Cambios

Note: Apparently We were told you need a reservation for one of the camp sites at La Junta to be allowed into the valley from Cochamo side, so we did that. However, one of the wikiexplora entry mentioned that they were allowed in when mentioning that they wanted to camp at El Arco Refuge but we read it too late. Camp Trawen is the most expensive (15k per person), which is the reason why it’s been available on short notice. There are several other camps around for 8k-10k, but they were all sold out. Someone wrote further down that they were allowed in when mentioning that they wanted to camp at El Arco Refuge, but we read it too late.

We hiked to Camp Trawen and finished earlyby 2pm. It would have been better to go on the El Arco Refuge straight away and camp there. It’s a super touristy stretch and in our view not really worth doing, if you like the general quiet nature of the GPT.

The next day we camped at the beach at Lago Vidal. Easy hike but long day with the heavy packrafting equipment, lots of ups and downs.

The bridge at wp Bridge {22N} [51.8/146] (Rio Steffen) does not exist anymore. It’s not a very demanding ford though. There are short steep ups and downs on both sides. We stayed near wp Settler {22N} [50.1/307].

Checked into Argentina in the morning and finished in Lago Puelo in the morning and spent the day by the beach :) Tip: It is a hot & dusty walk to town from the beach and hitchhiking is not as easy in this part of Argentina as in Chile. Keep some small change of USD or Argentinian pesos for the bus ride to resupply in town. If you plan to continue packrafting Lago Puelo on GPT23 after resupplying, the earliest bus back to the beach reaches around 7.30am but it will be too late as the wind picks up by 8am. Lago Puelo is known for its strong gusts so it’s best to check wind forecast and paddle early morning 5.30am to cross. Therefore it may be easier to camp at one of the campsites nearer to the beach instead of staying in town. Just go there for resupplying.