Wild Patagonia: Expedition to the Baker and Pascua Rivers
by Aviva Imhof, Campaigns Director
In January 2008, I was privileged to take part in one of the first ever expeditions to the headwaters of the majestic Pascua River. The journey, which involved two days on a bus down the dusty Carretera Austral, an 18-hour boat journey, and two days back, took us to some of the most remote and wild parts of Patagonia, passing by magnificent lakes, spectacular glaciers, the two Patagonian ice caps, and a series of wild and untamed rivers.
HidroAysén, a Chilean-Spanish corporation, wants to construct three dams on the Pascua and two on the nearby Baker River and send the power 1500 miles north to Santiago. Environmentalists in Chile have teamed up with International Rivers and other international organizations to put a stop to their plans. International Rivers organized this expedition to give journalists, activists and local people a first-hand glimpse of what’s at stake. Here’s the story of our journey.
We start in Coyhaique, the regional capital of Aysén, Chile’s Region 11. A city of some 70,000 people, Coyhaique sits nestled in between snow-capped mountains. Our first day’s travel takes us through the Cerro Castillo National Reserve, with the majestic Cerro Castillo mountain as the reserve’s centerpiece. The campaign “Patagonia Sin Represas” or “Patagonia Without Dams” has reached even this remote place.
Our journey takes us past spectacular lakes such as Lago General Carrera, the second largest lake in the Americas. The amount of fresh water stored in this part of Chile never ceases to amaze me. The lake is crystal clear and a deep shade of blue.
Eventually we arrive at Puerto Bertrand, which boasts the headwaters of the Baker River. The Baker, the most voluminous river in Chile, is a shade of turquoise green that I’ve never witnessed before in a healthy river (unfortunately, I have seen this color in a river before, but that was in a river infested with toxic blue-green algae!).
Containing some of the purest waters on the planet, the Baker’s magnificent color comes from the particles released from melting glaciers. HidroAysén plans to build the first dam in the river canyon pictured here, flooding the canyon and areas upstream of it.
Meanwhile, our group makes a side visit to Valle Chacabuco, the spectacular property purchased by Douglas and Kris Tompkins, who plan to donate it to the people of Chile as a national park. Valle Chacabuco is located on a tributary of the Baker River. There we are greeted by many friends, including scores of Guanaco, a relative of the llama, that call Valle Chacabuco their home.
After another day's travel, we make it to Villa O'Higgins, literally the end of the road. This dusty village of some 500 inhabitants is the departure point for our boat trip to the headwaters of the Pascua River. At 7am the next morning about 50 of us; international journalists; activists from Santiago, Coyhaique and Cochrane; and a host of local people from Villa O'Higgins, depart for a 6-hour boat trip on the deepest lake in the Americas, Lago O'Higgins. Excitement is in the air. Local people tell us that fewer than 100 people have ever visited the headwaters of the Pascua, what a truly historic day this was going to be!
Together with us are the members of the "Pascua expedition," a group of eight brave hikers, including International Rivers' Patagonia Campaign Coordinator Aaron Sanger, who are to spend the next week trekking their way down the Pascua River to get to know this little-known but threatened river.
Finally, we arrive at our destination: the Pascua. And what a sight it is! A gorgeous beach, wildflowers, a free-flowing river, with the Southern Patagonian Ice Cap in the background. We are in paradise.
(Later, a group of eight people went futher into paradise, spending 7 days and eight nights backpacking alongside the Pascua River. Click here for that story.)
But wait: it gets better. We hike along the river for about an hour to the first waterfall. And what a beauty it is! A raging torrent of water, we are mesmerized by its power and raw natural beauty. We are equally dismayed to hear that this waterfall would be flooded by the first dam if it is built. And of course, no visit is complete without a protest, so our friends and colleagues unfurl banners stating "Free and Living Rivers, Free and Living Communities." We pray that we will be successful in allowing this river to forever run free.
