GPT10 - Laguna El Barco

• Published on behalf of Trevor Mattson

Incident on GPT10 at Puesto-55 on 2020-02-02 Location S 37* 49‘ 31.79‘‘ / W 71* 16‘ 23.38‘‘

"Sad to report that i had a very negative experience about 15km into section 10 on sunday (2/2). I was offered food and a place to camp by a very nice pehuenche lady (miriam, goes by "mila", the puesto after puesto 55 marked as "puesto, food" at the beginning of the OH route right after it splits from RR) only to have her husband come home later an try to rob me. She was extremely friendly. Although he was noticeably intoxicated, he was also nice at first as we joked, drank maté an collected firewood together. After a couple hours, as the sun was almost completely gone (~10pm), he went inside his puesto, grabbed a knife, an approached me from behind as i sat around the fire with his wife. He marched me to my tent with the knife pressed againt my neck. I allowed him to search it (he kept saying "plata, plata, plata" an his Spanish wasn't very good) which gave me the opportunity to pick up a rock an intimidate him a bit. I had a lot of money an wasn't just gonna let him take it and all of my stuff up in the mountains at night. His wife then came an tried to get between us / protect me (she was pleading him to stop). He was shoving her around, but this gave me just enough time to rip my tent out of the ground, which had all my stuff in it, an quickly drag it to the nearest puesto (~100metres). He followed me on horseback after a minute or two an the family there armed themselves with sticks an told him to f**k off.

I hiked for a few hours through the night an met an incredible family at around 1700metres on the optional route (papa named exequel). They told me that he (bernardino from "puesto, food") has robbed a "chino" (means anyone that looks even remotely asian in my latin American experiences) in the past an that "se vuelve loco" when he drinks vine. I bought more cheese from bernardino an his wife than i wanted/needed as a nice gesture an we seemed to get along, so this was reassuring that he was just crazy an it was nothing that i did to provoke him. In other words, i behave according to the manual provided by Jan an it is not at fault.

All in all, the pehuenches an mapuches i've met are all amazing except this guy. I definitely had to inform you all but don't want you to think that they are some uncivilized savages by any means. Bernardino kept telling his wife that i was "solo" as his justification for robbing me as they argued. Therefore i don't recommend passing through there alone, especially not later in the evening. I think if you stick to the regular you will narrowly avoid the puesto entirely. Or definitely worth the extra few KMs to continue to exequel's puesto further up the OH route. Also, i had a few extra pesos in a separate pocket that i was able to pretend like was all the money i had which was clutch. An from now on, I'm not staking anything into the ground until i know the father of the family well.

Anyway, happy trekking, stay safe, an if anyone knows a good place to try an fix tent poles in concepción by chance then that would be awesome!"

We continued from Trapa Trapa in the late afternoon to the camp at km 7. Trail is easy to navigate from the beginning. We set the camp actually a few meters before the puesto, in the forrest on the right side that seemed to be more quiet and hidden place. There is a nice spot with water around km 8, before entering the valley. We have seen just a few people around the puestos. Ascent to the pass is not bad, we enjoyed again very different landscape all around. Continuing to laguna, we decided to camp below arucaria trees a little before the official camp (cca 2 km) since we would get there pretty late. Based on comments from other hikers we went through the camp the next morning to check if there is opportunity to buy some food and eventhough the shop was closed, there were two ladies selling tortillas and sopapillas, churrasco and a few other things. The trail after laguna is mostly a dirt road passing around puestos. There was a community festival in Guallalí (1st edition) which was really nice to see, we tried grilled goat and bought some local products, great experience. One of the guys from the festival took us to Ralco in the evening and arranged a cabaña for us (35k CLP). There are 2-3 bigger shops with basically everything, gas is in the one next to the biggest market on the plaza.

• 09.01.23 - 10.01.23 (1,5 hiking days) / Anna & Christopher / SOBO, Trapa Trapa - Laguna El Barco

We started from Trapa Trapa around 11 am after finishing section 9. The first part nearly until Laguna Liay is an easy walk on dirt roads/nice paths with several water sources.

We met some pehuenche people who greated us friendly, only one man mumbled if we had a 'permiso' to pass there (we couldn't understand him very well). But then his friends told him to let us pass, he went away and we continued walking.

On the last km to Laguna Liay there is a lot of bush bashing. But it's definitely worth it, a very nice camping spot up there.

The next day we took option C around the lake, which was a mistake because at some point we couldn't find a path and ended up on a sketchy climb to the top of the plateau. The rest of the way to Laguna el Barco is easy with good paths.There is no water between Laguna Liay and Laguna el Barco.

At the Laguna they charge 5000 CLP p.p. for the picnic/beach and 8000 CLP p.p. for camping. From there we hitchhiked to Ralco to resupply.

• 20 to 23 of December 2022 / Véronica / combined GPT09 and GPT10 RR SOBO / 4 days total

Route: Trapa Trapa - Laguna Liay - Laguna El Barco - Guallalí

Two days from Trapa Trapa to Guallalí. Easy trail up the valley towards Laguna Liay. Didn't see anyone, most of the puestos appeared unoccupied. Lovely araucaria grove at the base of the big climb to Laguna Liay. The trail during the climb was overgrown/hard to distinguish in some places, and had a few areas of blowdowns too, which made the going slow during that bit.

I took Option C around Laguna Liay, which I found to be a frustrating maze of cow paths. One minute it's nice and clear and then it disappears, leaving me to bushwhack my way along until I stumble upon it again. The lake is beautiful though, and it's the last water before Laguna El Barco, so I filled up a couple litres. Met my first other GPT hikers in 3 weeks there too, they were going NOBO. Really beautiful up on the plateau of araucarias.

There was no one at Laguna El Barco when I got there around lunchtime, no one selling food either. Spent over an hour there enjoying the shady picnic tables and the beach.

Easy trails/4×4 tracks the rest of the way to Guallalí. The two NOBO GPT hikers I met yesterday got charged 10,000 pesos by some local Mapuche folks to pass through this area, but I (again) didn't meet anyone.

The shop in Guallalí is very limited. When I saw the selection, I decided to take the bus the next morning to Ralco, it leaves at 5:30 am. The shop owner was also not offering accommodation, but pointed me to the lovely araucaria grove across the street to camp. There is Entel cell service here :)

• 2022-Feb-27 / RR Northbound / Romain / 3 short days

- Lake, Camp $ {10} [32.9/1292] : the place is nice, as mentioned there are lot of bins, the camping is also very nice and the showers still very cold. They charged me $5.000 for the night. It was written "with no (something I didn't manage to read)" on the bill so if they charge you $8.000 you can try to specify you don't have car, or I don't know... They removed the panel for the grocery just after I asked for it so it's now fixed, there is no grocery. The family selling cooked food wasn't selling food when I visited them around 11:00, maybe because it was monday morning, maybe because it was the end of summer, I don't know

- Close to GPT10-C Start there is a point of view on the whole valley, it's beautiful and you can see all the puestos

- Just after it there are many paths to go down, I haven't taken the one from the GPS but it's very easy to reach it then

- Around Puesto {10} [14.5/1297] an arriero told me there are 2 paths going down the valley, one on each side of the river, I've followed the GPT to try to reach Trapa Trapa before the night so I didn't go further about them but if someone try

- Around fords there are often a "bridge" made of one massive plank, the same arriero told me about some so they probably check each year they are usable. You just have to look for it, but it can not be the case at some points

- The number of puestos in this Valley is impressive, I only had good contacts with the people I met

• 2022-02-11 to 2022-02-12 | Veronika & Jo | GPT10 RR SOBO, with the optional section 10-E straight from Laguna El Barco to Guallalí.

In one day from Trapa Trapa to Laguna Liay, camping at the north side. There are many cow trails leading down to the laguna. The one we took seemed suitable for hikers too. Going back up the next day we got lost in the cow maze though, and only by searching for our own footprints from the previous day did we get back on the RR. It may be worth having a look at our GPS tracking data to figure out our initial path.

The next day continued to Guallalí. Beatiful plateau! Got to harvest our first piñones as well! However, we hurt the araucaria tree by breaking off a small but not insignificant branch when trying to get the green "pinecone" to break off, using the "strong rope" method described in the hiker's manual. Only later we learned you should go for the brownish, "café"-colored cones. Just hit these with your walking stick and the piñones will fall right off. You then collect them from the ground. The threatened araucaria will be much happier not being hurt :)

When in need of water at the plateau, there should be a path to Laguna Totora from S 37° 54.510', W 071° 18.580', according to an arriero who passed by. Maybe a future optional route?

The optional routes 10-E and 10-G have become MR instead of TL.

The lodging at the shop in Guallalí was not avaible, but the shop owner pointed us to an araucaria grove closeby (you can enter via a wooden gate next to the escuela). We camped there: S 38° 02.647', W 071° 16.441'. There were some villagers passing by, so it seems to be public land. There's a small stream to the east with quite clear water. Maybe it's possible to camp more upstream to the north, where there are bridges and where the stream has passed fewer houses.

Continued to GPT11 immediately after.

• 2022-Jan-19 / Northbound RR / Molly and Melissa / 3 short days

Between Guallalí and Laguna el Barco is mainly gravel road, but sometimes there are small, discrete paths that connect them, so keep an eye on the GPS. The camping at Laguna el barco is now 8000 per person. There are toilets, very cold showers and many garbage bins. There is also a family selling tortillas (bread baked in the ash) and sopaipillas, as well as some other people who come down in the evening and morning selling tortillas. There's a shop advertising ice cream, bread, sodas and other stuff, but it's closed. The people at the camping told us that it would open at 13, and then at 20, and then next day. A lady who had stayed there for a week said it had been like that the whole week, so I wouldn't count on it being open. As noted, you can ask the campground people to charge your phone. All in all, it was a nice campsite. Shortly after, the big climb starts. You have to pass through a fence and by some houses - again keep an eye on the GPS. We were charged 1000 per person, probably wouldn't happen for people going southbound. As warned, there was no water on the plateau until Laguna Liay. At the camp-waypoint, there is a very small lake, it doesn't look like the best drinking water, and the path directly to the lake seems very overgrown. Instead, we continued around the lake and found a decent campsite on the far side. The path around the lake is faint at best, and we ended up doing some serious scrambling down a cliff, however when we got down we found a path coming more from the right, so maybe there's a better way. The walk around is pretty, though. After the descent, the rest is easy walking past many puestos. In Trapa Trapa, we stayed at the house marked "lodging, food". They charge 20,000 per person for a room, dinner and breakfast. Very nice family, they might be away in their puesto sometimes though. There's also the option to take a bath in their inflatable swimming pool with shampoo, and they sell some honey. We were served cazuela and loads of sopaipillas for dinner. They were building a cabaña when we were there. Right next to them in a little red house behind a black gate there is a minishop, which according to them is the biggest in Trapa Trapa. They had pasta, rice, tuna, sodas, chocolate covered nuts, matches, toilet paper. They were open Saturday when we were there. Apart from that there are two other minishops, one in each direction, which we didn't check out.

The bus apparently leaves for Ralco at 6 and 18 every day including weekends.

• 2021-Dec-03/NoBo/Marc Anthony

Regular route + variant D - 2 days. After finishing GPT9 I went directly on to GPT10 and made camp at the camping ground by el barco lake (5000 pesos) you can ask them to charge your electronics by the house where you pay. They didn’t sell any food.

Like already mentioned by others, remember to bring a lot of water for the following section. The plateau you climb up on after El Barco lake was very dry. Next water source with good clean water was at Laguna Liay. I was getting desperate for water, so I took variant D directly down to the laguna. The trail was very overgrown and requires some bush bashing. Frustrating amounts of mosquitos and horseflies in this part of the section, might be worth bringing some mosquito spray!

Next section towards trapa trapa was nice and easy with perfect weather and plenty of water.

Found two mini-shops in Trapa Trapa with only limited supplies. A bus to Ralco, leaves weekdays 6:00 in the morning. Therefore I spent the night in a room that a local Mapuche family were renting out. Was served a very big plate of grilled sheep meat and really enjoyed talking with the family. Later in the evening the father returned home very drunk. He was nice and talkative but I was getting at bit of a bad vibe from him, so thanked them for the food and went off to bed. Later at night I was awaken by someone vigorously trying to open the door which I thankfully locked. Rest of the family woke up and I heard a mans voice shouting something about “extranjero” and soon after the abuela kicked this guy out of the house. Instantly thought I was gonna get robbed, but might just have been a drunk family member or the father who had forgot I was sleeping in their room. Hard to say… Apart from this I really enjoyed interacting with the locals in this region and I’ve had a lot of nice and memorable experiences.

• Jan 23 Frank RR 2 days Southbound

Came in from Trapa Trapa in evening & camped @ Camp 81. There is a Mapuche family living there, talked to them & they were OK with me camping nearby. I was caught out by the sudden transition from river valley to dry plateau, had very little water & was as dry as dirt when I got to stream 1KM before Laguna Barco, drank 3 litres there. 3000CLP camping for 1 person @ Laguna. There is a Mapuche family with a food stall there, they have chips, sopaipillas & tortilla. The tortilla is like a small bread loaf. Next morning as I was leaving around 8:30 the Mapuche woman came round the campsite with fresh sopaipillas & tortilla. Walked in to Guallali from Laguna Barco in about 3 hours. Shop in Guallali is small but Romina who runs the shop provides beds & meals. 20,000 CLP for evening meal (usually goat & rice), bed & breakfast. Walked out 9KM to Comunidad Chanqueco, there is a good shop there. From Chanqueco it's easier to hitch, traffic coming from Laguna Barco but very little from Guallali. Hitched into Ralco, stayed @ Hosteria Montana there, about 15000CLP single. 2 supermarkets in Ralco, they sometimes have camping gas.

• Start Date: January 12, 2020
• Section: GPT 10 Southbound
• Duration: 2 Days
• Name/Alias: Ian Hikes
• Overview: This section was well marked/distinguished relative to all the other sections on thus far. There were many Puestos along the way as well. This was also the first section where the araucaria tree is very prevalent across the landscape. This section was my final section on the GPT and the araucaria trees and the lush green landscape provided good contrast to the semi-desert climate south of Santiago de Chile.
• Difficulties: There was a small 12km ish section without water close to the pass.
• Highlights: Change in landscape. Great views of the many volcanoes in the area.
• Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions at ultratrailca@gmail.com

• 2020-Jan-22 / Martin / Regular route southbound

Combined sections 9 & 10. 4 days. Sierra Velluda and Antuco Volcanoe were amazing. In Trapa Trapa the two small shops were out of stock, so we couldn't buy anything. Pehuenche settlers in "veranadas" were really welcoming and friendly to us. We asked anyway for permission to camp close to their settlements. We were invited by familia Crespo Manquepi for tortillas, tea and some other food and stayed there for a few hours. They are welcome to recieve gpt hikers and in the future sell some food and lodging. Really kind family. Just before the last big climb in section 10. No water for a long stretch after it. Recomend the detour to Laguna Liay, amazing. Resupplied in Ralco.

• 2020-Jan-15 / Maddie & Tom / Regular route southbound

1.5 days. The trail was in good condition and we didn’t experience any issues. Possible to resupply at Guallalí but the selection isn’t huge (pasta, dry soups, crackers, tuna etc). If you are looking to bus into Lonquimay, it was leaving at 5:30AM the next morning for us (but we didn’t take it).

• 2020-Jan-10 / Martina & Ivo / Regular route southbound

1.5 days. Easy trail and navigation. We got in this really bad weather too. Storm and ice at the pass. In Guallali we had coffee and sopapillas at the carabinieros and spent the night at the same place as Matus, Anna and Linda. We took the bus at 05:30 towards Los Angeles and are staying in Ralco for resupply and drying.

Linda 2019 December 25 and 26 Southbound 2 days = Regular hiking route to the end

- Nice hike with no major difficulties. The plateau with the araucarias after the pass is amazing!!!

- No river when you leave the valley toward the pass and then down to the other valley BUT, as I wanted to sleep on this plateau (25 km after the start of the section) I found a small river 300 meters on the right from the regular track and camped at this place : S37,895511° O71,308919° Wonderful sunset!!!

- In Guallali, end of the section, lodging, food and mini shop. Lodging at the way point Minishop very nice = guesthouse with diner and breakfast for 20000 CLP. Very nice family!!!!

• 17.12.19 / Sophie & Hendrik / 2 days (11 walking hours) / Northbound / Regular Hiking Route with hitch hiking between Guallali and Laguna el Barco.

In total we were 3.5 days on the trail, of which we spend 1 in the tent due to bad weather. The 0.5 day we had left from arriving in Guallali we spend buying food and hitch hiking to the campground at Laguna el Barco. We did so because we expected rain soon and wanted to camp it out. Also we were not too keen for the gravel road part.

We liked: Nice araucaria trees, an amazing sunset we saw a tad south of Laguna Llai and after section 11 and 12 the easy terrain.

We did not like so much: The horsflies.

• 4-Jan-2020 / Matus & Anna / Regular SOBO

GPT09 and GPT10 Season section log. We combined these two sections. It took us 3.5 days via regular trail SOBO. Trail in both section is in good condition. There is snowfield in first pass as was mentioned. We went left, but it would be worth to check is it's possible to go through rocks on the right as it seems much shorter. Water is not marked on a map but there is a stream before the pass. Resuply in Trapa Trapa is very limited. They had few tunas, other caned fish, some pasta, flour, cola, crisps... We didn't check for accomodation. We stayed in a paid campsite at Laguna el Barco for 5000 both. Around 8 there was a woman selling bread and sweet pastry, but mind that it was weekend. Resuply in Guallali again very limited. They have tunas, caned fish, pasta, oil, crackers and bit more. We are staying in a house next to the shop.

Elevation Profile of Regular Hiking Route

Elevation Profile of Regular Hiking Route (2019)

Resupply Town

• Trapa Trapa

- Accommodation: The house marked "lodging, food" charge 20,000 per person for a room, dinner and breakfast. There's also the option to take a bath in their inflatable swimming pool with shampoo, and they sell some honey. We were served cazuela and loads of sopaipillas for dinner.

- Shopping: Right next to them in a little red house behind a black gate there is a minishop, which according to them is the biggest in Trapa Trapa. They had pasta, rice, tuna, sodas, chocolate covered nuts, matches, toilet paper. They were open Saturday when we were there. There is a panel just before the street going to the grocery indicating that the mini-market is 100m away. There are two other minishops.

- Bus: The bus apparently leaves for Ralco at 6 and 18 every day including weekends.

• Guallalí

Lodging at the way point Minishop very nice = guesthouse with dinner and breakfast for 20000 CLP.

Shopping: Food

• Laguna El Barco :

Updated Mar 22

-The family selling cooked food close to Lake, Camp $ {10} [32.9/1292] wasn't selling food when I visited them around 11:00, maybe because it was monday morning, maybe because it was the end of summer, I don't know

Shopping: Fuel

Shopping: Equipment

Services: Restaurants

Services: Laundry

Services: ATM and Money Exchange

Accommodation: Hostals and Hotels

Accommodation: Cabañas

Accommodation: Camping

Transport: Ground Transport

Transport: Ferries

Transport: Shipping Services

Resupply on the Trail

Location, Names, Available Items and Services

Access to Start

Return from Finish

Bus Guallali - Ralco - Santa Barbara - Los Angeles 05:30

Updated January 2022: Bus from Trapa Trapa to Ralco at 6 and 18 every day including weekends

Escape Options

Regular Hiking Route

Regular Packrafting Route

Old

Araucarias at GPT10 - Laguna El Barco

GPT10 - Laguna El Barco

GPT10 - Laguna El Barco

GPT10 - Laguna El Barco