Cambios

Add a new log entry always on top in the appropriate season sub-chapter and use format:

=Section Log, Alerts and Suggestions=

Day 4: Plans to visit Laguna Duff were foiled as we woke up to heavy snow fall. Forecast was for even more snow so cut our losses and headed down. Visibility was terrible but passed several tour groups heading up the trail. Tried to avoid the park rangers but when we thought we were home free a guy in a Ute pulled us up as we were walking along the road towards Villa Cerro Castillo and asked where we were coming from. Took us back to the office and made us pay. Awesome section, snow and wind made it challenging but was great to have it all to ourselves until the last day.

*2024-Feb-16 to 2024-Feb-21 / 5.5 days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Lauren & Seb

Bought some gas from the friendly guardaparques. Hiked all the way to Cerro Castillo around noon.

Stayed there in Hostal Cerro Castillo, which was the (good) recommendation of the park rangers.

*2024-Mar-01 to 2024-Mar-03 / 2.5 days / Hiking / SOBO / OH 02 + D + RR + OH E + 03 / Joscha

I hitched from Puerto Chacabuco to Las Horquetas and startet there around noon. After 700 m on OH32-02 you pass by a ranger hut. You have to sign in and you will get a short explanation about the trail. You don't have to pay here, but they tell you that you will pay when leaving the park. There is plenty of water on OH32-02. I camped at Camping Rio Turbio (Segundo) at km 39.6 of RR.

Day 2: RR [39.6-41.3] + OH32-E [0.0-1.6] to Laguna Glaciar Penon and back + RR [41.3-56.6] + OH32-03 [0.0-3.6]

Laguna Glaciar Penon is worth the short detour on OH32-E. I crossed a bunch of small streams around the pass at km 43.9. There is some ice on top of the pass but its not very steep and therefore relatively easy to walk over it. There is no water between Laguna Cerro Castillo (km 50.9) and Camping Porteadores (at beginning of OH32-03). I camped at Camping Neozelandes.

Day 3: OH32-03 to Laguna Duff and back to RR + RR [56.6-66.9]

The nacional park has 4 official campgrounds (at km 39.6 and 48.9 of RR and the two marked camps on OH32-03). You are only allowed to camp at those sites.

*2024-Feb-23 to 2024-Feb-25 / 3 days / Hiking / SOBO / {32-M} - RR - {32-C} -RR / Lilian & Rainbow

Bus stop in Villa Frei : (-45.75139, -72.11226)

Resupply in Coyhaique:

They are all close to the plaza, all the shops i listed can search by Google Map.

Because i just have 3 days good weather, so I don't want to do any road walking, i talk the bus to Villa Frei, then hitch to (-45.86204, -72.04816) start hiking.

Km27.75 : old camping sandy spot(-45.92915, -72.07549) can fit 4 tents with some wind protection from west, just before the dangerous CC. I think the previous one is better.

Km27.9 - km29.95 : dangerous CC traversing on side hill. A slide may cause a fall with heavy injure or death. It is doable but not recommended to everyone. Doing this part only in good weather.

The trailhead at km34.2 is a little tricky. You need to climb up a little on a rocky slope after you cross the stream to (-45.97307, -72.10268), then go into the forest to south a little, you'll find a steep loose rocky slope going down again, go for it and you can hold some trees there. Then you join the old trail shown on GPX going south. Don't think about go to the trailhead(-45.97343, -72.10281) directly, it is on a waterfall, you can't arrive there.

The old trail is in good condition for a while, then become overgrown and some blowdowns. For emergency, you can camp at (-45.97898, -72.10345), it is the first flat spot for Sobo in treeline with cover (the last one for Nobo). It can fit 2 single person tent.

I camped beside the lake(-46.05780, -72.15969) for the second night, excellent spots with glacier views(you are just below it!) and views of Cerro Castillo! Peaceful and not crowded, I'm the only human there with some ducks, and they love to talking in the midnight. You can reach the lake starts at (-46.06176, -72.15672), easy walking beside a stream, all the way stay on east side and dry feet, BB less than 20 meters for total and mostly just easy CC.

Km48.85 : Campsite El Bosque. Side trail to a lake under glacier at north. It is a long walk, but i highly recommend you at least take the trail go out the forest, amazing views there, both ways just 300m.

Maybe because of late season, never saw any flies at this section.

2024-Feb-10 to 2024-Feb-13 / 4 days / Hiking / SOBO / Las Horquetas and Lagunitas / Andrew

-We both bad to walk back to Villa Castillo, no cars going in our direction but manu going in opposite direction (~9am)

*2024-Jan-28 to 2024-Jan-31 / 4 days / Hiking / NOBO / Villa Cerro Castillo - Villa Frei / RR + Option 3 + Variant C + Variant M/ Alex & Christophe

Better to wait for good conditions. I can't imagine this section on a rainy and windy day !

* 2024-Jan- 11 to 2024-Jan-13/ 3 days/hiking/SOBO/ Start in Las Horquetas and later RR/ Paulina

I started in las Horquetas, it was open even if on Conaf website this section is still closed, apparently they don't really update). When I was there ( 10 AM) nobody at the gate, so no charges. Later in the park nobody never asked me to show the entrance ticket. The same at the exit gate, they just asked me to check out ( even if I did not check in).

Contact: https://linktr.ee/RundW

*2023-Dec-12 / 6 days / Packrafting / SOBO / RR + Variant D + Variant F / Tom Pieper

==Season 2022/23==

* 05-Apr-2023 / Hiking / SOBO / Martin & Helena

After the first marked pass and descent in rocky terrain, the CC part connects to an old trail, that later becomes a MR. The connection was easy to find by following the GPS. We had no problems passing around the rangers house, again by following the track files, at first through the forest and later around the river. From there the trail connects to the official way which makes navigation easy. We spent the night in the official campsite around 2 km before Laguna Carro Castillo, which is the only one open. There were 5-6 other tents, no ranger. The next day the weather got way way worse, which made us skip the last pass and go down from the laguna via one of the official routes. We met a ranger on the way up, pointing us to the official trail around yellow cairns, to sign off from the park. With no intention to pay on our way from the park, we actually followed some old trail (according to the old signs we met) that took us to the main road, right in front of the bridge. We had to cross one fence, but no other problem. It's a faster and safe way from the park.

*5 to 7 of February 2023 / Will / SOBO / 3 days

Even in the touristy parts the trail was surprisingly slow and rocky. I ran into a few rangers, who look like normal hikers except with red and white baseball hats. They were ok with me not having a ticket once I explained my weird route.

*15.02.23 -18.02.23 / Anna & Christopher / SOBO

We stayed at Camping El Rincon, which was only 4.000 clp p.p., with no electricity, but the owner washed our clothes after we asked and we received it dry the next morning :)

*18 to 21 of January 2023 / Véronica / GPT32 RR SOBO / 3.5 days

I think the Regular Route in its current configuration avoids the blue payment tent at the end of the park trail, but I didn't know that when I passed through, and ended up just following the riverbank down to the minor road to be safe (and avoid paying the ridiculous 30,000 clp access fee). The road walk to Cerro Castillo was Easy and uneventful.

*23/02/2023 - 25/02/2023 / RR SOBO / Louis, Rémi & Noé :

Day 3 - Cerro Castillo - 11km - +800m/-1500m The pass after Cerro Castillo was closed due to the wind. If you want to go to the other side, you have to get down at the park entrance and to go up again at the other entrance. We just went to the town. The regular route going down from there, from the Cerro Castillo, is not the one on the GPT. Actually, it goes more on the west side. At the end, there is a guardaparque, we checked out (even though we didn’t checked in) but no need to pay. Fortunately. Luck was with us.

* 23/02/2023 - 25/02/2023 / RR NOBO / Jakub+Veronika:

We've walked all section 32 from Villa Frei to Villa Cerro Castillo. The part from Lago Paloma to Rio Turbio is very difficult and might be even dangerous (especially in bad weather). The CC travers on the stones (in our case with strong wind and snow) was the hardest part. The MR leading down to the valley is partially overgrown. The second part is well marked with good camping possibilities. After heavy rains on Sunday 25th, the park has been closed for more than a week. There are 2 alerts on the road (see above).

*Feb 17 RR 3 days SOBO Frank

For more stories of the trail, pictures, videos and in case you want to ask us anything you can find us on Instagram: @smallfootprint_bigadventures

*Section 32, Option 7: Valle Balboa. Southbound. 11 days (including waiting out a snow storm). Party (3): Mum, Sis and I.

We snuck around the riverbed once we saw the blue tent at the bottom (where you might have to pay) and got by with no problems.

*Jan 2020 GPT32 South 7days / Felix

Cheers, Felix.

* 2020-Jan-18 and 19 / Regular Hiking Southbound / Martin Lizondo

However, I can assure that the prize for the effort, going northbound, is amazing !! But I won't spoil !

After the second pass, no technical difficulties, you find a Conaf trail easily, and I even cross some tourists with a guide.

*2019-Nov-29/ Lea Geibel, Kevin Moe/ 3days / Northbound / Regular Hiking Route with OH-MR-V (Villa Cerro Castillo to Las Horquetas)

The section follows the rather popular tourist Hiking route Las Horquetas for the first two days, meaning there will be less solitude but also rather well maintained trails. The national park and the region around Cerro Castillo was very impressive, we especially enjoyed to take all the side trails and visit the numerous beautiful glacier lagoons. The only unpleasant part of the hike was the organization of the national park. The exorbitant high entrance fees are in no relation to the other parks, which is due to a high ratio of private land in the area but makes the park rather unattractive for tourists. some rangers seemed poorly informed and couldn't give much information (e.g. insisted that passes were "closed" and only after asking numerous times agreed to check with his colleagues that told that they are "open"). They also said it is not possible to hike the regular route of the GPT, because we have to check out of the NP at the checkpoint Las Horquetas. There is an optional hiking route continuing North from there. Due to bad weather coming up we ended up not finishing the northern stretch of the trail and just followed the entire Las Horquetas Route at the Carretera Austral.

* 2019-Nov-29 / Lea Geibel, Kevin Moe

Snow line is at around 1200 Meters but all passes are safely traversable.

The National Park Entrance Fee got raised to 29000 CLP per person for overnight hikes in season 19/20. The park generally seemed very poorly organized, we were told the passes are "closed" at first, whereas they were easy and safe to traverse. The ranger insisted that we could not hike the normal route northbound but have to sign out of the park at the Las Horquetas checkpoint. In high season, the ranger station in the park is manned, so maybe it is possible so sign out there and head northbound.

* 2019-Nov-12 / Eva Havlová

*Town: Villa Cerro Castillo. Villa Cerro Castillo has several restaurants, small markets, and plenty of lodging options, including a popular backpacker camping destination on the east side of town.

*2024-Mar /Joscha

Shop in Villa Cerro Castillo at -46.12201, -72.161708 has pasta, ramen, oats, chips, cookies, olive oil, peanuts, peanut butter, bread and some more stuff.

*Lovely yum restaurant in Coyhaique: Restaurant DaGus, Lautaro 82, 5950000 Coyhaique. Little hidden gem. -45.86411, -72.04916

==Resupply and Accommodation along the Route==

=Transport to and from Route=