Cambios

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=Section Log, Alerts and Suggestions=

==Season 2023/24==

This section was a worthy final for my journey on the GPT! Even seeing at least 2-3 other hikers per day it felt really remote. I enjoyed the long walking on the beaches and the special atmosphere up at the cross at cabo froward, looking down the magellan strait and imagine the first sailors passing this strenous passage.

Its possible to do this track in an enjoyale pace in 4 days in good weather, but I guess it to be much harder in bad weather. Especially in strong winds walking will be much slower at the coast. I found the short inland sections really nice - only a little muddy but nothing serious and an impressive landscape.

I found the tide tables for cabor froward more accurate (I provided a link).

The fox is present at the camp south of the 3rd river. He completely devastated the tents of two chilenos who made a day trip to the cabo. Hang ALL your food higher than 2 m. He can jump pretty high and even reached their food hanging at 1.5 m :D

There were many people and cars at the parking lot. Hitchhiking was no problem at this time of the year.

1. I got the bus to San Juan. Last stop is @ Rio Santa Maria (the stop is marked on OSM) Not much traffic @ 9AM so I walked 8KM to the roadhead. On the road there is a house with some boats. A big dog came out & started attacking me but 4 people came along & when in a group he retreated. Easy walking to the hut. Saw a whale, some penguins & dolphins near the lighthouse. The first river is v. easy, I was able to jump it. 2nd & 3rd river crossings were both easy & knee deep within 90 minutes of low tide. There are sticks marking the crossings. Cross about half way between the sticks & the sea.

==Season 2022/23==

We hiked this beautiful and remote trail from and to the parking lot. The trail is hard, especially in the humid weather (the stones on the beaches are more slippery further you get), but there are no problems with the orientation on the trail, you just need to follow the track files when you're not sure, where to next. Usually you can choose between walking on the beach (low tide) and forest path closer or further from the shore (hight tide). We recommend to take the further one at least ones so you see the endless peatbogs with miniatures of Chilean cyprus trees (here the late season and morning frost helps with harder surface) and deep Andean primary forrest. The thing that complicates all is tide. You NEED to have tide charts with you (see below). Sleeping is easy, puesto serves for the first night just fine with still usable stove and benches to sleep on (if anybody could provide an ax, please do it, it would be a great help to others 😉 and camsites are on both sides of all rivers and even in the middle of them. Last but not least, we have one personal wish, when you walk this hike, have spare plastic bags to collect some rubbish. The first puesto and all the campsites suffer from tourist and fishermen waste. We tried our best, but there is much more to do.

For tide forecast see Links to other Resources below.

An absolutely beautiful section and fitting end to my GPT journey. I was fortunate to hike it with mostly good weather, although it was cold and sometimes difficult to warm up after fording the rivers, which can only be crossed during low tide. I had the tide charts for Punta Arenas downloaded, and carried some extra food in case I got stuck at the river crossings and had to wait out low tide. I went during the full moon and so got two low tides during daylight hours — in the mornings around 9 a.m., and then in the evenings around 8 p.m. I always timed my crossing of the rivers with the lowest tide.

I found it easy to hitchhike from Punta Arenas to the end of the road at Punta Árbol. The route is relatively straightforward to follow along the beach, or coastal forest, or peat bogs until you reach the third river.

The third day I got up early again to cross the second river at low tide (9 a.m.). I could have walked all the way back to the trailhead that day, but the weather was so beautiful that I wanted to spend one last night on the trail, so I camped at Bahía El Águila, just a few km south of the lighthouse.

Walked from Punta Arenas to Capo Froward and back to the beginning of the trail. There is a bus going twice a day to San Juan and back, but hitchhiking was faster. The water level of Rio San Juan is not suitable for packrafting by now. The upper part needs at least 4 times more water. Might be possible in winter/spring. After the confluence with Río Sur packrafting is possible. I had to made my way through the bushes.

You find information about capo froward trail online, but I would like to point out 3 things:

3. Some parts of the rocky beaches can also only be crossed with low tide.

The trail is adventurous and remote. We saw dolfins, sea lions, whales and many different kind of birds. Trail and camps are free of charge. It might change when it gets a National Park. A clear recommendation.

=Resupply and Accommodation=

==Resupply and Accommodation along the Route==

=Transport to and from Route=

=Permits, Entry Fees and Right-of-Way Issues=

=Links to other Resources=

=Images=