RIO SECO (DRY RIVER)
Gigantic R3
FIRST DESCENT: Toros Canyoning Group, July 2018
INTEREST: 3/5
Río Seco, the dry river, is a good route for the rainy season (although let’s not forget that a flash flood on the Toro River could end up blocking our exit). It’s basin is usually dry and there’s a couple of small and fun rappels prior to the monolithic waterfall at the end, which is almost 500 ft high, and which we broke down into three segments. Fantastic views of the Toro River canyon and a steep exit lead right back to the vehicles.
PERMITS
Access is from the main road and does not require permits.
The hike out from the Toro River goes through the property of Cascada Pozo Azul, where we parked our exit vehicle and whom we obtained the pertinent permit from (paying our entrance fee).
APPROACH
With a single vehicle, from “downtown” Bajos del Toro take route 708 Northbound towards Río Cuarto. After about 11Km and right before the bridge over río seco, park on a dirt road to the right just a few feet before the bridge. From there you can either walk to the river or rap off the bridge. We picked the latter.
(If you have 2 vehicles, you can park one car by Cascada Pozo Azul, so you’ll walk less on the exit)
Small R2, just shortly prior the big fall into the Toro river canyon
THE ROUTE
Since the route spans only two waterfalls, we decided to add a little something to it by rapping off the bridge (R1, 80 feet), double roping one of the strong beams and descending onto the dry riverbed. Of course this was completely optional but since there are only a handful of raps on this route we felt it was worth it.
From there, we start on a nice walk along the dry riverbed. We explored it in July, a very rainy month, and we did experience some very light flow, and even a few deep pools.
After walking for approximately 0.6 miles we reached a small waterfall in two segments (R2, 10 and 50 feet approximately), which we rigged natural from a tree on the left side of the riverbed and descended on a single line going through the flow.
From the bottom of this waterfall we hiked just under 330 feet to the crux of the route: a big waterfall almost 500 ft high (R3). Although we had a 120 m rope with us, in order to guarantee successful rope retrieval, we descended the waterfall in three pitches: a first rap from an artificial anchor on the left of the river helped us rap 30 feet to a square rock shelf; there, we set up another artificial anchor on the left wall and descended a second pitch (R4) of 130 feet approximately.
We installed the last artificial anchor on a tiny outcrop and from there we threw the last pitch (R5) of approximately 360 feet. This last line allowed us to intercept the flow for a spectacular landing in a huge pool right below the waterfall. Once at the bottom we only had to hike 160 feet along the riverbed to reach the large Toro River Canyon, where the route ends.
The shelf where we set up the second pitch (R3b)
EXIT
Once at the Toro river, we followed it upstream (crossing it several times to avoid its strong flow) until we found the Pozo Azul tributary (on the same side of the canyon as Río Seco). There we hiked up the Pozo Azul river until we got to the base of another giant waterfall (which we already descended on a prior exploration), where we find a tourist trail on the “river left” (i.e. the RIGHT if you are looking at the waterfall from its base). We followed the tourist trail, which ascends steeply up the canyon walls, until we came out of the gorge. The very same trail led us across the Pozo Azul river (above the waterfall) and to an unpaved road, which we followed out onto the main road and back to our vehicle.
The last pitch of the giant waterfall (R3c)
FLOW
As the name “dry river” implies, the river tends to be… dry. During the dry season you likely won’t find a single drop of water in this river, while during the rainy season it has a little flow and some nice pools. HOWEVER, please note there is no sedimentation on the riverbed, the rocks are clean and polished and there are no piled up leaves and dirt, which means this riverbed is definitely not fossil and that a good flow does come down during heavy rain.
On the other hand, the Toro river’s flow (where the route ends) is very strong, and during the rainy season a flooded Toro river could make the exit impossible.
During the rainy season even the “dry river” has water in it
TECHNICAL SPECS
SEASON: Year round
ELEVATION LOSS: 675 feet
LENGTH: 0.9 miles
APPROACH: 65 meters
DESCENT: 3 - 5 hours
EXIT: 1.3 miles
HIGHEST RAPPEL: 360 feet approximately
ROPES: 1×200 feet + 1 x 400 feet
MATERIAL: Webbing, quick links, parabolts and drilling gear
WETSUITS: none or 3mm
FLASH FLOOD HAZARD: Unlikely but possible on the Rio Seco basin, very high on the Toro River basin (see section on Flow, above).
MAP 1:50k: Quesada
