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→Season 2023/24
==Season 2023/24==
24-Feb-28 to 2024-Mar-2 / 48 hours and a day of waiting / Hiking / SOBO / RR, West Traverse/ Tomáš
I arrived to Villa O'Higgins on a Tuesday evening. The forecast was dire so I wanted to skip the Florida peninsula but before I got my head around it, it was midnight. I stayed in Hostal Moscou, nobody there wanted to cross (a group of cyclist arrived from the ferry at 23:00, the boat waited for a late crossing back) or knew when the next boat would go, I tried whatsapping both companies but they did not respond. In the morning, I went to Rueda office to find out that the boat left at 7:00 and the next one would not go until Saturday, so I decided to do the West Traverse and hop on the ferry on Saturday from Bahia Pescada. Rueda won't reply to whatsapp outside office hours (9-13 and 14-21 I think) - they run it from the computer in their office. The other company replied back only in the afternoon. So if you are in a real hurry out of main season, turning up in the port really early would have worked, the boat apparently had 6 seats unoccupied. It was very easy to arrange to be picked from Bahia Pescada, I left the company a bag with stuff they then brought me. I paid them the full amount of 55,000 in cash, in retrospect I should have tried to negotiate it down (but they need to make a small detour to pick me up, so I might notnhave been succesful).
I got lucky to get a hitch around 1300 one km out of town; the port seems to be a minor tourist attraction in itself. The route thereafter is indeed mostly cross country (trails much less clear than on GPT36 and TL&CC combinations tend to be on the CC side) and is indeed quite scenic. The missed boat turned out to be a blessing as I only got some clouds high up and then sun instead of fog and some rain as forecasted. I was later told the peninsula gets better weather than Villa O'Higgins, especially in its south (it also seems anything that is not heavy rain is a good forecast here). Ford at 19.8 was dry. Fords at 20.6 and 21.6 should be Fords Start/End, you follow a riverbed with a river. After that, you still follow a riverbed, but without a river, which found a new course to your right. These fords and the one at 30.2 were the only ones that I could not jump or go over on stones or logs. Lake was low at the end of summer and I just mostly followed the beach. Slept at the corral at 29.3.
CC&TL from 31.5 is again a riverbed, I kept the river to my left most of the time until I could cross it on a log. I did not find anything I would call a trail until the pass. Either I am blind or gate 45.4 does not exist. Ford 45.6 is annoying as it is about 20m-long strech of flooded trail that is overgrown, ankle deep though (and the stream is very bushy, you won't find a better way, I tried). Met two GPT hikers at camp 48.6 - very nice camp. The forecast was for heavy rain the next afternoon, so I pushed almost to puesto at 59.2, sleeping on a green flat about 0.5 km before it. It was a windy night despite finding a seemingly sheltered spot. It would have been better by the lake; near the puesto at Once Hermanos would have been perfect if it was not mostly occupied.
I got up with sunrise and started towards Bahia Pescado. The morning had better weather than expected, even with sun , so I ate breakfast for an hour and arrived around noon, just as the rain started. The family was there, I was invited inside, where it is dry, warm and with superfast internet, Starlink is wow! I was complimented on my Spanish as opposed to other GPT hikers, which was unexpected, I am like A2 and I thought everybodybelse isnalmost fluent! I managed to have a conversation for three hours though, even about the merits of various political systems. It was indeed very nice. It rained heavily on and off well into the night (snowed from 1000 m up), so I slept on the floor. I was given lunch, a pie in the evening and one piece of bread (about 300g - I bought 2 more for 3000 each). I offered 20,000. I thought vegetable would be included too, but in the morning it was early and Nicole was not up so I did not get any, even though we talked about it the night before. She said she struggles with pricing. My advice is to probably deal with the business side of the visit early on and completely before darkness comes (I am not complaining though, it was lovely). Nicole said that since last year, more people are coming - I signed into a book and saw many familiar names from here, about 25 people in about 12 groups altogether! It seems most people actualy do write into the wiki, I always thought most did not. She said that she does not want it to become too popular, but the current level is fine and the money comes handy (I also think especially she enjoys company).
In the morning, I was told the day before to be ready at 7:45 through whatsapp, but the boat only came an hour later. Apparently it was not much delayed in Villa O'Higgins, not sure why the discrepancy. Luckily I could wait inside, the view for the boat is perfect.
Overall, the peninsula is really attractive. I actually preferred the inside of it, going along the coast was a bit too long. Also the trails are not in great condition, I often lost them and walked cross country. Nicole and Michel do not have many cattle and I think they do not need the trails to be perfect. I am glad I did not skip this section.
*2024-feb-20/ 5,5days / hiking / Full loop west - east/ RR / Lukas en Tess ; Nolwenn and Yannick (first half)
