GPT15 (Curarrehue)

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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

Summary with remarks to route that are considered useful for other hikers and packrafters. Include alerts, suggestions and personal perception of attractiveness and difficulties.

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Section Log, Alerts and Suggestions

Season 2022/23

• 2023-Feb-27 / 4 days / Hiking / 15-O1 NOBO + Solipulli traverse + 14 SOBO / Martial

Very nice expedition starting opposite side from Nat & Tomas cause i skipped GPT11-13 for gear resupply in Pucón (Volcanica outdoors very good btw !). Started 15-O1 in Parc Huerquehue the 23 in the morning after negociating an entrance ticket with one of the guard off voices who was very comprehensive after i got here without ticket on the 22 at 18pm and parc was fully reserved for 2 more days.. Be more prepared ! Had a lucky price 10mil for Olga’s camping 10mil for 1 person arriving late. Very good value for money ! Crystal clear lake water sunset, hot clean showers, caring owners.. Beers, galletas y pan amasado caliente in the morning ! Had to get back to the CONAF gate in the morning for ticket so wished i had left the mochila in Olga’s 😓 Easy and nice walk up to the lagunas and although i have been warned Renahue sector was shut, i decided to continue as Conaf is not checking exit route. (The sector has been closed for missbehavior of the visitors so obviously don’t make fire or leave basura !!). Starting this sector the trail is volontary left sufficiently overgrown to discourage normal visitor but no GPT hiker 😄 and the way down to the Termas is nice enough. Stayed at ecotermas for 15mil after nice chat with Richard the guardian. Loved to immerge in the termas for hours with a beer and chating with Chileans. Next morning had in mind to hitchhike but no cars so found nice cascade before turning left to laguna Isolda. The owner put a gate « recinto privado » but you can pass asking for permission.. I bumped into him and his little daughter cleaning the trail to the laguna with machete : very nice guy and thanks to him the trail in this forest till the road is beautiful ! Hitchhiking the road was no better so had to camp next to it on an unmarked camp here -39.06698, -71.51530, rainy night. The day after finally had a lucky hitch all the way to the entrance of the reserva to Solipulli so could actually make it to the summit on the same day by following the south est ascent. It is CC after the treeline and found a good path climbing to the lake located before the crater for high camp (my specialty it seems 😄 !). Aqui : -38.96789, -71.49060. Weather was getting full sun so no problem and was delightly rewarded by one of the most amazing sunset of my life setting just into a depression of the crater above the glaciar. Mesmerizing and got me smiling for hours despite the crazy windy cold ! After an icy night i used the same path to the ridge scouted before and could join the RR and true summit for midtime before going down on the easy north route heading to CONAF. There was surprisingly no-one there on a sunday early afternoon. Got small supplies from the lodge owner (28mil one p. in the refugio so passed and camped near a lake before last ford : recommended). Met also Franklin family for a few welcome asada meat sandwich treat 🍖 So generous !! Next day was big MR hiking back 14 sobo so putted earpods and went fullgas to a camp after Reigolil marked on gaia gps (but actually shut so got it free after asking for permision to the abuelo : -39.13615, -71.48404). Very hot and boring no cars after the reserve exit. Happy to reach Curarrehue’s cafeteria for sweet delights after 07:10 bus !

• 2023-Feb-20 to 2023-Feb-21 / 2 days / Hiking / SOBO / OH 1 PN Huerquehue / Natalie & Tomáš

Hitched from the end of GPT14 to the start of the trail to Laguna Isolda (option 01). The start is gated (easily passable) and says private property but we continued. Sign said to call bosquesnalcahue (45) 91 06 59. We anticipated a bushwack but the trail was in surprisingly good conditions and we managed to meet the women responsible for the upkeep later in the park, she guides horse tours through those trails and clears as much as she can. The trail however is "so so" and you cannot access the lake easily, if you need water there is running water here;-39.10352, -71.54720. The trail turns into a road sooner than it is shown on the map, it turns into a road here;-39.10477, -71.54474 (about 5 km in). The road to the hotsprings has lots of water sources but it is not very interesting and I personally wished I just hitched all the way to the hotsprings to spend more time there. However, there was an interesting deserted logging operation along the way (-39.12617, -71.55411), we learned from the horse guide that the company went bankrupt and just left everything there.

Camping at the hotsprings; Evo Thermas Rio Blanco and San Sebastian, are 15mil/person. We chose to stay at Rio Blanco because of the pools and a better variety of camping spots. We camped above the booth where you pay and the man who we payed showed us a hidden super hot (adjustable with cold water hose) bath not too far from our camp spot. Tomáš was surprised there by a family at 10 PM so keep some makeshift swimsuits ready. Both campings sell some basic food items but not much.

There is a sign saying the trail to Huerquehue is closed "Indefinitely" and so is camping Renahue. Quite alarming but since the website said the park was open we continued with the mindset we would have to turn back. The trail was pretty good from the termas to camping renahue and it is here where we met the horse guides that were doing the trail maintenance near Laguna Isolda. The horse guides came up through the trail from lake Caburgua and they said it was an easy trail. This could be a good option if you wanted to avoid any trouble with CONAF and the section closure. However we were still curious about Huerquehue so we continued option01 thinking we would turn back if we saw another sign or anything saying the trail was closed, to our surprise there were no more signs. Between camping renahue to lake Huerquehue there is a lot of blow down but after lake Huerquehue the trail is pristine. We started seeing people after Lago Toro so obviously the park was open. With the combination of having a late morning at the hot springs and all the indecisiveness about closures we ended up walking through the park at a great time ( 530-7pm). There were very few people and we really got to enjoy how beautiful it was there. CONAF website said they close at 530pm but there are no gates and attendants so no problems leaving the park later. Unfortunately at the lake the camping El Rincon was closed and camping Olga was 18mil a night with a minimum of a two night stay so we managed to get a hitch to Pucón. If needed, you can illegally camp at the CONAF station as that is what others were doing or ask "Alicia" at the old El Rincon campsite if you can pay privately and take care of your washroom needs- supposedly they had to shut down due to washroom problems.

"Trail closure" on option 01PN Huerquehue. When leaving the Eco termas Rio Blanco hot springs there is a sign saying the "Huerquehue trail, camping renahue and the dome" are closed "indefinitely". The park itself is open but supposedly that section on the trail is closed. We continued bcs we were not sure which trail they were exactly talking about but we're prepared to turn around if we saw something blocked off. The trail was fine except for a lot of blow down up until the lake Huerquehue. If you want to avoid this closure there is a trail in good shape coming from lake Caburgua to camping renahue. We met a horse guide coming from there and said it is fine.

Season 2019/20

• 2020-Feb-05 / 1.5 days / Hiking / SOBO / Frank

I combined GPT15, 16 & 17. It's easy to resupply in Curarrehue & Liquine. 2 short days for GPT15 & continued to GPT16 on 2nd day. Got the bus from Pucon to Reigolil via Currarehue. Didn't go to the lake but continued straight on the main road to Curarrehue. This option is quicker but there are not many places to camp.

• 2020-Feb / 1.5 days / Hiking / NOBO

We took the dirt road on the west side of river. There is a small coffee about 7km from Currarehue. Very nice with good atmosphere. No particular interest in this section. Hitch if you can, there are quite some people living along this road so it should be easy. There is a bus doing Currarehue/Reigolil every day. Currarehue is nice to resupply with restaurants, supermarkets and accommodation. There is also an ATM. Reigolil there is only one very small shop with not much.

• 2020-Jan-30 / SOBO / Main road / Martina & Ivo

We started to walk on the road on the Western side of the river just to see what will happen. After 2 hours a bus to Curarrehue came ;-)

• 2019-Nov-26 / 2 days / Hiking / SOBO / RR / Shaun C

Straightforward. Took a short 2 days. Rained incessantly, but still very pleasant, especially the misty Laguna Hualalafquen. Water readily available throughout. Only a few patches of snow (above 1200m).

• 2020-Jan-15 / 4 days (GPT14 + GPT 15) / Hiking / SOBO / RR / Matus & Anna

We combined sections 14 and 15. It took us 3 days and nero. GPT14 - there are signs that someone tried to clear overgrown part of the trail on the begining and end but middle is still nicely overgrown. Though we didn't have problem to follow. Part of minor road on regular trail is under construction. They are putting a huge pipe under it. It was evening and workers were not there se we managed to sneak through but I don't think they will let you pass during working hours. It's just before descending to the river before National reserve Villarrica. In the Conaf campsite was food truck (it was weekend) with churasco, sopapillas, drinks... pure heaven. We paid 4000 per person at conaf. They are building a dorm at Lodge. It will be ready for next years hikers ;) Resuply in Reigolil - mini shop on trail seemed abandoned. We found best supplies in shop-4. There is one other shop directly after bridge. GPT15 - road and trail in good condition. On the climb to the lake bit before last settler there are some wild cherry trees on the left. We stuffed ourselves and left for others too. Enjoy. Multiple shops, accomodation options and restaurants in Curarrehue.

• 2020-Jan-19 / 1.5 days / Hiking / SOBO / RR / Tom & Maddie

Easy walking, road in good condition. Would recommend hitching if you have limited time, but worth doing otherwise to connect sections 14 and 16. Really good resupply in Curarrehue (restaurants, grocery stores, clothing stores, pharmacy etc).

Resupply and Accommodation

• Pucon has a few big supermarkets & several shops with hiking gear. One of the supermarkets has a hardware section where you can buy camping gas.

• Regioli at the northern start of the section has only one limited shop.

• Curarrehue, at the southern end, is a decent-sized town with numerous restaurants and shops.

Transport to and from Route

Regioli has limited options. Curarrehue is much better connected.

Timetable January 2020

Bus goes from Pucon to Curarrehue then Reigolil

Links to other Resources

Retired Section Article GPT15 - Curarrehue

Images

GPT15

GPT15 and Volcán Lanín