A free-flowing river, the Pacuare meanders north and then once it hits the low-lying area of Siquirres, heads east and ends in the Caribbean. The most commonly rafted and visited section is the Lower Pacuare, where you’ll find our popular Two Day Pacuare and 3-Day Raft + Zip adventures. However, when the flows are right other segments of this river are worth exploring. One of these is the Upper Upper Pacuare.
The Upper Upper Pacuare is located upstream from our regular starting point. If you are in inflatable kayaks or packrafts you need lower water flows, so timing a visit during the dry season is the way to go. Recently, one of our longtime guides, Luigi, a pack rafting guest, and I explored this region. The three of us made a day trip out of it in early March.
The standard Upper Upper run is just over 10 kilometers, however, you can add a couple of kilometers to this by driving a little further up the road. The scenery is classic Pacuare: vibrant green jungle, rolling hills, and mountains. What’s different is this area has more towns and you’ll see far more Indigenous fishing, farming, or simply hanging out by the river.
The whitewater is interesting, continuous and primarily Class II+ and III. If you are an experienced boater, then at lower flows you shouldn’t have any issues running the rapids. In the 10 kilometers, there is probably more whitewater than flat water. And where there is flat water, you’ll find cool, deep swimming holes, perfect for hopping in and getting refreshed. Of note, there are a couple named rapids that you should scout. The most significant is Por Donde Me Voy (Where do I go) which features a long stretch of a jumble of large rocks you would need to navigate through. We stopped and scouted for ten seconds, said nope! and walked around it easily on river left.
The takeout is the starting point for the next section, aptly named Upper Pacuare. From there this feeds into the Lower Pacuare, where you’ll eventually raft to our lodge. On our day trip, we got to the takeout and then drove to the lodge, simply because we had spent the day exploring this section of river and had to beat the dark. A short drive up the canyon we came across a delicious soda, (similar in style to an American diner) where we stopped and had a late lunch.
This isn’t a trip that’s regularly offered by our company, but we do run it with pack rafting or kayaking groups when they come into town. At higher flows, rafting this section is possible and quite a bit of fun too. If you’re interested in checking out the Upper Upper and have paddling experience, feel free to email us to put together a trip. Logistics blend easily with our Pacuare lodge or the Turrialba Vista and we always love getting up here and seeing more of what the Pacuare has to offer.
