-A better alternative to walking or hitching the ~30km road to the ferry is to continue onto Baker. Tomáš thought of it last minute but I decided against it due to not knowing much about the Baker/ terrible weather arriving. To keep it short, it looks like you can get out near the Airport on the road to Tortel, walk ~10km and then hitch. We got a ride from Neftali, a settler just up river from the take out.
More details Overall, we had 5 days of sun (wr waited in Coyhaique for three days for them), so we were very lucky. We met nobody for the whole trip. We think this is the nicest section in the south out of the ones we have done. Like 39 and 40, just without the people. Transport:We took the 8am bus from Coyhaique (book in advance). Told the bus driver to drop us off at the "confluencia", 13km after Puerto Bertrand. The bus took ~8hrs. A more interesting alternative is to paddle the Baker river from Puerto Bertrand to the normal put in. You could also put in after the rapids. This would not be slower, as Baker is rather fast and you save some walking. Day01-02: Rio Baker to Puesto 39.1 We came after a few days of heavy rain in the area: Forecasted four days of rain, highest was 50mm but the average was around 17mm/day, not sure what actually happened. Crossing the Baker was easier than expected (strong countercurrents on both sides help), but crossing the grey/opaque Rio Nef was harder than expected, the flow was very strong. The Rio Nef crossing was where we had our first signs of flooding. We made a mistake and deflated our boat once we got to the other side (30 m downstream of the GPT files). We didn't see the deep, but short, channel blocking the access to the trail. Luckily there is a wooden boat there and it was just long enough to use and porter our stuff between the two. It was just after 7 when we finished this crossing and decided to at least get over the first bump. We didn't meet any settlers. On the way up don't forget to take the trail turnoff from the bend in the MR (which looked very recently “improved”):-47.12790, -72.81425. Along the trail you can see tire tracks down within the river delta, just not sure how many times you would have to ford and if the fords would be people friendly. There was another car 8 km furher in, so they can get quite far. We found a nice camp behind some poplar trees on the other side of the bump around here -47.13819, -72.84482. You could hear water nearby, but the rose bushes made it impossible to get to, so you must drink from the river. There was no water before this point. The next day was very windy right from the get go, but luckily it was dry. The wind was very taxing and quite constant, 30-45km/hr. The trail (starting at the MR turnoff) was overgrown with rose bushes, but it was obvious to see. Not good for drysuit walking... Even though rose bushes grow like stink, we don't think the trail had been touched this year. We think this part of the trail is less maintained because perhaps the settlers move animals in the river flats more often, not sure. Unfortunately due to high water levels the trail was totally flooded for ~2km starting here -47.12517, -72.90743 (fresh water nearby). We made an easy way up and over the bluffs and regained the trail at the bottom. Rose bushes and wind were the only annoyance. Machete came semi-handy, took us maybe an hour extra. The trail continued to be quite overgrown until the abandoned settler's house. The house is locked but you probably could pitch a tent under the porch if needed, we had lunch under it and it provided a nice break from the wind. After the house, the trail was in good condition and more scenic as you climb a short hill over a hill sidecut by ancient glacier to an attractive laky landscape. I struggled a lot due to a painful cough but it was still nice. There are a couple of strangely placed pine tree plantations next to the trail and then larger ones further in the valley, we are not sure who or how someone is planning to harvest them...The first Ford@37 was easy but we still had to remove our shoes. It looked to me there was a nicer spot for camping just after the ford than the one that is listed. The second Ford@38.5, was a bit of a surprise. Rio Nef seemed to have taken over the ford and everything was deeply flooded and flowing, second step in would have already been over hip deep. We searched around for alternatives and ended up clearing a trail to the left. Climbing down to a narrow water way, and then up a bank, down bush, and over along the side of a narrow water way/canal. It would have made more sense to just inflate the boat and cross. We were surprised that even far from the ford the canal like feature was hip deep or more. A machete was very helpful here and it might have taken us 90 extra minutes. Once we thought the coast was clear and were at the puesto, one last muddy ford had to be crossed directly in front of the puesto, almost knee deep in the good parts. The puesto was indeed there and newly built, it has a wood stove and other miscellaneous items. Unfortunately the water source is the swamp, so I would recommend bringing water from the first ford (not the second, which is the grey Rio Nef water). Also be careful about crumbs and food, there are lot of mice, hopefully the open door was enough ventilation not to get hanta like Gene Hackman's wife... (Drinking water: up to the Puesto was come laterand go, other than the river itself. Not that frequent, but it existed in the waypoints that are marked. ) Day03-04: Puesto39.1 - Lago Nef+Glacier area Day03We had a picture perfect weather, but unfortunately we didn't manage to leave the puesto until past 11:00 - oops. Therefore we didn't even make it to the lake (stopped 2km before), the trail was quite slow for us. I found that going up the pass was quite nice and the others' trail work in previous years has lived on (Tomáš CCed most of the way) You still need to check the gps often, cairns are helpful. I think everyone should refrain from posting photos of what the other side look like, it was such an amazing surprise!! The second half down the pass was less clear and much slower, but lots of water sources there. Probs to Roman for making it to the lake by 4:30 without trail clearance! Rio Nef was still absolutely raging. I would not want to packraft it due to its strength and grey opaque water, but more importantly the terrifying gorges it runs through (but GPT rightly only.puts you in after). Along the river bed it was flooded - again, but the trail (when it wasn't CC) was still there, just covered in water. A couple of times it was deeply flooded and we had to make our own way via bushbashing through the thorns or floating wood. We made camp just before the ford (48.9) on small stones, there was a more weather protected camp high up in the forest just before, just after a stream. It made no sense to push for the lake because the lake would be very frozen. It took us almost 9 hours to get to the ford including a 1.5hr lunch - oops again. Day04The ford was "still" water but it was up to my bum (5'6). The rest of the way to the lake was easy CC and the slightly flooded trail was frozen so our feet didn't get that wet. The lake was indeed beautiful but almost completely covered in a thin (<1cm) layer of ice (~10am). From a view point just before the lake I could scout out a band of non frozen ice on the left side of the lake where the sun was shining (zoom camera helps sometimes). Everything else, as far as I could tell, had a sheet of ice. I kind of ruined Tomáš's dreams to break through the ice around the icebergs and requested to walk to the far left side of the lake. There was a slight misunderstanding and we ended up putting the boat in too early. We had about 3m of ice free progress untill it was full on ice again. Tomáš was then convinced that breaking through ice is not a fun activity, progress is near zero (I was more worried about the ice puncturing the boat, which I am not sure is a viable worry or not). It may have been easier with a kayak paddle, canoe paddles only let you break one side at a time. Either way we turned around, deflated the boat and walked further towards where my photo showed the stretch of ice free water. If you climb up onto the flat above the eroded lake bank, you could go even further to here: -47.10450, -73.21040, where you could use a little stream valley to get down. We put in here -47.10754, -73.20492. IT IS IMPORTANT to note that at this time of year, if you have no sun or no waves to melt or break the ice (after a cold cloudless windless night), you may be in for a longggg ice breaking journey (I assume waves break the ice or keep it from fully freezing, I'm not 100%, either way, another reason to go SOBO). Also important is to not cross the lake if you don't have enough time (2-3 hours) to get through the glacier, it is unstable terrain, not safe for camping. In the end the delay helped us because by the time we started paddling for good, it was mostly ice free (~1pm). We had next to no wind and got to the end in about an hour. The water is freezing! There was a granite-crushed beach beside the glacier when we were there, making getting out and packing easy. The walk through the moraine and glacier was slow. We downloaded Roman's tracks from the year before, we didn't follow them to a tee (probably went similar like Lauren and Sebastian), but they were helpful when we were unsure. Whatever you do, stay away from the unstable slopes to the left and the big icy overhang bottom left further in. Overhead hazards and rock fall are a thing, especially on wet and warm sunny days, we saw two large rock falls, one being a small car sized boulder. Other than that the descriptions before are sufficient. I had fun on the glacier, but Tomáš thinks there could still be holes you could fall in, so do watch your step, especially where the water flows. A good point of reference that marks the end of the glacial ice is here (approx), -47.08282, -73.25064 , it is a rounded solid rockwall to your left just before a drop off to a glacial lake. After that the CC was easy and the lakes just beyond the glacier were very pretty. You can hop on rocks over the stream here:-47.09244, -73.26085. Tomáš went to check out the optional view point trail (Option 12) and found a tarped expedition shelter ~100meters in, we camped there. No toilets (destroyed by a tree) but it was equipped with good shovels and was significantly warmer than the beach, no mosquitoes. The trail further seemed overgrown, if it ever was a trail. However, the forest is open. On the company's website, there is a picture that is clearly taken from the end of this sidetrail, so it is definitely doable. (Drinking water: Water at Puesto is swampy, from the puesto you can get water from the fords. No water up the pass but after the pass there is plenty of water. At the lake there was a stream on the left. Obviously plenty of water on the glacier and then post glacier there are many lakes and creeks. A nice creek just before Option 12/the previously unknown expedition camp. Day05-07: Cross Valley / Lago Colonia / Rio Colonia Day05As for the cross valley, once again I am seriously impressed Roman got through so fast without knowing the way. The first part through the forest was okay but the trail is often almost or totally invisible, also the bogs were annoying and cold. The second part which was in the open was even more invisible. Cairns would be helpful here but maybe the expedition team wants to keep it the way it is. The water waypoint, -47.13916, -73.25818 , was a small slippery ford for us, over a waterfall, so take caution. The exit onto the river bed is eroding, we exited here -47.14341, -73.26198 . Walking the riverbed was indeed faster than anything else along the route. Considering our earlier days with trail flooding, I was pleased this part wasn't flooded! But like Roman mentions, icebergs can block the lake and the valley can get flooded. but then you would use your packraft. (Tomáš: The river in the valley looked like fun class III to III+ of almost continuous rapids ending with a mortal rapid where it meets the glacier. Obviously only for people who know what they are doing - I recommend to bring your backpacks downstream while scouting and then go back to packraft). Cerro Arenales is absolutely gorgeous, I hope everyone can get a nice weather day for this part! In good weather we had no issues with the first granite traverse and the one closer to the lake. Tomáš accidentally wound up on east side of the main lake that has the weather station next to it (the one L+S had a wet scramble on), but it did not go, he had to turn around. When we hit the actual trail after the "Ford?" waypoint (Which was jumpable) Tomáš traced it backwards and noticed it did not go the same route we went, the trail goes to -47.20767, -73.23661. Somebody with time should investigate further, seems like the company takes people more to the east than the GPT. Tomáš thinks there must be another shelter. However, Roman’s route seems more scenic. This will hopefully make it as exploratory trail for the next year. We camped at -47.22261, -73.22310, nothing special and lots of mosquitoes. Tomáš does not think Roman’s camp recommendatiom is very good. By the way the valley seems to be where the river gets diverted when the valley gets blocked by a glacier. Day06An easy day. We took a slightly different way to the start of the labeled "steep forest" because Romans route was quite wet. The steep forest part was nice because it was finally a real trail, some marshy spots though. There were two fords for me and none for Tomáš bcs he moved some narrow logs to cross. We rarely had to check the gps until after the expedition shelter, where it goes along the rock bluffs. We put in a bit earlier for Lago Colonia on the river upstream of it here: -47.26765, -73.18360. It was grey and shallow on the right, I was not a big fan. On the left there was a rapid, probably class II or lower, but we saw it only from a distance. It was slightly windy for our crossing (15-20km/hr, tailwind) but we had no issues with waves. There is one nice camping beach at -47.32077, -73.12995 on the left closer to the end of the lake with a waterfall nearby. Much better camping there than the end of the lake or anywhere along the river. I don't advise camping along the river unless you don't mind sleeping on river rock and thorns. Tomáš walked the boat for the first rapid, the flow is strong and there are many boulders scattered and hidden under the grey water. It was around 8:30pm when we were at the corner of rapid #2 and I made Tomáš stop (he thought we would camp just downstream of that rapid, where indeed you can get up on sand) and camp in a sad little patch of river rock. It wasn't terrible in the end but it looked terrible. Day07We finished the river the next day starting very late due to cold rain. I was not in the mood for paddling the grey water rapids so I walked them, but Tomáš ran everything without a problem, no more than class II. The fourth one was definitely the biggest wave-wise, but it was clean of boulders. We had virtually zero ground contact but we were traveling in-between heavy rain systems. Tomáš proposed that we continue onto the Baker for about 25 km to shorten the road, and although this idea sounded more fun, I declined and voted for the road due to incoming storms and not knowing enough about the Baker. Chances of hitchhiking are very low, there are roughly only 25 people living in the valley. Somehow we lucked out and met Neftali, a settler just up river from the take out. He picked us up at the start of the road and drove us all the way back to Cochrane. The single car ferry operates for free from 8:30am-12:30 and then 1pm-6pm. There is technically a bus that goes to the valley. Definitely on Mondays and then possibly Wednesdays (says Neftali) or Thursdays (as paper in the Cochrane bus station seemed to suggest) at the bus stop -47.26623, -72.83772 (at Option 4). If the paper is correct, the bus leaves Cochrane on 8:30 and goes back at 12:30. It was labeled “Colonia Norte”. (Drinking water: In the cross valley there are some sources and in the bluffs the best one is the water/ford. Along the river bed there are a few and then up high on the rocks there are a few lakes. And along the last trail there were at least three water/fords which was plenty. When you finish the trail there were two creeks just before heading to the lake so you can fill up. It was hard to find water other than the river itself on the river and when we drove back to Cochrane the road looked very dry, just one stream we passed in the ~28km. Obviously you could always ask settlers for water. Overall, I rarely carried more than 500mls of water for the whole trip.)
==Season 2023/24==
