Salto Rio Baker / Baker River waterfall. Carretera Austral (CH-7), Cochrane, Chile, Patagonia, South America.

Salto Rio Baker / Baker River waterfall, just above its confluence with River Neff, along the Carretera Austral (CH-7) north of Cochrane in Capitán Prat Province, Chile, Patagonia, South America. As Chile's largest river by volume, Rio Baker strikes you with its bright turquoise-blue color, caused by glacial sediments. Rio Baker cascades impressively at Salto Rio Baker at La Confluencia where it is joined by the brownish-green River Neff. The Baker River flows out of Bertrand Lake, which is fed by General Carrera Lake. It runs along the east side of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field and empties into the Pacific Ocean near the town of Caleta Tortel. Rio Baker was the proposed site of a controversial major hydro-electric project called HidroAysén, involving five dams, to be the biggest in the history of Chile. The project was opposed by Chilean and international environmental activist groups. Chile's Committee of Ministers overturned the environmental permits for the HidroAysén dam project in June 2014. Few rivers this large in the world remain undammed and free flowing.

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Filename: 2002PAT-0690.jpg
Copyright: © Tom Dempsey / PhotoSeek.com
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Salto Rio Baker / Baker River waterfall, just above its confluence with River Neff, along the Carretera Austral (CH-7) north of Cochrane in Capitán Prat Province, Chile, Patagonia, South America. As Chile's largest river by volume, Rio Baker strikes you with its bright turquoise-blue color, caused by glacial sediments. Rio Baker cascades impressively at Salto Rio Baker at La Confluencia where it is joined by the brownish-green River Neff. The Baker River flows out of Bertrand Lake, which is fed by General Carrera Lake. It runs along the east side of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field and empties into the Pacific Ocean near the town of Caleta Tortel. Rio Baker was the proposed site of a controversial major hydro-electric project called HidroAysén, involving five dams, to be the biggest in the history of Chile. The project was opposed by Chilean and international environmental activist groups. Chile's Committee of Ministers overturned the environmental permits for the HidroAysén dam project in June 2014. Few rivers this large in the world remain undammed and free flowing.