Río Aguacapa, Guatemala (area: Pacific Escuintla; click here for the Guatemala table of rivers)

river photo

Class: III-; Ave. Gradient: 11 m/km; Portages: none; Length: 5 km; Time: 40 minutes

Season: June to October; rafts? no; Highlights: easy creeking; Crux move: the trash jam

Water Quality: poor; Water Temperature: not noted

PI: CA-1 bridge (930 m); TO: La Fabrica dam (875 m)

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

The Río Aguacapa is the main tributary of the Río María Linda, and the highest river in the Pacific Escuintla chapter (though it kind of cheats by starting in the department of Guatemala). Where it crosses CA-1, it is very small, but immediately creeks come in left, then right, so sometimes it has enough for boating. It makes a good but very short introduction-to-creeking run close to the capital that can be easily lapped.

A full description is in the Mayan Whitewater Guatemala guidebook.

Descent History: I ran this solo in June 2011.

Flow Notes: It is tough to catch a boatable flow here. The best hint for levels is probably the Guatemala City rain gauges.

Nearby Tourist Attractions: Sights in Guatemala City.