Río Chancalá, Chiapas, Mexico (area: Palenque; click here for the Chiapas table of rivers)

river photo

Class: III-; Ave. Gradient: 2 m/km; Portages: 2 x III+; Length: 15 to 29 km; Time: 4 to 8 hours

Season: June to February; rafts? with some carries; Highlights: scenery; Crux Move: applying sunscreen

Water Quality: good; Water Temperature: warm

PI: Chocoljá bridge (elev.: 118m); TO: El Eden or Bonfis or Netzahualcóyotl

Description: (click here for general notes about my descriptions)

The Chancalá is a scenic float through a lovely valley. You will see many birds, and possible some howler monkeys, along the way, as well as pass a few low-volume travertine rapids which provide a bit of excitement. The Chancalá also provides an alternative shorter entrance to the canyon section of the Río Usumacinta.

The upper section, the best for rafting, runs 15 km from the Chocoljá highway bridge down to El Eden. Near the beginning you slip through a few easy rapids. At about the 1:30 mark, you come to a III+ rapid with a narrow twisting chute that beginners should portage. 15 minutes later you reach the Chancalá itself. From here the river-left El Eden road comes close from time to time. You will pass a number of easy rapids down to El Eden, plus a taller III+, where most of the water drops 8 feet into a narrow crack in the limestone. Near the end you also pass a less-disturbed portion of rainforest where you have the best chance to hear and see howler monkeys. 3-4 hours.

Note that the upper section is downstream of the the lower Chocoljá (III+).

The middle section runs 8 km down to Bonfis (no bridge). Through this section the river runs through some narrower bits. Be on the lookout for one more III- near the end of this section, a multi-step slide. You can recognize the Bonfis access by the small stream falling to the river, followed by a trail up a denuded bank, all on river-right. 1 1/2 hours.

The lower section, 6 km down to the car bridge at Netzahualcóyotl, is even flatter than the other sections with no tricky rapids. 1 hour if you keep paddling.

The bottom section leads 3 km to the confluence with the Río Usumacinata. This section has some fun small travertine ledge drops up to III+ difficulty which are mostly bunched up towards the end. Some of the lines need to be chosen carefully, and change, at lower and higher water. 45 to 60 minutes depending how much you scout.

Flash Flood Danger: low.

Descent History: Scott Davis led the first descent down the Chancalá (and lower Chocoljá) in the 80's. Cully Erdman used to run commercial rafting trips quite a bit running out to the Usumacinta (4-day trips).

Flow Notes: There is no useful on-line gage, you'll have to check the flow at the bridge. For those willing to carry once in a while, the pools can be floated and enjoyed year-round. There seems to always be enough in the lower parts to run out to the Usumacinta. My impressions are with about 200 cfs at the highway bridge.

Shuttle Notes: The Chocoljá bridge is at km 42 on the Fronterizo del Sur highway. There is a dirt road down to the river on the downstream/river-right side of the bridge. To get to the El Eden hammock bridge, turn at km 50 and go 4 km. (El Eden itself is on the other side of the river; the way over there is via Río Chancalá town (km 32) and driving about 20 km getting close to the river in several spots.) The Bonfis/Netzahualcóyotl turn is at km 54.7. The Bonfis access is 4.2 km down this road, where you pass a water pipe and picnic tables. The final access at the Netzahualcóyotl bridge is 7 km further.

For those without a car, know that there are regular mini-buses on the border highway but there is very little traffic on the El Eden or Netzahualcóyotl roads.

Accommodations: Palenque is the natural staging point and has a wide variety of hotels. There are other hotels closer to the PI on the border highway. I can recommend the economical Camino Verde hotel at km 54 (Ricardo Flores Magón village) near the Bonfis turn.

Nearby Tourist Attractions: Chocoljá waterfall; Piedras Negras ruins via Busilhá; you are also halfway from Palenque to the Bonampak and Yaxchilán ruins.