Río Jaitique, Upper, Honduras (click here for the Honduras table of rivers)

river photo

Class: IV- ; Flow: 100-300 cfs; Average Gradient: 8 m/km; Portages: no; Length: 8.5 km; Time: 1 hour

Season: June to October; rafts? no; Highlights: short and sweet; Crux move: catching the water

Put-In: Tamilito bridge (552 m); Take-Out: Jaitique bridge (482 m)

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

The Upper Río Jaitique can be a warm-up for the full-on Lower run, or just a 1-hour kayaking fix. It contains fairly busy and rocky class III that abuses your boat at normal low flows, but could easily be class IV at rare higher flows. Starting on the Río Tamilito (having the higher flow that day) it took us 17 minutes down to the Río Tepemechines confluence. After reaching a hammock bridge 3 minutes later (an alternate PI), the steepest section starts, with back-to-back class III+ through jagged rock for 15 minutes, and then more spaced out for 10 minutes. The final 15 minutes are easier down to the Jaitique bridge. FYI, shore trash is quite evident on this run.

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

Descent History: Jorge Salaverri and I ran this in October 2021 with 60 cfs at the PI.