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* GPT33H/GPT34P: Northern coast of Lago General Carrera from Puerto Sanchez to Levican (packrafting and hiking) From 2022-Nov-20 to 2022-Nov-24 we (Meylin Ubilla, Jan Dudeck) packrafted and hiked in 5 days from Puerto Sanchez to Levican along the northern coast of Lago General Carrera. This lake is infamous for the frequent strong gusty wind, therefore packrafting requires a careful monitoring of the weather to depart only onto the lake when a period with calmer conditions is approaching. Luckily, there is reasonable good mobile phone coverage what facilities checking the weather and wind forecast frequently. Given the wind conditions any packrafting attempt on Lago General Carrera requires to my opinion: - decked packraft, a longer tandem is strongly preferable (faster, more stable)- a sail (to get quicker to an exit point)- packrafting experience in the region (to anticipate typical weather and wind patterns)- smartphone with entel SIM card or entel rooming- YR weather App, Windy weather App The predominant wind is eastbound therefore only eastbound packrafting is advisable. I’m left with the impression that wind gets generally stonger towards the east (towards Levican and Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez) and that calm periods are more frequent and longer towards the west (Puerto Tranquilo, Puerto Sanchez). Also, calmer conditions are more likely in the early morning just after sunrise but strong wind all night is also common. During a previous hike in February 2020 we experienced an entire summer day with barely any wind but such days are as frequent as unicorns and no travel plan should be build on exceptional favorable circumstances. There is a trail along the northern shore but due to the steep coast there are sections of up to 13 km on the lake without a connection from the shoreline to this trail. Emergency exits are more frequent along the coast but using such an exit means waiting for the wind to calm down what can take days. Therefore it is generally favorable to exit the water only in a location from where the trail can be reached easily. We packrafted most of the distance from Puerto Sanchez to the Avellano river delta on 3 mornings in about 9 hours on the water but from there we hiked in two days to Levican because we had no similar promising calm weather windows in following early mornings. In hindsight the wind remained manageable in the morning hours till about noon but there was no point in reversing our decision to hike (and we urgently needed some exercise to get used to hike with heavy backpacks again). Crossing from Puerto Tranquilo to Puerto Sanchez is reasonable feasible by packraft in calm weather (typically either very early in the morning or later in the evening). The crossing is 3 km wide and best started 1 km north of Puerto Tranquilo in a hidden bay with a nice protected spot to pitch a tent (46.6146°S / 72.6838°W · 210 m). If preparing the packraft at the beach of Puerto Tranquilo officials may stop packrafters as there are numerous restrictions and requirements applicable (in example accompanying motor boat with two licensed boat drivers). Packrafters should depart in north-eastern direction to compensate for a south-eastern wind drift in case wind increases. A very nice protected camp site is approximately 8 km from the recommended exit point near Puerto Tranquilo. * 2022 Nov, NoBo, Option 1, Alice and Florian
We chose to do the option 1 taking the sendero de chile from Puerto Ibañez to Cerro castillo. Most of it is a trail road (first 25km, and the last 4) so it is quite tiring for the knees as some point. But it seems quite easy to do hitchhiking at least on the first 25 km if needed.
Nevertheless it is quite a nice road. You first arrive to a very nice waterfall after 5km, them walk through a canyon with nice scenic views. The 10km pass through a forest trail near lakes, it is really nice as well.
*2022 Feb: 10-14, SoBo, RR, Kris&Stiina
Even though the first few days out of town is a road walk, the first part of it is actually really scenic and worth walking, the lakes are just very beautiful one the way. The second part was mostly in the forest and our feet, knees and hips were already hurting from all the road walking but once we got on trail it got better right away. The trail was surprisingly well maintained I would even say better than in Cerro Castillo National Park. Another unexpected surprise was the amount of people that we met on the trail a total of about 25 people in different size groups were hiking to see Torres de Avellano. We really didn’t expect that, there also seemed to be some sort of backpack hauling and guiding service that the local arrieros were offering. We unfortunately didn’t manage to talk to them to find out, but it seems that the place is getting popular. Which is not a surprise because it’s very very beautiful there, probably is correct what the manual says, that it’s going to be the next Torres del Paine, time will tell.
