Río Titihuapa, Main & Lower, El Salvador (click here for the El Salvador table of rivers)

river photo

Class: IV- ; Flow: 150-500 cfs; Average Gradient: 6 m/km; Portages: no; Length: 16 + 8 km; Time: 3.5 + 1.5 hours

Season: June to October ; rafts? no; Highlights: mini-canyons early on; Crux move: endurance paddling later on

Put-In: Amatitán Abajo bridge (200 m) or Chapelcoro road (93 m); Take-Out: Dolores road (57 m)

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

The Río Titihuapa is a warm water/warm air run in central El Salvador. You will see few people and little trash, but plenty of colorful abrasive medium-sized boulders. Most of the gradient happens in the upper third of the run, in manageable chunks through a series of mini-canyons. At low flows, the lines are III+; if you catch better flows, expect some IV-. 64 El Salvador The steepest part starts 45 minutes in and lasts 20-30 minutes. The biggest drop, which I called Chocolate Fountain, appears 15 minutes later. 20 minutes after that, the higher gradient ends, right where small cascades come in together on both sides.

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

Descent History: I ran this in September, 2013, with 300 cfs at the TO.