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[[file:Greater Patagonian Trail (2).jpg|thumb|GPT19 - Volcán Puyehue]]
[[file:Greater Patagonian Trail (3).jpg|thumb|GPT19 - Volcán Puyehue]]
*26.01.23 - 29.01.23 / Anna & Christopher / SOBO, Riñinahue (option 2) - Volcán Puyehue (option 4B) - Licán
From Panguipulli we took a bus at 8:40 am to Los Lagos (on a thursday). From there we took another bus to Paillaco at 11:30 am and got off at the cruce Reumén/Futrono. The connecting bus to Futrono passed there around 12:20 pm. From Futrono we took a bus to Llifén at 13:15 pm. From there we hitchhiked until the junction of Option 2 with the RR at km 37 approx. and arrived there around 17:00 pm.
On the way up to Los Venados there is one accessible creek approx. 2,5 km before Los Venados. When we arrived there the gate following the RR was locked. As we didn't wanted to dry camp (we didn't fill up our bottles at the creek) we tried to get access to the river following variant D. It's definitely not possible to get water there, the forest is too dense and its getting too steep to climb down. So we went back and luckily after a while Hector and Neri arrived. They offered us to stay at their Refugio the night as it was already quite late.
The way up to the plateau is a good path. We collected some water from the northern "water?" waypoint around km 53,5. As Véronica mentioned there are only some shallow pools, but with clear water.
On the plateau there are still some creeks from the snowmelt, but not that many so better carry some water.
Around km 65 we saw in the valley on the left hand side a nicely flowing creek (off the RR) and decided to camp there. Its a detour of about 15-20min.
The next day we woke up to a clear blue sky and therefore decided to climb the volcano and to take the surrounding variant. On the ascent we didn't follow the GPS, which was a bad idea, as we ended up in a steep scree traverse/sketchy rock climbing. So it took us a lot of time to reach the ridge. Once there we enjoyed the amazing views! Walking around the crater got more and more tiring with all the ups and downs, but it's worth it! It was our favorite section so far.
We collected some snowmelt water on the descent and camped at the Refugio (no water there).
The path down from the Refugio is in good conditions. From Licán we got a ride directly to Puerto Montt.
*6 to 8 of January 2023 / Véronica / GPT19 RR SOBO / via GPT19-02 / 2.5 days