GPT37P (Lago O'Higgins)

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* '''Start Date to Finish Date (use Format YYYY-MMM-DD) / Duration in Days / Hiking or Packrafting / Travel Direction (SOBO for Southbound or NOBO Northbound) / Chosen Route and/or Option Name (RR for Regular Route) / Names or Alias'''

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* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''YYYY-MMM-DD / X days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Your name'''</span>.

Include remarks about your route useful for other hikers and packrafters, alerts, suggestions and personal perception of attractiveness and difficulties. Try to be specific. Do not be shy to fix obvious mistakes.

Section Log, Alerts and Suggestions

Season 2024/25

• GPT37H Option 1D and GPT37P Option 16 / Villa O’Higgins to Lago O‘Higgins (Packrafting access to Brazo Bajo Esperanza) / Round Trip / 2024-Dec-05 to 08 / 4 days / Meylin Ubilla and Jan Dudeck

I drafted this exploration route to investigate a possible packrafting access to Brazo Bajo Esperanza of Lago O’Higgins. This north-western portage route shortens the access to Laguna Larga to a 12 km paddle and places the majority of this water route in a somewhat more wind protected area. From there it‘s another 9 km on water to Glaciar Oriental.

My initial draft route minimized portage distance by maximizing packrafting but contained quite some bush bashing. In a later detailed satellite image analysis I discovered some signs of a rarely used trail and I added another option that minimized bush bashing. We now investigated this suspected old trail without packraft to verify if this hiking route is indeed traversable.

From Villa O’Higgins we hiked the well-established trail to Laguna Negra. From there we ascended along the suspected trail towards Lago Toro. Fresh machete cuts (1 year or less) along the ascent indicated that this route is still occasionally used. Once we reached a more open plateau the signs of the old trail became more sporadic and hard to follow but the open terrain facilitated advancing. At the evening we found an excellent camp spot within a small forest.

The next day we continued our ascent towards Lago Toro. We occasionally could see signs of a disused trail but in the rather open terrain we lost this old route which got us in difficult rock terrain. Once we reached Lago Toro we rediscovered the disused trail. To get to the other end of Lago Toro we walked half a kilometer through water to avoid the dense vegetation that reached all the way to lake shore. This is not uncommon for horse trails. During the descent to Lago O’Higgins we again found occasionally signs of a disused trail especially where the geography leaves little options (the few gaps between rocky cliffs). The machete cuts were at least 10 years old. To cross one patch of dense forest we needed our machete. We camped next to Lago O’Higgins.

On the way back we could improve the route and discovered more signs of the disused trail.

This demanding route is useful for packrafters that wish to access the north-western arm of Lago O’Higgins or for hikers that look for a 3 to 4 day adventure around Villa O’Higgins.

This route is more demanding than the packrafting portage route via Laguna Negra to El Taitao about 10 km further south especially when carrying a heavy packraft and plenty of food.

This exploration confirmed some lessons learned from previous years:

1. A tedious analysis of satellite images often pays off and can avoid unnecessary hardship when searching a route. I had multiple options planned and displayed on the GPS.

2. Offline satellite images and detailed topographic maps on the smartphone are essential when “ground-truthing” such an exploration route. We used Gaia GPS (good topographic maps) and BackcountryNavigator (better satellite images).

3. The best research result is archived when the same person or group investigates the route in both directions.

4. The machete was essentially when we hit a dense patch of forest. Due to otherwise rocky terrain this was the only possible bottleneck to descend further and in exactly this patch of forest we rediscovered signs of the disused trail (old machete cuts).

5. Such explorations require reasonable good weather to be enjoyable.

Season 2022/23

• 2022-Dec-18 to 2023-Jan-16 / 30 Days / Packrafting / GPT37P Initial Investigation / Villa O'Higgins, Lago Negro, El Taitao, La Morocha, Isla Central, Brazo Poniente, Rio Condor, Lago Chico / Meylin Ubilla, Masha Ovchinnikova, Misha Bogdanov, Jan Dudeck, Tobias Schorch

In the 10 years of investigating and publishing the GPT this has been the most diverse, intense and longest exploration trip.

Lago O’Higgins is not completely unknown in the travelers world but most hikers and cyclists perceive this lake rather as an obstacle then as a region to explore. Lago O’Higgins is located between the southern terminus of the Carretera Austral and the hiking mecca El Chalten. Hikers and cyclists that wish to connect along the Carretera Austral from Cerro Castillo or Parque Patagonia to El Chalten often take the ferries that cross this lake from Villa O‘Higgins to Candelario Mancilla but furious wind can result in waiting times of more then one week.

While visiting Villa O’Higgins in recent years we learned more about the handful of settlers living remotely on the shores of this lake. The first settlers arrived around 100 years ago by boat coming from the Argentine side of this bi-national lake. And satellite images provided some information about the trails in the vicinity of this octopus-like lake with numerous arm. After years of contemplating we reserved a good part of this season to venture on this lake and to visit the settlers.

Lago O’Higgins is infamous for the often furious wind that can last for days. Especially in summer wind rarely stops making any packrafting attempt an exercise of patience. Of the 30 days at the lake we spend 10 days waiting but these days were “value time” because we stayed at the homesteads of the settlers and tasted their way of life. Highlights of the trip have been:

- Searching and documenting the barely travelled trail from Villa O’Higgins via Lago Negro to El Taitao

- Crossing by packraft Lago O’Higgins at Brazo Desagüe and Bahia Pocas Pilchas

- Spending 10 days with Andrea and Susana Mancilla on Isla Central that became our “base camp” for exploring Brazo Poniente

- Packrafting and hiking Brazo Poniente all the way to the glaciers that creep down from the Southern Patagonian Icefield

- Spending 7 days with Ema Mera and Leo Muñoz at their homestead Rio Condor that became our “base camp” to visit Brazo Sudoccidental and the Southern Patagonian Icefield

- Investigate a new cross-country hiking route to a viewpoint of Glacier O’Higgins that was probably never walked before

- Traversing the Pensinsula La Carmela from Glaciar Gaea to Lago Chico and crossing this lake by packraft next to Glaciar Chico

- Ascending on the Southern Patagonian Icefield along Glaciar Chico to Paso Marconi with the mountain guide Leo Muñoz

- Arranging food shipments with the supply boat that 3 times per month visits the settlers of Lago O’Higgins

The balanced combination of hiking, packrafting and living with the settlers made this 30-day trip an intense but not tiresome experience.

A detailed route description and recommendations will be provided with the next update of the Hikers Manual.

Links to other Resources

Retired Section Article GPT37P - Península La Florida