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→Season 2023/24
==Season 2023/24==
28-Feb-24 to 03-Mar-24/3.5days4days/ Hiking/ NOBO/ RR/ Natalie & Luca
Took a few days off to reconnect with an old friend in Villa O'Higgins and then decided to take him for a test trial on the GPT.
With the help of Martin from Mosco we found out the day we left was the day the subsidized bus leaves from O'Higgins to Lago Christie. Left around 1130 and got to the TH ~13:00. The bus only goes 4x a month and it went twice in the last week of February, not sure how it is organized. Only 3500 each.
A little bit of rain The first day and a lot of rain /snow at the end.The trail was fun, mellow and in good shape, next to no mud. We met Ruben and all of his animals (cutest puppy atm), he walked with us for a while to show us the route out of his property. He offered a camping spot but I am sure the dogs would be all over you at night. We camped at the beginning of Allegra near Refugio entre lagos (NO refugio), -48.09404, -72.49798__. At this moment there is no shelter but it looks like someone is working on one, there is a boat at the lake. There is a creek with only still puddles so we drank from the lake.
There are few nice camping spots along both Christie and Allegra that are not marked. Did not stop to fish :(. I heard Margarita is in O'Higgins atm.
We made a short cut to avoid the big intersection near Puesto 107. We cut off after camp 110 and ended ~800m near a river camp marked on osm. It was easy and mostly open forest, mainly just a quest to stay on the best animal track as there are a few of them. We basically followed close to where the hill is but not too close bcs that is where the bush is no good.
Camped outside Puesto 98.4, Las tablas. It had no water so fill up before of just cut go down to the river. (Then again most of the refugios here do not have water close to).
Met Matías- Hi Matías! Even though we were both trying to beat the rain I very much enjoyed the conversation/laughs!
When we got to Puesto 83.9, La Pampa, the rain just began to start and even though it was only lightly raining at the time the forecast was not good for the evening so we decided to stay and enjoy the early day and nice Refugio. The weather got increasingly worse and very strong overnight with snow in the morning. The Refugio is large and clean. It has a fire pit in the corner, an outhouse, extra blankets and tarps, a good table and lots of tools and pots if needed. No other puesto compared. There were only a few small leaks during the night, we pitched a tent inside for added warmth.
The next morning there was a lot of fresh snow and it was still snowing with strong wind at times- so the pass was interesting. We took variant D to avoid the Rio Bravo fords and got soaking wet in the bush, it wasnt very clear where the trail was, needed the gps. Although the Rio Bravo was very calm and shallow (barely to my knees, 167), the snow made it too cold for my liking. If one is curious about camping on the other side of the river I think you can make a camp ,there are lots of flat spots but not so much wind protection. There were camping possibilities throughout the pass as well. As for the pass, luckily "most" of the snow/hail trail was not sticking to where covered by snow bcs the trail water was (mostly) so flowing down the trail therefore navigation was still okay, possibly because the trail was usually a mini stream due to the snow and rainbit harder between passes. Of course the weather improved at camp 68.4...
I know Tomáš managed the La Picota river and it made me curious to try but it made no sense to go for it, the RR now that follows the west is an easy trail and the fords afterwords were almost (all but one) jumpable. Sadly what I read about "la playa" is true, there was a dead horse (pieces of it) at the start of the fords, it seemed rather recent so I guess the La Picota ford still kills.
The Refugio after the fords is just a "lean too". The trail afterwards is okay, starting to get muddy but not bad. A nice camp is possible at -47.66704, -72.50032 bcs of the beautiful view but there is no water, actually not many places to stop between ford and puesto 57.6. We Camped at Puesto 57.6 and met Antonio, super lovely man and we had breakfast with him the following morning I'm return I gave him the rest of my trail mixwalnuts and peanuts, hopefully that was enough. There is not much of a shelter there, teepee style, but you can camp under the trees by the river. His dogs are annoying tho, got into my food bag while we were talking and then never left us alone. Really nice camping just before his puesto in a big clover field.
Next say day super quick walk out to the view point and then got a hitch down to Cochrane easily, lots of people on a cloudy Sunday afternoon.
24-Feb-24 to 2024-Feb-27 / 4 days / Hiking / SOBO / RR, Variant B, Option 2 / Tomáš