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==Season 2024/25==
* '''2025-03-04 to 2025-03-08 / 5 days / <span style="background-color:aqua;">Packrafting</span> and hiking/ NOBO / Option 6 / Tomáš&Natalie'''
Not important prelude: We were not going to do this. Several continuous days of rain were forecasted. We meant to take a ferry north from Puerto Chacabuco. However, there were protests and the road to Puerto Aysén was closed on Monday and the buses were cancelled. The first bus of the day at 13:45 only went a few km before Puerto Aysén, where the prostest were. We were supposed to walk through them and board another bus. Locals said that the ferry always leaves later than the schedulet 15:00 and we should make it. But when we reached the protests, somebody called the port and the ship sailed on time. Given we also left our tent poles in Cochrane and were arranging for them to be sent to Coyahaique by bus and then by post (from Coyhaique to Santiago, it is supposed to be fast) and that the forecast was improving somewhat, we took it as a sign to do this option which we have previously mulled, so we returned to Coyhaique instead of hunting the ferry by hitching to Puerto Cisnes, where it would be at 11PM. We cursed ourselves throughout when it was cold, rainy and flooded, but you only truly remember the good stuff later on, so now it feels good. We walked in drysuits 80 percent of the time. We would never want to hike in such a rainy weather without drysuits and drybags.
Overall, I think we are the first who have done this hike since it has been promoted from exploratory options. The GPS is correct. Hiking wise it is easy, possibly easier (less exposed, we had no issues doing it in the rain) than RR. Fords are much worse though, at least in rainy weather. Scenic-wise it is hard to compare, we had no views in the clouds. But I assume the RR is prettier. Here you will meet noone, if that is a huge bonus for you, this could be recommended. Or when denied entry on RR when going NOBO or if you have done RR previously. It is also obviously attractive for packrafters as it nicely connects to Rio Paloma/31P-01.
(The rapid under the bridge over Rio Ibanez at Cerro Castillo looked just like big waves (class III?) from the bridge, but do your own scouting, I saw it twice only for 5 seconds each, I just was surprised it did not look that bad.)
On Tuesday morning, we took a bus from Coyhaique to Cochrane and got out at Cerro Castillo, where we waited 4 hours for bus from Cochrane that carried our poles. A gomeria here -46.12096, -72.16249 sharpened our machete very well and for free! When the poles arrived, we soon got a hitch to -46.13355, -72.41950. In pouring rain and cursing, we assembled the packraft and went 1 km down Rio Ibanez to option 10A. The river was flooded, all of the riverbed was under water. Luckily it was raining less then. Camped in the rain here: -46.11081, -72.40580. The cable car upstream is still there, no idea if it is functional though.
The trail up still exists, but it seems it had not been used this year, so it is not the fastest. Shortly after entering the forrest for the first time somewhere around -46.10651, -72.41083, there is a meadow with some bamboo where the other side of the trail is hard to find even with GPS, but it is there. The trail is good in the forrest, but in the open around -46.10263, -72.41470, it is somewhat overgrown, but not too bad, I did not use the machete. The option 06 is preferable to 06B. I think this is what "Mum, Sis and I" did. 06B is still a trail at least in its beginning and it was done by Jan and he did not seem to like the last BB climb (I talked to him). On our route, I would say the BB&CC should be more CC&BB&TL. First part is easy if steep descent in open terrain. Around here -46.09437, -72.42397, there was a trailhead. I however lost (not hitting "save" on new waypoints is a plague!) the exact coordinates, so look for it. The trail is maybe an animal trail and is steep, but it leads you down to a stream. Cross the stream here: -46.09371, -72.42521, where the animal (?) trail continues. Then keep to the ridge until you exit the forest. The forest is indeed quite open (the more the higher you are) and sometimes there is something that looks like a trail. Good camps with access to water would be -46.09088, -72.43224 and at the end of the BB&CC (not the one indicated in the files). This part took us maybe 2 or 3 hours, but we were slow. Camp without water possible here too: -46.09290, -72.42823. It was starting to rain when we reached the open terrain, so we put on drysuits. The meadows did not seem to be grazed and water was kind of everywhere. The traverse is however easy and not exposed. Safety-wise, we felt good even in the rain and medium visibility. It was not windy but we got cold (took us some time to get warm in the tent). The forest before our campsite somewhere around -46.05323, -72.47485 is very open - count no time penalty for walking there.
We had a late morning as it was still raining. When it stopped, we put on drysuits and went down the meadow and then it started to rain again. The meadow is being grazed and marshy and I do not think it ever gets really dry. Sometimes it seemed there is a bit of a trail in the forest on the west side, but we mostly walked on the meadow. Puesto del Avion stands, is semidry and kind of dirty. The trail after the meadow is well used and clear and muddy. The river was roaring (looked kayakable from high up, it is continuous rapids at least up to clas IV, but we obviously did not see all of it) and we avoided the first four fords that are close to each other by staying on the left side. This is doable, it takes a bit of time but the forest is open, just stay close to water. The ford 10.6 (-45.99676, -72.37790) was a clear nogo and initially we also tried to stay on the right. It went for a bit, but it gets steeper and steeper and cliffier and cliffier. We camped up there and tried to go further the next day, but turned back one third of the distance to the next ford. Traversing seems bad, but possibly crosing a sidestream here -45.99541, -72.37794, reaching above tree line here: -45.98498, -72.37741 and then going down -45.97970, -72.36782 might work, but the way down would be steep and it would possibly take a whole day, so you might just as well wait for the water to go down. In 12 hourse of no rain during the nightu, the water went down by about 15 cm at a narrow spot.
Back at the ford, it was still too strong. However, about 100m upstream (somewhere around -45.99786, -72.37877), where the locals' makeshift camp is, one can cross the river kneedeep where it is wider. First go in the middle, then about 50 m downstream and the cross to the other side and then along the river to the trail. The trail then goes under cliffs, the whole upper valley is quite pretty. The next ford 8.2 was also strong. Without backpack, I managed to cross it but a much better whitewaterless spot is about 60 m upstream in front of a big rock. The river was still strong, Natalie struggled a bit with it even with my help. It was mid-thighs and pushy in the middle. Having lost a lot of time on the fords and attempted traverse, we camped at -45.95672, -72.35307, behind a new gate. The trail from there continues at least to -45.94945, -72.36639, where it fords the river (easy). I did not explore more, but I wonder if it joins option 8 at a clearing and buildings here: -45.93527, -72.42878, as the corresponding pass seems low and there do not seem to be any sensible other destinations in this valley. Somebody with more time and food should explore more - try to reserve at least half a day for it! There was also abandoned puesto here: -45.95000, -72.36480.
Ford 4.9 did not go down overnight, it was under our ùknees. Natalie forded a bit upstream where it is more pushy but boulders and stones give you more grip. I had no issues crossing at the proper ford, where the riverbad is exposed rock. It is not flat and not too slippery though. The rest of the valley is easy and finally it was a sunny day without drysuits! Bridge 30.4 on Option 5 was standing, so that still waits for its first log. It was a sunny Saturday and there were several cars (fisher and tourists) at Bridge 31, so hitching from there seems feasible. There was also some traffic on the less minor road to Lago Caro. We however went down on Rio Paloma on 31-01P.
'''2025-02-23 to 2025-02-26 / 4 days / Hiking / SOBO / Option 2, RR, Option E, Option 3, Option F / Tyson'''