Río Viejo Santa Bárbara, Nicaragua (click here for the Nicaragua table of rivers)

river photo

Class: IV ; Flow: 400-800 cfs; Average Gradient: 8 m/km; Portages: oh yeah; Length: 8 or 21 km; Time: 1.5 or 5 hours

Season: June to October ; rafts? no; Highlights: scouting some challenging drops; Crux move: portaging them

Put-In: Santa Bárbara powerhouse (245 m); Take-Out: La Mojarra (68 m)

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

The Río Viejo Santa Bárbara is a dam-release run that does its best to make your life difficult, since it bunches up the gradient into numerous big drops forcing many portages, including a couple strenuous ones. In fact, what I found to be runnable was simply not that satisfying given the effort required, unless you opt to run just the bottom part. The convoluted bedrock is unique though.

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

Descent History: I ran this in September 2016, with 400 cfs.