Rio Quijos – The Tributaries – Ecuador - RaftingLife - Whitewater Adventures of Dave Prothero

February 10, 2018

Arriving in Ecuador, I found the rivers to be on the lower side. However after the first week we had a lot of rain and the rivers started to rise. With the water on the rise we were able to get on a number of the tributaries to the Quijos river. We first hit the Lower Casonga river, a 9 km section. Some amazing boofs , great wildlife and fantastic rapids always made it lots of fun. Hit it up at 11 -15 on the gauge while I was there over three different trips. The rain kept up and this made getting on the Upper Casonga section possible. One of my Favorite boofs from the 16 days of paddling was on this section, i believe the rapid was called ‘Chibolo’, (Lump on the head).

Also check the arrows to slide through the photos. Enjoy the photos.

Robert hiking into the Upper Casonga river

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Upper & Lower Casonga Adventures

With the rain slowing down we were able to get on the Oyacachi river, a 10km run at medium flows. This was fantastic, great read and run rapids, some amazing stacked sections and beautiful scenery. There is another beautiful boof as you get closer to the Quijos confluence.

Matt going for a big boof on the Rio Oyacachi.

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Rio Oyacachi

The rain then picked up once again allowing us to get on the Rio Borja. A super fun class 3/4 run close to the Cabanas Tres Rios. Was pretty stoked to get out on it. Even though that this one cracked the Antix it was still a super exciting run.

Glen checking out the Put-in of the Rio Borja

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Rio Borja

My last day on the river led us to run the Lower Sardinas Grande at medium flows, check out this wee clip here. This is a fantastic, fast, and exciting run. The 3km run is very fast and makes for some great boat maneuvering. At 180ft per mile and a lot of blind corners it helps to have some one who knows the run, also keep a close eye out for wood.