Río Grande (de Higuito), Upper & Lower, Honduras (click here for the Honduras table of rivers)

river photo

Class: II/III, V- ; Flow: 150-1,500 cfs; Average Gradient: 5 m/km; Portages: no; Length: 26, 14 km; Time: 4, 2 hours

Season: June to early November; rafts? no; Highlights: few; Crux move: class V- in lower part

Put-In: San Marcos (923 m); Take-Out: Lucerna (813 m) or El Cantil (730 m)

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

The stretch of the Río Higuito above Cucuyagua, known as Río Grande (or, in parts, Río Alash), is for the most part lacking in whitewater, except for the last part where at one point there is a little too much. The easy sections are in the 26 km Upper part down to Lucerna. It starts with 50+ minutes of II+/III- to the San Francisco hammock bridge, then 20 minutes mostly flat with some scrapy II and wood strainers to another hammock bridge, then 30 minutes with some II to the Sensenti hammock bridge, then 20 minutes mostly flat to the Sensenti bridge, then 45 minutes mostly flat with some II+ to the confluence of the Río Sixe next to the road, then 75 minutes mostly flat with some III to the Lucerna hammock bridge.

A full description is in the Mayan Whitewater El Salvador, Honduras, & Nicaragua guidebook.

Descent History: I ran this, once, in August 2006.