Cambios

==Season 2023/24==

What an amazing section !

This 170km loop was our last section after 3 months on the GPT. It has been one of the most hard, exhausting, and technical section but also one of the most remote, wild, and magnificient we did. We didn't see any humans during 8 days. The extrem wind and cold temperatures, the infinite CC in open areas, the white landscapes without any shadow, and the D+ in soft sand were constantly forgotten thanks to the lunar landscapes. Here are some added informations for the GPT06-02 to the ones given by Natalie & Tomáš.

First section on the GPT and I found it amazing! I won’t repeat anything that Tobi and Fangwen have mentioned below that also applies to my trip.

Amasing section!

Day 1 - Parque Ingles - Laguna Las Animas. Hernandez bus from Molina to Parque Ingles 8:10 am. I had park entry and camp permit for El Bolson that I bought on-line. I indicated to the Guardiaparque my 6 days itinerary RR to Los Cipreses, no issues but had been told several areas are private land. Met only one hiker after El Bolson (See note below).

Originally intended to camp at Laguna Manantial Pelado for the night but the valley below looked great with all surrounding peaks so I camped there.

Day 5 - Camp South of Laguna Caracol - Laguna de los Hornos.

Bus from Curicó to Molina at 9am, immediate connecting bus to Parque Inglés. Buy a ticket online for the national park (8500 for foreigners, 100% surcharge! If the international debit card selection doesn't work, just try the national one, my card only worked there). You can also add the authorisation for El Bolsón online, but you have to pay for it in cash at a ticket office in Parque Inglés. 80 people per day are allowed for Bolsón, everything is sold out at lunchtime. Night in Parque Ingles at Hostal Valverde 40k for one person in a 4 bed room (solo use) with own toilet and washbasin but shared shower, towel costs extra, quiet, next to river for bathing (lots of local families though).

Day 1 parque ingles - Lagunas las animas

Buses to Talca at 7.30am and 3.30pm. Not many cars passing through. We didn't get picked up hitchhiking.

Day 1: RR [0-10,1] + OH06-01A + OH06-01[10,7-25,1] + RR [36,9-44,6]

GPT06 has some really spectacular views. Especially Pass Hornitos and Volcan Descabezado. There is no shade, so the sun is gonna burn you all day. This + the sand/gravel is demanding for your body and your equipment.

Amazing section, from the entrance in Vilches to the end in los cipreses. Sand and lack of shadow are the main difficulties.

From talca : 12h30 and 19h

At el colorado, buses to talca more often.

A spectacular section to end my 5-week trip on the GPT. I’ve never experienced a landscape like this before and the weather (straight up sunshine for the whole week) was a welcome change after the unrelenting wind and rain of Patagonia. There were no other people outside of the start and end of the trail in national parks. Beautiful and desolate wild camping near the volcano. That said, it was very rough on my gear. The dry sand, abrasive rocks, spiky bushes did some damage to my shoes (erased on tread on the soles after sliding down scree slopes for 2 days), socks (holes after rubbing on rocks since I did not have gaiters), trekking poles (they were in a poor shape already but the rocks and sand finished them and the tips got sanded off), pants (got some holes as well).

Day 7: I took a morning walk out of the campground and caught a 11:30 bus back to Molina, then a bus from Molina to Santiago for a flight home the next day.

There are many good reports, so I'll keep it short.

Originally we wanted to do the Cóndor Circuit, but after we read about the troubles some of you had, we decided to take the safer option 1 to avoid the snow and landslide above Termas de Azufre. This route felt very safe and the snow was not a problem at all. We ended up with a beautiful round trip from Altos de Lircay to Valle Venado, then to the summit of Descabezado, then Valle del Indio and back to Altos de Lircay. The landscape is incredibly beautiful and diverse, and we enjoyed it a lot. The scariest part for us was fording the Rio Blanquillo on day 2.

The route:

Day 1

To enter the Hydroelectrico Los Cipreses you need a permit, which we did not get in advance. The guard at the gate said we could get it by emailing his boss.

The guard told us to take a route along the perimeter fence. We did that until we couldn't get further. We entered the compound through a hole in the fence and walked to the end of the road on the right side of the river. The bridge on the map is destroyed. The current was too strong to cross. Turned around and went back.

As this was our first section on the GPT and there still was a lot of snow in the mountains we decided to play it safe and folow option 1 from el Bolsón. It is less steep and less long above the snoweline about 2000m at the time. It went great but Tess burned her eyes so good sunglasses are definetly a must when hiking in the snow. From there we continued the RR at Laguna del Caracol we had to walk in the lake on the edge, no idea if that's normal but it was funny. The next and final big obstacle was the pass on k59 we decided to try and bypass it because it looked very steep with a lot of snow and ice and Tess with her burning eyes had a hard time looking at any snow at her feet. So we went up right next to it (north). Realy though rock scrambling but we managed. Going down the next valley was okay with the snow but crossing rivers covered in snow is tricky so try to avoid it. Walking into los Cipreces we were told we were not supposed to be there but still we had lunch in the cafeteria and they fixed a ride to bring us to the road, realy nice people there. From there we hitchhiked to el colorado where we stayed for two days to let Tess' eyes heal.

==Season 2022/23==

Parque Inglés - El Bolsón - Termas de Azufre - Blanquillo - Laguna Hornitos - Los Cipreses

Our last section on the GPT for this year! We started in Vilches Alto with the option 06-05 because we rented horses with the arriero Jose Lopez. The beginning is placed in the Reserva Nacional Altos de Lircay, which requires a permit to go until the Volcan. The entrance fee is also 7k pp. We finished our first day at Camp, CONAF {06-05} [10.2/1158]. I believe we mostly followed the GPS track.

Our first trip on the GPT, plenty of water, we didnt carry more than 1.5L each. Here is our trip :

First trip 6 days on GPT being a wonderfully intense experience ! Lunar landscapes, silent and remote, few but great people. No particular difficulty.

An extremely long description so my apologies but hopefully it will help someone. We Started in Laguna del Maule and ended in Vilches with inclusion of volcanoes Descabezado Grande, Azul, Descabezado Chico and Colorado.

I got to Parque Inglés from Santiago de Chile by taking a train to Curico (advice: if you want to travel by train, buy a ticket online at least 2 days in advance as it books out quickly). From Curico I took a blue collectivo to Molina and then a bus to Parque Ingles.

Get to TH Parque ingle before 1:00 pm, otherwise they close it for entrance. We did get internet and got the correct CONAF ticket -the one heading to El Bolsón. Once you get out of the park and into the Cuesta Las Anima, the wild parts begin. Hope you got your dirty girl gaiters; cause you’re going to need them. Sand city. Gaiters worked great. Remote and desolately beautiful. Water up at the end of Laguna del Caracol, at the river that comes out of the ground, you have a dry climb ahead. Walk out was straightforward. Got a lift from ENEL employee.

I connected in Thermas Azufre from GPT 05. I recommend it as a camping spot. I have seen the tracks of people staying on the western side of the valley but I think it is better to ford, there is a nice trail there on the eastern side. There is a place with an island where I needed to remove my shoes just for about three meters (the stream was not strong enough for me to keep the shoes on).

Amazing trail! It's quite desolate but the landscape varies enough to always keep things interesting. Trudging up the sandy hills could be demoralizing, but getting to run down the other side more than made up for it. Water was still plentiful though not much snow was left, I only had to cross a few small patches. Thankfully heat wasn't a problem at all for me, I even felt cold a few times with the altitude and wind.

Joining section 6 directly from the previous one with a little challenging connection trail (see our comment from section 5), we continued to the Hot Spring del Azufre. On the way there is one steep traverse. We used hot spring to cook our rice which really saved us as we run out of gas. The landscape on the whole section is amazing, we really enjoyed it! Ascent to the pass is nice and gradual, hiking in the sand is a little slower, but the opposite when going down. We camped at the El Estadio, almost no wind that day, great place to sleep . In the morning we continued on a nice and easy trail, great views around the volcanos… short break by the laguna thats great for swimming. We camped a little before the camp marked in the gps, there is one place, probably used by arrieros, with a fireplace and a few rocks around it. Being out of the gas we set a fire using wood that was already in there and some others we gather during the day. The view to the volcanos must be one of the best we have seen here so far! The next day we continued to the last Hornitos pass and through the valley, again really nice hiking on a clear trail. Last few kms on the road and since we missed the only bus to Talca that is leaving early in the morning (7:00) and did not have luck with hitchhiking, we stayed in a camp right next to the road. Its just a few meters before it, in the same direction we came from. On the left side is a house with some old advertisment sign (coca-cola or similir) on its fence, and the lady there has a small shop. The camp is on the other side - cold shower, toilets, electricity and access to the river, all for 5000 for 2 people. We even got sandwiches for dinner as there was no other place around to eat. Overall, when combining both sections we recommend to plan carefully, but its definitely worth the effort, especially this section 6.

The section is pretty tough, but beautiful with a quite unique landscape. We definetly would do it again.

Route: Parque Inglés - Laguna Ánimas - Termas del Azufre - Termas del Blanquillo - Laguna del Caracol - Laguna de los Hornos - Los Cipreses

==Season 2021/22==

Amazing section! I found the landscape to be very varied despite the lack of vegetation - and even with many pretty flowers near the streams. I personally found it to be a great ending to my GPT journey, a big contrast to the landscapes further south. Would make for a tough start though.

Route: Parque Inglés - El Bolsón (Colmillo del Diablo summit) - Termas del Azufre - Termas del Blanquillo - Laguna Caracol - First bus stop on CH115 road.

Route: Parque Inglès -> Laguna de las Animas -> Termas de Azufre -> Descabezado base camp -> Laguna del Caracol -> Laguna Hornitos -> First bus stop on 115-CH

From Parque Inglés to the entrance of Reserva Achibueno

We arrived the day before at Parque Ingles and camped the night there. From Molina there is a bus to Radal at 5pm wed-fri, and direct to Parque Ingles on weekends. The only way to pay for park entry is online at www.aspticket.cl.

We also decided to combine sections 5 and 6 to avoid in’n’out to and from Parque Inglés. It took us 6 and a half days and some of it was bloody hard. I have never before experienced my ass being handed over to me by a trail. We got beaten to the point where first signs of weakness started to show and I have to admit we kind of even started discussing a plan B and bailing this ditch trail. But only for a moment, once you hit the rock bottom there is only one way to go - up! It was literally and figuratively, and as terrain improved so did our mood and we laughed off the silly thoughts we had had earlier.

==Season 2019/20==

At Parque Ingles I registered with Conaf, they record your route & where you will camp. Deregistered by email later. Easy 3 hour walk to El Bolson, lots of people camping there but they don't go any further. Took optional route to Laguna Manantial. At 2160M there is a small meadow & stream, this is last water & last camp before the lake. You go over a pass @ 2560M then drop 80M to the lake. Camped on the lakeshore.

Overview:

Parque Ingles to El Medano southbound/main route ... 7 days duration(2 nights spent on laguna Las Animas)...section passable...Strong sun, no shadow after the park... Gaiters strongly recommended...the SUBsection between termas del azufre and second ford Before the pass (2700m) is full with water... my personal opinion is the backpack weight can be minimized... Good luck!

Parque Inglés to El Medano

Parque Ingles to El Medano. Very beautiful (and exposed) section. Lots of water. The track from Los Cipreses to El Medano suffered from a few landslides meaning the route was slower than anticipated. I would consider taking the road next time as there is no loss of scenery. We resupplied in El Medano by basically buying all the food at the tienda (60000 CP for food for two people for the next section). Selection was good enough.

A Stunning section. Vilches Alto made for a great optional start; rather than returning to Parque Ingles. (We came from Talca by bus - 2100 CP). Entrance fee was 6000 and camping 3000 PP. All trails were beautiful and a bit more trodden that sections before. Arrieros at thermal pools (not hot) were welcoming and friendly for us to camp. We took our sweet time in the beautiful section. We bussed from the first road access (south of town Los Cipreses/ OH-MR-V@06-E-#001) to Talca for a good re supply before the long next section, 2200 CP. Bus leaves this stop around 11.

We combined sections 5 and 6 via optional trail.

As we came from GPT05 and didn't want to go all the way "back" to the Paso Las Animas, we tried the Optional Investigation Route which starts at Parque Ingles right at the other side (South) of Rio Claro. It leads through private property, so we went to the guard, showed him the CONAF Permit (we bought one just in case, and of course they said it's not possible to walk on the other side of the river), explained him that we would only hike through and gave him some cerezas. He informed his Colleagues via radio to let us pass. It was a nice and easy hike. Nothing to add to Linda's remarks for the rest of the trail.

Start = Parque Ingles

Amazing but hard section with a lot of denivelation.