This was the first place I arrived, but then left for Tena the next morning. Arriving back a few days later, stoked to explore, I spent quite a few days kayaking in this valley. During that time I was lucky to paddle all the sections upstream of the dam. Managing to run them at a variety of levels, one of the top days was a lap Jed and myself did of the Cheese House section and Bridge to Bridge.
From then on the River started to get higher and higher. During the Quijos Race day a few of us did safety and took photos at a few spots. I managed to get a few photos of racers going through double drops.
Probably one of my favorite sections was El Chaco canyon which we did at a lower flow around 12 or so and then hit around 15-16 on the gauge. The canyon walls and the rock features are fantastic on this section.
The Rio Quijos has a total of 7 different sections comprising of almost 60km of whitewater. Going from class 5 up at the top down to a variety of class – 4 and Class 3 sections downstream.
This river was the staple of paddling in Ecuador. It is easy to get shuttles with taxis on the bridge to bridge section and then link that into the section above El Chaco canyon. Staying at Ecuador Kayak’s base near the Rio Borja made that even easier. Plus there was a hot tub and drinks at the take-out. Bonus!!
Taxi conference Loading up
Enjoy the photos below,
Good People
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