Packrafting & Rivertrekking Elsa Extended

Exploring the Elsa river by Rivertrekking & Packrafting

River: Elsa
Where: Colle di Val d’Elsa
Itinerary: rivertrekking + packrafting on the Elsa river
Best period: from May to September
Length: 2.5 Km (about 2.5 hours)
Cost: 2 persons = 75 €/person; more than 3 persons = 55 €/person. Only for kids over 12 years old.
Route: this is our new explorative-naturalistic descent by rivertrekking + packrafting! We decided to integrate our “classic” descent by Packraft with a stretch of rivertrekking and also extending the stretch by packraft: the exploration begins by rivertrekking in the stream formed by the crystal clear water of the wells of Le Vene. We will walk till to the confluence with the main river Elsa and, from here on, we will pass to the Packrafting “modality”  to navigate on it’s blue water. You will have the senastion of being in the Amazonian jungle but, you have to trust us, this is Tuscany ;-))
Highlights: the crystal clear water of Le Vene; the Diborrato waterfall, where it is narrated that a German tank has fallen in its water during WW II; the thick vegetation and the distinctive calcareous concretions, typical of this stretch of the Elsa river with it’s blue water.
Motto: a microadventure a day keeps the doctor away!

A descent for discovering the Riverine Nature Park of the Elsa river in Colle di Val d’Elsa. The Elsa river has its sources on the Montagnola Senese but the real “secret” is the  contribution of the crystal clear water of the Le Vene wells and of the thermal wells of Le Caldane.  The descent begins with a rivertrekking along the stream that arises from the wells of le Vene, then we will pass to the Packrafting “modality” to reach the Diborrato waterfalls, navigating along the Sentierelsa footpath, just a few meters from it but completely immersed into another dimension: a river corridor rich in vegatation, that resembles much more to a Amazoinan forest than to an European river. The packraft (a single place raft) is the perfect mean to discover a river or a stream from the inside. The partecipants will move like a small group of explorers, ready to go over obstacles (the vegetation and the calcareous pools of the Elsa river), following the instrucions of the “expedition chief”, immersed in an environment the reminds much more a tropical jungle.