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-Jan-15 to 2025-Jan-17 / 3 days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Davide Materia'''</span>
I started the palena bridge the morning of 15th of January. Right from the beginning I realized the water level was unusually low, in the first 200m I already had to get out of the packraft to walk on the riverbed. It got better afterwards and along the river I never had to portage anymore for the next five days. The first day there was not much of a log problem, this deteriorated the next days with always more and more logs present in the river bed. The low water level allowed to see most of them but also made so that some branches of passages were completely blocked by logs. In some section you might have a window as tight as 2m to pass, with the rest of the width being blocked. Still, I would consider the river viable and safe enough to be packrafted for the whole duration, but I don't know for how much longer of the dry season this will be valid.
As for the days in details:
15th-palena to S 43,670578° O 72,094896°, camped on the eroding cliff of the riverbed a bit further from the erosion border. The whole day was characterized by strong headwinds which made packrafting the ~0-gradient sections of the river quite unpleasant, East-bound wind of up to 25kph, this was definitely the worst day wind wise
16th-Nothing to mention here in particular. Camped again on the erosion cliff at S 43,729461° O 72,342124°on a grazing property after asking to the owner. Wind had picken up against me a bit later than the prior day and we're much calmer, still I didn't feel like forcing my way through them to la Junta and so I camped a bit after the union of Rio palena with Rio frio.
17th- easy day with almost no wind since the river goes SOBO. Pleasant and quick packrafting, I only did half the day to stop at camping agua vida in La Junta, which replenished my strengths and allowed to clean up clothes and body. Furthermore, it has easy access to the river so that I didn't have to pack everything and unpack, I just carried the packraft to the river with all the gear already in the cargo.
I continue with the rest of the report in the 28P page
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2024-Dec-08 to 2024-Dec-09 / 2 days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Roman'''</span>
Route: Did the normal RP route
Took a bus from Puerto Montt to Chaitén at 07:00 AM and there is a connecting Bus to Panela where you arrive at 20:00 PM.
Camped at the opposite site of the Bridge, Camp, River In {27P} [2.3/194] as there was a car and the Camp spot was semi nice. You can access the other side via a small path directly after the bridge towards palenda on the right here: -43.608988, -71.817478. The water level I wild say high. As this is very subjective find here a picture for reference: https://imgur.com/a/cli2uGn
I would consider myself a beginner - this is my 2nd season on the GPT with a open packraft (Amfibio Delta MX).
I was very cautious but all rapids were doable and I only scouted Rapid {27P} [4.2/178] and Rapid {27P} [23.4/135]. The previous descriptions regarding "take them left right etc. are all valid and i followed them.
Camp after day 1 here: -43.745365, -72.270947 which was a perfect nice flat grass spot.
Day 2 no special remarks - camped in La Junta at Camping and Cabañas Vientos del Sur can reccomend.
Overall the river was easy, really nice, beautiful and fast flowing. Had a average of 5.4 km/h and 6.6 km/h.
Contact: https://linktr.ee/RundW
==Season 2023/24==
*2023<span style="background-Deccolor:aqua;">'''2024-04 Jan-24 to 2024-Jan-29/ Approx 4 5.5 days easy / Packrafting / GPT 27P+28P SOBO / RR / Tom PieperLauren & Seb'''</span>
==Season 2021/22==
*<span style="background-color:aqua;">'''GPT 27 and 28P/ Alto y Bajo Río Palena/ Packrafting Route / 2022 Jan-24 / 5 days / Tobias Schorcht'''</span>
The Palena River is a juvel for all Packrafters with some experience. It was a pleasure to paddle down all the way from Palena to Rául Marín Balmaceda and see the changes of the river day by day. I started right under the brigde 2km beside Palena. There was not that much water in the upper part, I had to carry the Packraft 4 times during the first 20 Kilometers. Since it is an unregulated stream, the riverbelt and the rapids are changing constantly. I observed some of the rapids before I started kayaking, which was absolutly necessary. The confluencia with Río Frío is spectacular, because the colores of the 2 rivers starts to mix. The river speeds up in the lower parts, gets wider and more effected by the wind, who appears usually from the seaside. Be aware of the tides which influences the level of the River after -43.88645/ -72.83230 up to 3m. After reaching the fjord I saw penguins and hundrets of seawolves (Punta islote) which came veeery close to my boat 😅. Enjoy!
==Season 2020/21==
==Season 2019/20==
*<span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2020-Jan-22 / Shaun / Regular Packrafting route'''</span>
I combined this section with GPT28P. These two sections are spectacular, varied, fun and challenging. I barely saw another person the entire time, and there’s something very satisfying about following a single river all the way out to the ocean. Very enjoyable and memorable.
==Season 2018/19==
*Comments posted on Facebook by Jen Ni 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 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>:
Notes to consider before beginning: Be aware that the Chilean border control outside of Carrenleufú requires you to declare items in your possession, so keep this in mind when resupplying. They will confiscate certain foods, including produce and honey brought from Argentina.
==Season 2016/17==
=Resupply and Accommodation=
*Franco, the owner of Los Rosadita hotel in Palena, can share expert knowledge of Rio Palena. The hotel is also a nice play to stay and makes good pizzas.
* There is a shop that sells a very good selection of unpackaged goods ideal for hikers (nuts, seeds, granola, lentils, etc.) called Emporio Canelo in Futaleufú, here: [-43.18619, -71.86853]. It doesn't seem to be on Google Maps currently.
* In Palena the resupply options are rather limited. We managed to find a medium gas canister (with thread) in one of the shops, vegetable Selection was sub par, at least for us coming from the north.
* Palena has a nice bakery that sells really good (sourdough?) bread.
* In Palena, the café close to the bus stop sells dry nuts and has a good selection of cakes
==Resupply and Accommodation along the Route==
=Transport to and from Route=
*Zach
The ferry still runs Thursdays and Sundays, although it left around 11:30, not 9:40 as the website states. No problem to buy a ticket upon boarding.
* There's a bus twice a week from Futaleufú to Palena and in the other direction. It runs Tuesdays (F->P: 9am, 4pm) and Fridays (9am).
=Permits, Entry Fees and Right-of-Way Issues=