The Baker River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

. It is Chile's largest river in terms of volume of water. The river flows out of

Bertrand Lake Bertrand Lake is a Chilean lake located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region. It is separated from Plomo Lake by a terminal moraine A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the termi ...

, which is fed by

General Carrera Lake General Carrera Lake (Chilean part, officially renamed in 1959) or Lake Buenos Aires (Argentine part) is a lake located in Patagonia and shared by Argentina and Chile. Both names are internationally accepted, while the autochthonous name of the l ...

. It runs along the east side of the

Northern Patagonian Ice Field The Northern Patagonian Ice Field, located in southern Chile, is the smaller of two remnant parts in which the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Andes Mountains of southern South America can be divided. It is completely contained within the boundaries ...

and empties into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, near the town of

Caleta Tortel Caleta Tortel is a coastal village ( es, aldea) in Chile. It is the administrative centre of the commune of Tortel and is located between the mouth of the Baker River the largest river in Chile and a small embayment of the Baker Channel. The surr ...

. The river forms a

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also re ...

, dividing into two major arms, of which only the northernmost one is navigable. Its characteristic turquoise-blue color is due to the glacial sediments deposited in it. It was the proposed site of a controversial major hydro-electric project, involving five dams, to be the biggest in the history of Chile. Called

HidroAysén HidroAysén (Pronounced: ) was a controversial megaproject that aimed to build five hydroelectric power plants in Chile's Aysén Region, two on the Baker River and three on the Pascua River (with government subvention included to help relief co ...

, the project was a joint venture between Endesa Chile a subsidiary of the international energy conglomerate

Enel Enel S.p.A. is an Italian Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel, which originally stood for Ente nazionale per l'energia elettrica (National Electricity Board), was first established ...

, and Colbún S.A. a subsidiary of Minera Valparaíso. The series of hydro-electric dams were proposed along both the Baker and Pascua rivers, two of Chile's mightiest rivers. The project was opposed by a protest campaign led by Chilean and international environmental activist groups. Few rivers this large in the world remain undammed and free flowing. Chile's Committee of Ministers overturned the environmental permits for the HidroAysén dam project June 2014.

Tributaries

The river also receives the waters of the

Cochrane Lake Cochrane may refer to: Places Australia *Cochrane railway station, Sydney, a railway station on the closed Ropes Creek railway line Canada * Cochrane, Alberta * Cochrane Lake, Alberta * Cochrane District, Ontario ** Cochrane, Ontario, a town wit ...

through the

Cochrane River The Cochrane River is a short river of Chile located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region. It is the outlet of Cochrane Lake and empties into the Baker River. The town of Cochrane is situated along the river. The Cochrane R ...

. Other major tributaries are: *

Nef River The Nef River is a river of Chile. The river has its source at a proglacial lake, which is feed by Nef Glacier. It flows in a generally easterly direction until it discharges into the Baker River. See also *List of rivers of Chile This list of ...

Chacabuco River The Chacabuco River is a river of Chile located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region. The river rises in a col between Cerro Lucas Bridges and Cerro Baker. The latter is a mountain on the Argentina-Chile border, close to Rob ...

Del Salto River Del, or nabla, is an Operator (mathematics), operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector (geometry), vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function (mathema ...

Colonia River The Colonia River is a river located in Aisén, Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a lon ...

* De los Ñadis River *

Ventisquero River In Spanish language a ventisquero is a zone in a mountain where heavy snow accumulations occur. Before the term ''glaciar'' (Spanish for glacier) became widespread many glaciers in Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that enc ...

Vargas River Vargas may refer to: People *Vargas (surname), including a list of people with this surname *Getúlio Vargas, 14th and 17th President of Brazil **Getúlio Vargas, Rio Grande do Sul, a Brazilian municipality *"Vargas", also "Varga", signature on wo ...

Gallery

Image:Río Baker 02.jpg,

Kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

is a popular sport on the river. Image:Río Baker, sector Balsa Baker.jpg, Winter 2006

References

External links

Hidrografía Región de Aysén
Sistema Integrado de Información Territorial
Endesa Opponents Call Foul
The Santiago Times Rivers of Chile Rivers of Aysén Region {{Chile-river-stub