Trespiedras Fly fishing, chile, Patagonia

On July 20th, I went to Yelcho area through Argentina. My idea was to check the reality with my own eyes and camera, I went over the area we usually work. It is not good idea to believe all from Journalism, almost 100% of the times they are sensationalist and they love to show just what impacts, they don't care if their job makes big damage to the economy of people, business, or families....

Going to Yelcho, I took this picture in Argentina, on the Rio Grande bridge right before to get the border when I was going to Chile (this river is called Futaleufu in Chile). There is 0.3 inches of ash. Also there was ash on El Bolson, Esquel and Trevelin

Rio Grande, Argentina from the bridge. Water looks with normal color, after a lot of rain in one of the most benign winter in 30 or more years. This winter almost there has not been snow on the valleys. Probably the CO2 expelled by Chaiten Volcano caused this warm winter.

Upper Futaleufu river in Chile (Rio Grande in Argentina), color of the water is normal for the conditions I saw. This probably will be little differnt in the spring when the snow melts. The town of Futaleufu has between 0.5 to 1 inch of ash depending on the place.

Espolon River, this is the most affected area, this valley has more or less between 0.6 to 2 inches of ash. The river is quite affected by ash, just I found some nymphs on the confluences with small tributary streams. It was little sad for me to see the condition of what was a cristal water river.

Here is possible to see the effects of ash in still waters, on the right side of the Espolon river (milk waters) there is a green arm that comes from a spring Creek, and on the left side of the river I saw this turquoise waters which was formed by mix of still water with ash.

I saw "Valle Bonito" (in english is "beautiful valley") full of ash, in average 1,5 inches of ash or more. The ground lost its permeability, as it is possible to see, big pools were formed by rain and snow melting.

5 Kilometers from Valle Bonito to the west, it is the Lonconao lake. I was surprised to see on the ground there wasn't the amount of ash that was on Vallle Bonito. There was just little. This gave me hopes of what I was going to see after while I was going to the south west following the Futalefu -Yelcho basin.

Azul river was absolutely normal. I didn't see changes in the water color, also there wasn't ash on the ground, nothing. My vision of the things changed considerably. Even, I would say this was better than my best hope. The volcano affected local areas, it didn't affect the county totally. Some of the areas didn't have ash and other were full of ash.

Before Futa bridge, there is not ash. With the exception of there wasn't snow, everything was normal on this place. I even coun't find ash. I tried to see ash on the ground, It was simply impossible, I was not able to find ash. Following the route we normally make every season, I could see how things were improving while I was getting closer to Yelcho lake.

Lower Futa, absolutely normal, the color and the condition of the river was completely normal. I went to look over the riverside and banks. Even I saw many stone flies under the free stones. There wasn't ash, nothing that remember Chaiten Volcano.

I found many Stoneflies on the lower Futaleufu and on the tributary streams of Futa and Yelcho river. The only one river I saw considerably affected it was the Espolon river. I didn't see dead fish even neither on the Espolon River.

This land is on the confluence of Michimahuida and Yelcho rivers. There was almost nothing, every was normal, with the sole exception of the volcanic silt that brought the Michimahuida river, this silt is possible to see on the banks of Michimahuida and on the Yelcho banks of the first 1000 meters after the confluence.

Yelcho river, it looks normal, just I found some volcanic silt, look at the gray spots on the river banks. The color and the conditions looks normal.

Here there is a chart with the different effects of the volcano. The area between the blue lines is Chaiten, this town was destroyed by Blanco river that made a big mudflow caused by the volcano. The sorroundings of the volcano (white line circle) is destroyed, there were fires cuased by incandescent material. The area between the orange lines is extremely affected, between red lines considerably affected and recoverable in long term, between red and Yelow lines it is the area that is not too much affected, recoverable in short term, the area between yelow and green lines is the area that is very little affected, even it is difficult to find ash due to the rain or snow absorbed most of the ash. And between green and light blue is the area that received little ash just some days, so there is nothing, the ash was absorbed quickly by rain or snow..


			On July 20th, I went to Yelcho area through Argentina. My idea was to check the reality with my own eyes and camera, I went over the area we usually work. It is not good idea to believe all from Journalism, almost 100% of the times they are sensationalist and they love to show just what impacts, they don't care if their job makes big damage to the economy of people, business, or families.... Going to Yelcho, I took this picture in Argentina, on the Rio Grande bridge right before to get the border when I was going to Chile (this river is called Futaleufu in Chile). There is 0.3 inches of ash. Also there was ash on El Bolson, Esquel and Trevelin Rio Grande, Argentina from the bridge. Water looks with normal color, after a lot of rain in one of the most benign winter in 30 or more years. This winter almost there has not been snow on the valleys. Probably the CO2 expelled by Chaiten Volcano caused this warm winter. Upper Futaleufu river in Chile (Rio Grande in Argentina), color of the water is normal for the conditions I saw. This probably will be little differnt in the spring when the snow melts. The town of Futaleufu has between 0.5 to 1 inch of ash depending on the place. Espolon River, this is the most affected area, this valley has more or less between 0.6 to 2 inches of ash. The river is quite affected by ash, just I found some nymphs on the confluences with small tributary streams. It was little sad for me to see the condition of what was a cristal water river. Here is possible to see the effects of ash in still waters, on the right side of the Espolon river (milk waters) there is a green arm that comes from a spring Creek, and on the left side of the river I saw this turquoise waters which was formed by mix of still water with ash. I saw "Valle Bonito" (in english is "beautiful valley") full of ash, in average 1,5 inches of ash or more. The ground lost its permeability, as it is possible to see, big pools were formed by rain and snow melting. 5 Kilometers from Valle Bonito to the west, it is the Lonconao lake. I was surprised to see on the ground there wasn't the amount of ash that was on Vallle Bonito. There was just little. This gave me hopes of what I was going to see after while I was going to the south west following the Futalefu -Yelcho basin. Azul river was absolutely normal. I didn't see changes in the water color, also there wasn't ash on the ground, nothing. My vision of the things changed considerably. Even, I would say this was better than my best hope. The volcano affected local areas, it didn't affect the county totally. Some of the areas didn't have ash and other were full of ash. Before Futa bridge, there is not ash. With the exception of there wasn't snow, everything was normal on this place. I even coun't find ash. I tried to see ash on the ground, It was simply impossible, I was not able to find ash. Following the route we normally make every season, I could see how things were improving while I was getting closer to Yelcho lake. Lower Futa, absolutely normal, the color and the condition of the river was completely normal. I went to look over the riverside and banks. Even I saw many stone flies under the free stones. There wasn't ash, nothing that remember Chaiten Volcano. I found many Stoneflies on the lower Futaleufu and on the tributary streams of Futa and Yelcho river. The only one river I saw considerably affected it was the Espolon river. I didn't see dead fish even neither on the Espolon River. This land is on the confluence of Michimahuida and Yelcho rivers. There was almost nothing, every was normal, with the sole exception of the volcanic silt that brought the Michimahuida river, this silt is possible to see on the banks of Michimahuida and on the Yelcho banks of the first 1000 meters after the confluence. Yelcho river, it looks normal, just I found some volcanic silt, look at the gray spots on the river banks. The color and the conditions looks normal. Here there is a chart with the different effects of the volcano. The area between the blue lines is Chaiten, this town was destroyed by Blanco river that made a big mudflow caused by the volcano. The sorroundings of the volcano (white line circle) is destroyed, there were fires cuased by incandescent material. The area between the orange lines is extremely affected, between red lines considerably affected and recoverable in long term, between red and Yelow lines it is the area that is not too much affected, recoverable in short term, the area between yelow and green lines is the area that is very little affected, even it is difficult to find ash due to the rain or snow absorbed most of the ash. And between green and light blue is the area that received little ash just some days, so there is nothing, the ash was absorbed quickly by rain or snow..
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