Cambios

Hi! We finished this day the section 36 from north to south. It took us 6 days without the last 37 kms on the road (we hitchhiked on this part). It was rough, we have had 2 days of bad weather (only rain at our altitude but it changes everything). You are isolated in the middle of nowhere and we met no one during 5 days. Officially no bush bashing but sometimes the path is barely invisible and unmaintained so hard to walk. From the 3rd day to the end, we have had many rivercrossings. Some were easy, some not and some also quite dangerous. With all the snow melting, the level of the river is very high and the current is strong (I do not recommand to try these fords without walking poles, these saved us). Same situation with the lakes we walked near. Their level is high and often the path was submerged and we had to walk litteraly in the lake (sometimes up to the waist). Luckily we met 2 cabañas (2 last nights) to dry our clothes and sleep under a roof. This made the section even more wonderful than it already was. A great experience!

*2019 Dec / Olrik / Northbound

From O'Higgins there are 50km on a dirt road to the beginning of the sendero. There are some open refugios on the way to sleep. you can also arrange a paid transportation from O'Higgins. Hitchhiking is possible but there is not much traffic. The sendero was in pretty bad shape due to the weather conditions. Muddy and flooded all the way near the lakes. We ended up turning back as we did not plan to walk that slow and did not have enough food, and we felt it was safer. We met Matthieu (see below) and they completed it so his report seems better. Puesteros are really nice though.

*2019 Dec / Matthieu / Northbound Regular HR : 9 days

The rest we didn't have any technical difficulties. A trekk not to take lightly, and with much respect. Take advises to the locals before. Every one is happy to talk about it in Villa. They have the bad habbit to say that it's an easy way though !

*2019-Nov-12 / Lea Geibel, Kevin Moe / 6 days / northbound / regular hiking route