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→Season 2023/24
==Season 2023/24==
* 2024-03-09 to 2024-03-15 / 7 days / SOBO / Started at border control close to Lagula Del Maule —> 1C, 1B, 1, 2, RR, 6C, 6D, RR, 6F, 6E, 6, 6H, 6I, 7B, 7 - Puente El Ingles / Marilyne
I planned this route to avoid the aggressive dogs that have been mentioned a couple times now as it is my main fear along the GPT! I also wanted to explore some alternative routes as some people mentioned that the road walking was not very interesting. That meant that I didn’t get to visit Irma’s place or Carrizales.
Day 1 ~22km
The timing of my errands in Talca meant that I was ready to start on a Saturday, which is unfortunate as the buses to Termas El Medano don’t run on weekends. After evaluating my options, I decided to just take Uber to right before the border control (75K + big tip). I made sure the driver was ok with it and he seemed quite happy, we chatted the whole way.
Went into the border control building just to make sure that no check was needed since I was not crossing the border and went on my way to Laguna Del Maule where a lot of people were fishing.
Later that day on option 2 slipped twice in wet muddy grassy fields. Fun times :-) Camped close to a gate at -36.15739, -70.61193, before the puestos down the valley on option 2.
Day 2
Long day in a valley with a couple puestos. Dogs around puestos were not aggressive but barked at me as can be expected. Chatted with a couple different arrieros. I feel like Rio Guaiquivilo would make a nice class 3/4 packraft option early in the season, but there would be some required portages.
Day 3
Ended option 2 and rejoined the RR to climb up to Laguna del Dial. Enjoyed the view and the surroundings. Meet a lovely Chilean couple that were camped by the Laguna and invited me to stay with them. They ended up being clients of Don Hector, Irma’s husband. They shared their dinner with me. I got to taste Irma’s cheese that I hadn’t been able to purchase and they gave me a lot of food to take with me. Don Hector told me that the 3 agressive dogs people have been mentioning on the RR and that I was afraid of don’t usually bite… More people on horses showed up at the camp later.
Day 4
Finished the walk along Laguna del Dial and took the 6C/6D option. The trail on that pass is hard to follow at times but sticking to the gps line really helped as in some spots you need to be exactly where it is. After that pass I rejoined the main trail which is at a lower elevation and has trees and shrubbery. Camped close to some puestos, however I did not make my presence known and crossed the river to hide to camp - I’m a woman traveling alone. (-36.52496, -71.10122).
Day 5
Decided to take the 6F route despite few comments on this page about the route and the extra elevation gain and loss. 6E starts at a puesto and I had to duck under a couple fences to make it to the gps line. No one was there when I crossed, I’m unsure if it would have been a problem. The cross country section was somewhat hard and steep. Camped close to the end of 6E
Day 6
I initially intended to take option 6 the rest of the way but somehow missed the warnings about the right of way issue until I got there. Since I’m traveling alone and uninterested in arguing with anyone, I went for option 6 but northbound from the end of 6E to continue on option 6H. 6H was hard to follow but a beautiful valley, not much water up there so plan accordingly. The rest of 6H going down on the other side seemed treacherous to me so I opted for 6I instead. Felt really exhausted at the end of the day. Camped at the 7B/7 junction. I was very dirty and dusty by the end of that day and the lack of water at camp did not help.
Day 7
Did the short 6km walk to Puente El Ingles in the morning. Nothing was opened. Started walking the road towards San Fabian de Alico and got picked up about an hour later by three guys who had gone on a fishing trip to Argentina. They gave me a ride all the way to a village outside of Chillán and from there I quickly caught a bus to Chillán (I had a Starken box to pickup there). Realized when I got to my Airbnb that I had a bunch of dirt on my face :-D.
Once again the little solar panel on my pack kept everything fully charged. This section is not as beautiful as section 6 but I still quite liked it.
*2024-Feb-29 to 2024-Mar-06 / 7 days / Hiking / NOBO / Puente El Inglés - Control Fronterizo Laguna del Maule/ RR + Option 06C + Option H (half) + Option F + Option B +Option 01A, B and C / Alex & Christophe