Paine River (''Río Paine'') 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

Magallanes Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region ( es, Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and second lea ...

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 ...

. The river rises from its source in

Dickson Lake Dickson Lake is a glacier lake in southern Patagonia located in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which since 1998 has been transformed into an international lake as it is crossed by the international boundary between Argentina and Chile due to ...

and flows east for nine kilometres (km) to Paine Lake. After flowing through the lake, the river runs for 15 km, first southward and then westward to Nordenskjöld Lake.Gobierno de Chile (2004). This part of the river's course includes the Paine Cascade. From the mouth of Nordenskjöld Lake, the river flows for a short distance falling into Pehoe Lake. In this area the river forms a spectacular waterfall known as ''Salto Grande''. Along the Paine River, and specifically in the vicinity of Salto Grande, are a variety of natural vegetation forms as well as certain

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

species, including the wild

guanaco The guanaco (; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids, the other being the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations. Etymology The guanaco g ...

. After leaving lake Pehoe, the river forms another waterfall called ''Salto Chico'' and runs its last 6 km until emptying into the

Del Toro Lake Del Toro Lake ( es, Lago del Toro) is a lake located in the Magallanes Region, southern Chile. The lake is also known as Lago del Toro or Lago Toro (in English Lake Bull) and its name comes from the lake's ability to generate 4 m swells du ...

. Its lower course is wide and deep. Along its course the river borders the

Cordillera del Paine The Cordillera Paine is a mountain group in Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. The cordillera is located north of Punta Arenas, and about south of the Chilean capital Santiago. It belongs to the Commune of Torres del Paine ...

. ''Paine'' means "blue" in the native Tehuelche (Aonikenk) language and is pronounced ''PIE-nay''.Abraham, R. (2011)
p. 17
Retrieved 4 August 2015.

References

Sources

* Abraham, Rudolf (2011). ''Torres del Paine: Trekking in Chile's Premier National Park''. Milnthorpe: Cicerone Press. . * Gobierno de Chile (2004)
''Cuenca del río Serrano''
* Hogan, C. Michael (2008)
''Guanaco: Lama guanicoe'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Strömberg

Paine Paine may refer to: Geography * Paine, Chile *Paine College, a defunct Historically Black college in Augusta, Georgia *Paine Field, an airport in Everett, Washington, United States *Paine Lake, a lake in Minnesota * Paine River, a waterstream loca ...

Rivers of Magallanes Region Torres del Paine National Park {{Chile-river-stub