How did we make it to Guarma? (Hydrological)
I recently thought to myself how did Arthur and his little group make it to Guarma? Clearly not through the San Luis River since the Manteca falls would make travel impossible down stream, and they obviously didn’t switch ship. Then I thought how does anything here get to the golf? So I figured I asked the people here for your thoughts while I give some of mine.
I’m thinking 2.5 different possibilities here (One that’s far more plausible than the others).
Option 1: The San Luis river does indeed flow out into the ocean (Atlantic or Pacific it doesn’t matter) however because of the waterfalls it’s inaccessible for ships. Which means that ships must flow up stream through the Lanahachee river, and find another river that’s accommodating and leads back down to the Gulf.
Option 2: The Lanahechee river and Flat Iron lake are already at sea level and the formation of the San Luis River is relatively recent (Still before the events of RDR2 but recent on a geographical scale). Depending on how recent its formation is this could explain why there are no bridges over the San Luis river in the events of RDR2; they didn’t need to use any prior to its formation. Now with everything past the Manteca Falls being sea level I believe that the San Luis river drains into a massive basin. This basin will of course fill up until it’s at sea level, making it level with Flat Iron Lake and the Lanahechee River. The creation of the San Luis River could be several things: erosion, rising sea levels due to industrialization, or maybe created purposely for economic incentives.
Option 2.5: The San Luis River has always existed but its size has just recently grown. This is still mostly option 2, but it does explain some naming issues that option 2 would have. Number 1 being that if the San Luis River didn’t exist, then the Lanahechee River and Flat Iron Lake wouldn’t be called rivers or lakes to begin with. They’d just be some large sea or something. If the San Luis River existed as some small stream then them being called lakes and rivers would I think make sense since they would at least flow somewhere. The reason this is option 2.5 is because option 2 would still make sense if they just used a recent map that recently added the names Lanahechee and Flat Iron.
While I do think option 1 is significantly more plausible, I do like my head cannon for option 2 and 2.5 as it answers a couple discrepancies between the two games. However I should add I no borderline nothing with water so these are just my thoughts as a curious individual.