Río Metayate, El Salvador (click here for the El Salvador table of rivers)

river photo

Class: III ; Flow: 150-1,200 cfs; Average Gradient: 7 m/km; Portages: no; Length: up to 17.5 km; Time: up to 2.5 hours

Season: June to October ; rafts? bottom; Highlights: scenic class III; Crux move: catching the water

Put-In: Rancho Entre Rios (385 m); Take-Out: highway (260 m)

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

The Río Metayate is one of the nicer class III creeks in El Salvador, with a winning combination of rapids, scenery, little trash, and access. Its drainage area is quite small, however, requiring a complementary winning formula of focused rain over several days.

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

Descent History: I ran this in October 2022, with 150 cfs at the PI.