GPT37P (Lago O'Higgins)

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* '''Start Date to Finish Date (use Format YYYY-MMM-DD) / Duration in Days / Hiking or Packrafting / Travel Direction (SOBO for Southbound or NOBO Northbound) / Chosen Route and/or Option Name (RR for Regular Route) / Names or Alias'''

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* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''YYYY-MMM-DD / X days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Your name'''</span>.

Include remarks about your route useful for other hikers and packrafters, alerts, suggestions and personal perception of attractiveness and difficulties. Try to be specific. Do not be shy to fix obvious mistakes.

Section Log, Alerts and Suggestions

Season 2024/25

• GPT37P Option 8 and 17: Lago O’Higgins circuit from Isla Central to Laguna Larga, Bahia Bajo Esperanza, Lago and Glaciar Oriental and return via Brazo Desagua to Isla Central / 2024-Dec-21 to 2024-Dec-28 / 8 days with 3 full waiting days / Misha Bogdanov, Masha Ovchinnikova, Meylin Ubilla, Jan Dudeck

This route via Laguna Larga is the most suitable return route to Villa O’Higgins for packrafters after visiting the North-West of Lago O’Higgins (Brazo Poniente and Isla Central). In suitable weather the return requires 4 days with one to two calm days for two lake crossings. It provides better wind shelter and shorter open-water crossings then the route via El Taitao when traveling northbound.

Note: The most suitable route from Villa O’Higgins to the North-West of Lago O’Higgins (Brazo Poniente and Isla Central) is the route via El Taitao due to the predominant wind direction but the most suitable return route is via Laguna Larga.

I drafted this route around 2021 based on satellite images and statements from local residents that a route via Laguna Larga had been used in the past.

In January 2024 we investigated the routes to the southern terminus of Laguna Larga and found a well-maintained trail.

For season 2024/25 we planned the full traverse. We called off our original plan to investigate this route starting in Villa O’Higgins as the weather was unsuitable. Suitable weather was predicted to get to Bahia Bajo Esperanza but strong wind and heavy rain would have pinned us down for 3 or 4 days in this remote location. Therefore we traveled directly from Villa O’Higgins to Isla Central to wait for suitable weather on Isla Central and to investigate this route starting from Isla Central.

Day 1: Isla Central to southern terminus of Laguna Larga

We got up at 3 am to depart packrafting from Isla Central with the first light around 5 am. Thanks to calm weather we could paddle in roughly two hours against the predominant wind direction to the trail head to Laguna Larga. We then hiked in roughly 8 hours with heavy backpacks on a well-maintained trail to Laguna Larga. We briefly visited Lencho at his home “Laguna Colerado”. Thanks to Lencho’s advice we found an excellent camping spot next to Laguna Larga which is located on dry ground within an island of forests at the shore of Laguna Larga (the entire surrounding terrain is wetland).

Day 2: Waiting day

Strong wind from the north made a lake crossing impossible and rain would have made hiking unpleasant. Therefore we happily stayed in our tents as the following day promised calm sunny weather.

Day 3: Laguna Larga to Lago O’Higgins

We got up at 3 am to start packrafting with the first light. Moderate wind from north (predominant wind direction of Laguna Larga) slowed us somewhat down but did not prevent a lake crossing. After reaching the northern end of lake we packrafted the river to first cascade, portaged the packraft, packrafted the river again and ported a second cascade (both portages area on the left looking in river flow direction). Then we packrafted a second lake, a river and third lake. After we reached the end of the third lake we packed our backpacks and scouted a route to the beach at Lago O’Higgins (only 2.5 km). The open terrain and remains of an old trail made this land traverse easily walkable. In the forest at the beach we found an old Puesto and suitable dry ground to camp (puesto of Lino Bahmondez who now lives in Villa O’Higgins).

Day 4: Waiting day

In order to packraft to Bahia Bajo Esperanza and to return safely we required two calm weather windows. We asked via InReach Andrea on Isla Central and our friend Tobias Hellwig. Based on their reviews of Windy we rescheduled our packrafting to Bahia Bajo Esperanza for day 5 and the return for day 7 of our trip. This transformed day 4 into a waiting day. The sunny but windy weather made this waiting day a very pleasant day with excellent views to Bahia Ventisquiero.

Day 5: Bahia Laguna Larga, Bahia Bajo Esperanza, Lago and Glaciar Oriental, Bahia Bajo Esperanza, Bahia Laguna Larga

We got up at 3 am to start packrafting with the first light. We reached Bahia Bajo Esperanza in less than 2 hours, packed our backpacks and scouted the route to Lago Oriental. Most of the distance is open, partly muddy terrain and the final bit is an old overgrown trail. At Lago Oriental we inflated our packrafts and paddled amidst the ice blocks from Glaciar Oriental. We then returned on the same route to Lago O’Higgins. When we arrived at Lago O’Higgins at 19:00 the wind had calmed down sufficiently to attempt the 10 km paddle to the beach and camp where we spend the previous two nights. We preferred this camp site as the terrain at Bahia Bajo Esperanza was either wet or with little wind protection. We reached our camp just before 22:00.

Day 6: Waiting day

The predicted wind made day 6 unsuitable for packrafting but day 7, day 8 and day 9 were expected to be calm and suitable for packrafting. Therefore we opted to wait one day instead of returning via Laguna Larga.

Day 7: Packrafting Brazo Desague

We got up at 3 am to start packrafting with the first light. The first two hours of the paddle were calm with barely any wind and waves. Between 7 and 8 am the wind increased. With this, waves increased quickly. We inflated our sails to advance as far as possible before conditions became unsafe. At two exposed points wind and waves became annoying and we had to deflate the sail to not be pushed by the wind against the shore. But then the wind calmed somewhat down and we sailed the following 10 to 12 km. Towards noon the wind calmed down or we entered a wind sheltered area so we had to start paddling again. When reaching the southern end of brazo Desague we exited at the settlement „La Morocha“. In the afternoon a boat was expected to move animals to a different settlement (Rio Turbio). We opted to „hitch-hike“ with this boat to Rio Turbio.

Day 8: Return to Isla Central

On a calm morning we returned from Rio Turbio to Isla Central. This 4 km paddle on a calm morning was a delight.

Lessons learned or confirmed:

1. „Windy“ provides reasonable reliable information to wind conditions but someone must understand how the surrounding mountains redirect, enforce or weaken the wind. Anyway, predictions beyond 4 or 5 days are less reliable. Therefore, packrafters should verify expected wind conditions by InReach with a person with internet access and not rely on wind predictions recorded when leaving on a longer tour. In contrast, wind predictions provided by the InReach Weather feature or often quite inaccurate.

2. Packrafting on Lago O’Higgins and other larger lakes in southern Patagonia require patience and willingness to wait several days for suitable wind conditions (especially during the more windy summer months). Packrafting routes should be selected and customized based the predicted winds. Also, food rations need not include reserves for such waiting days.

3. Settling attempts in remote areas reached a maximum in the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s. Since these decades, many of the more remote settling attempts have been abandoned. Depending on climate, traces of these abandoned settlements are still visible or mostly wiped out.

• GPT37H Option 1D and GPT37P Option 16 / Villa O’Higgins to Lago O‘Higgins (Packrafting access to Brazo Bajo Esperanza) / Round Trip / 2024-Dec-05 to 08 / 4 days / Meylin Ubilla and Jan Dudeck

I drafted this exploration route to investigate a possible packrafting access to Brazo Bajo Esperanza of Lago O’Higgins. This north-western portage route shortens the access to Laguna Larga to a 12 km paddle and places the majority of this water route in a somewhat more wind protected area. From there it‘s another 9 km on water to Glaciar Oriental.

My initial draft route minimized portage distance by maximizing packrafting but contained quite some bush bashing. In a later detailed satellite image analysis I discovered some signs of a rarely used trail and I added another option that minimized bush bashing. We now investigated this suspected old trail without packraft to verify if this hiking route is indeed traversable.

From Villa O’Higgins we hiked the well-established trail to Laguna Negra. From there we ascended along the suspected trail towards Lago Toro. Fresh machete cuts (1 year or less) along the ascent indicated that this route is still occasionally used. Once we reached a more open plateau the signs of the old trail became more sporadic and hard to follow but the open terrain facilitated advancing. At the evening we found an excellent camp spot within a small forest.

The next day we continued our ascent towards Lago Toro. We occasionally could see signs of a disused trail but in the rather open terrain we lost this old route which got us in difficult rock terrain. Once we reached Lago Toro we rediscovered the disused trail. To get to the other end of Lago Toro we walked half a kilometer through water to avoid the dense vegetation that reached all the way to lake shore. This is not uncommon for horse trails. During the descent to Lago O’Higgins we again found occasionally signs of a disused trail especially where the geography leaves little options (the few gaps between rocky cliffs). The machete cuts were at least 10 years old. To cross one patch of dense forest we needed our machete. We camped next to Lago O’Higgins.

On the way back we could improve the route and discovered more signs of the disused trail.

This demanding route is useful for packrafters that wish to access the north-western arm of Lago O’Higgins or for hikers that look for a 3 to 4 day adventure around Villa O’Higgins.

This route is more demanding than the packrafting portage route via Laguna Negra to El Taitao about 10 km further south especially when carrying a heavy packraft and plenty of food.

This exploration confirmed some lessons learned from previous years:

1. A tedious analysis of satellite images often pays off and can avoid unnecessary hardship when searching a route. I had multiple options planned and displayed on the GPS.

2. Offline satellite images and detailed topographic maps on the smartphone are essential when “ground-truthing” such an exploration route. We used Gaia GPS (good topographic maps) and BackcountryNavigator (better satellite images).

3. The best research result is archived when the same person or group investigates the route in both directions.

4. The machete was essentially when we hit a dense patch of forest. Due to otherwise rocky terrain this was the only possible bottleneck to descend further and in exactly this patch of forest we rediscovered signs of the disused trail (old machete cuts).

5. Such explorations require reasonable good weather to be enjoyable.

Season 2022/23

• 2022-Dec-18 to 2023-Jan-16 / 30 Days / Packrafting / GPT37P Initial Investigation / Villa O'Higgins, Lago Negro, El Taitao, La Morocha, Isla Central, Brazo Poniente, Rio Condor, Lago Chico / Meylin Ubilla, Masha Ovchinnikova, Misha Bogdanov, Jan Dudeck, Tobias Schorch

In the 10 years of investigating and publishing the GPT this has been the most diverse, intense and longest exploration trip.

Lago O’Higgins is not completely unknown in the travelers world but most hikers and cyclists perceive this lake rather as an obstacle then as a region to explore. Lago O’Higgins is located between the southern terminus of the Carretera Austral and the hiking mecca El Chalten. Hikers and cyclists that wish to connect along the Carretera Austral from Cerro Castillo or Parque Patagonia to El Chalten often take the ferries that cross this lake from Villa O‘Higgins to Candelario Mancilla but furious wind can result in waiting times of more then one week.

While visiting Villa O’Higgins in recent years we learned more about the handful of settlers living remotely on the shores of this lake. The first settlers arrived around 100 years ago by boat coming from the Argentine side of this bi-national lake. And satellite images provided some information about the trails in the vicinity of this octopus-like lake with numerous arm. After years of contemplating we reserved a good part of this season to venture on this lake and to visit the settlers.

Lago O’Higgins is infamous for the often furious wind that can last for days. Especially in summer wind rarely stops making any packrafting attempt an exercise of patience. Of the 30 days at the lake we spend 10 days waiting but these days were “value time” because we stayed at the homesteads of the settlers and tasted their way of life. Highlights of the trip have been:

- Searching and documenting the barely travelled trail from Villa O’Higgins via Lago Negro to El Taitao

- Crossing by packraft Lago O’Higgins at Brazo Desagüe and Bahia Pocas Pilchas

- Spending 10 days with Andrea and Susana Mancilla on Isla Central that became our “base camp” for exploring Brazo Poniente

- Packrafting and hiking Brazo Poniente all the way to the glaciers that creep down from the Southern Patagonian Icefield

- Spending 7 days with Ema Mera and Leo Muñoz at their homestead Rio Condor that became our “base camp” to visit Brazo Sudoccidental and the Southern Patagonian Icefield

- Investigate a new cross-country hiking route to a viewpoint of Glacier O’Higgins that was probably never walked before

- Traversing the Pensinsula La Carmela from Glaciar Gaea to Lago Chico and crossing this lake by packraft next to Glaciar Chico

- Ascending on the Southern Patagonian Icefield along Glaciar Chico to Paso Marconi with the mountain guide Leo Muñoz

- Arranging food shipments with the supply boat that 3 times per month visits the settlers of Lago O’Higgins

The balanced combination of hiking, packrafting and living with the settlers made this 30-day trip an intense but not tiresome experience.

A detailed route description and recommendations will be provided with the next update of the Hikers Manual.

Links to other Resources

Retired Section Article GPT37P - Península La Florida