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==Season 2025/26==
*''' 2025.13.12 to 2025.14.12 / 2 days / Hiking / SOBO / Opt 1A + Opt 1 + Opt 1C + / Kris and Stiina'''
We combined sections 10, 11 and 12 via some options. Butalelbún to Lonquimay. 5 days in total. 2 days for the Section 10. 1 day for Section 11 and 2 days for Section 12. Originally we planned to hike all the way to Liucura but due to an injury we had to change our plans.
TLDR: Decent resupply shop in Butalelbún up the valley from Trapa Trapa. Option 1A very good trail connecting to Option 1 with possible campsites not far from leaving the road. Copahue - snow from around 2300m depending on the slope aspect plus fresh snow due to cold front. For us very cold day therefore we skirted the volcano somewhere below Option 1. Option 1C very nice, but unfortunately for us an agressive cow herd (approx. 60) charged at us on the meadow before the Paso de Pucón Mahuida. The ridge has a small slightly technical and exposed bit at the end, but with possibility to go around. The bushbash down pretty steep but not the worst, only bamboo (there must be a better trail somewhere). Not a person on the whole section.
After sections 8 & 9 and some R&R in Los Ángeles we got back on the same bus now going in opposite direction to get us to our start of section 10.
Getting there.
The bus leaves the Los Ángeles rural bus station at around 14:15 even though the schedule says it leaves at 14:00.
The most interesting part about this 6h journey was getting on the bus.
Luckily we were there almost an hour before and gathered enough info that we have to get in a queue if we hope to get any seats. There was already some line of people when we got there almost an hour early. When the bus arrived and the door opened it was sort of a “Takeshi Castle” where people charged in, scrambing and pushing past each other like mad. By our rough estimates it seemed that we are fine and will have seats even with all the people ahead of us however there was a scheme going on. People would get on the bus and put their bags across two or four seats to book it for someone else without themselves even sitting there. So by the time we got on, it seemed that even though bus was half empty all the seats were already “taken”.
Well, I didn’t agree with this scheme so we moved the bags and still took the empty seats.
We knew how long this bus ride is going to be and standing for that amount of time in a crowded bus was a hard no. There was a little scuffle later when some people returned but with some seat changing and rearrangements those that were in line on time all did get their seats.
So after 6h of sitting on bus (the bus did two longer stops one in Santa Barbara and one in Cauñicú) we arrived at the very final stop of the bus at the end of the road in Butalelbún where the bus turns around (-37.78489, -71.20359). It was super windy and the forecast said it will soon start to rain, it was also half past eight and getting dark. We already started talking with some people on the bus towards the end and they offered to stay at their place somewhere between Trapa Trapa and Butalelbún. We were tempted but still hoped we could hike in at least a little bit.
When we got off the bus there were some more people gathered we talked with one of them and asked if there is a sheltered place somewhere up the 4x4 road for a tent, but the man - Mario offered us to pitch a tent in his garden behind his tool shed. As the wind was picking up and it started to drizzle he actually offered for us to stay in the shed which we happily accepted.
Mario is a local villager that keeps horses and used to work as a guide in Ralco he lives in Butalelbún with his wife and small daughter and is very nice. He has a car and said that for a fee he could drive us somewhere if we needed e.g. up the 4x4 road to Termas De Chancho Ko.
I asked if I could share his WhatsApp nr. here in case other hikers would like to use this offer and he agreed.
Mario Manquepi +56 9 3329 9028
And very importantly there is a shop (kiosk) in Butalelbún that offers a somewhat decent resupply: pasta, canned goods, oil, hamburgesas, pollo vienesa, drinks, chocolate bars, candy etc. (that’s what we saw through the window and what the sign outside mentioned) the kiosk is located here: -37.78532, -71.20343 and there is a bell that you have to ring for someone to come and attend the shop.
Since we had just come from Los Ángeles we didn’t need anything from the shop.
But if you arrive late in Trapa Trapa then calling Mario for a ride to Butalelbún for some shopping is definitely an option. The bus passes through Trapa Trapa roughly 19:30 (really depends on the day of the week) so you could also just wait for the bus to get to Butalelbún.
A few km before Butalelbún there was a sign that said camping, we only saw it while on the bus and I can’t give you a precise location but Mario confirmed that there is a camping somewhere there. So it could be an alternative to staying in Trapa Trapa. Also the bus to Los Ángeles leaves from Butalelbún at 5:30 in the morning and you would most likely get a seat. Though the buses stay overnight in Malla Malla and in the morning go to Butalelbún from there.
Day 1 - Since the day before we didn’t hike at all I only count the days we actually spent walking.
Initially we planned to hike the option 2B but due to very cold and rainy weather we opted for a more sheltered option 1A which turned out to be an excellent choice. Mostly very good trail all the way to connect to option 1.
And since we started from Butalelbún we didn’t have to walk the boring first 9km on the road.
Another bonus for this option was that already about 1.5km from the Bridge {10-01A} [9.0/1137] there was a nice looking campsite with water by an abandoned puesto -37.78871, -71.22362. So even arriving with a late bus from Los Ángeles it should be possible to get there for an overnight.
There was one more option earlier right next to a stream, and well sheltered in the forest, but the ground was slightly slanted, puesto seemed nicer.
There was another sheltered campsite with water nearby further on -37.79904, -71.22790.
In general the 9km walk to connect to option 1 was really nice with plenty of water along the way and two passes. The Pass {10-01A} [14.1/1900] is actually marked in a slightly wrong location and the actual pass with a cairn is here -37.81328, -71.23357. Nice views of the Laguna Inaprachehue and the start of the plateau on the RR, Laguna Liay unfortunately hidden by the forest.
From the pass a short ways down past the puesto (horses and cows) and straight up to the next pass -37.82975, -71.22698 after which the trail traverses a steep slope. Due to the recent heavy rain storms in the area the trail had been damaged and eroded in some places but still walkable.
Right before joining the option 1 there is a ford -37.83599, -71.22817 but we managed to rock-hop across.
Once on the option 1 there was another abandoned puesto with a simple table and log-seats outside, nice place for lunch -37.83890, -71.22406
The trail then shortly after leaves the forest, goes past a few puestos, and dissipates in a cow meadow. From which it we continued CC past some waterfalls over some streams and climbed a very steep gully on loose rocks up towards more desolate and rocky lower reaches of Copahue.
Standing here -37.85475, -71.21840 where option 1B joins the option 1 it honestly didn’t look like option 1B would be possible at least not by the suggested trajectory, it looked steep and cliffy.
It was a pretty cold and windy day with a low cloud at around 2400m. So once we reached around here -37.85748, -71.21723 we deviated from the gpx and made our own way traversing below the option 1 only reaching a maximum elevation of about 2350m instead of 2430m like the gpx suggested. It also helped us to avoid more snow patches though we still crossed a few which were low angled and easy. We rejoined the gpx around here -37.87641, -71.20487 but still mostly followed what seemed to us like better trajectory.
There were a few small streams along the way and once lower down we picked up some sort of a trail again.
Termas Pucón Mahuida seemed ok there was one made pool with a lot of algea in it that would need some cleaning. Though very wet ground around it to get to it and not really any good campsite nearby. So even though we were cold the idea of undressing in the cold wind to get in the terma to perhaps get warm for a moment didn’t seem that appealing so we continued a little bit onwards.
We found a fantastic, sheltered campsite with water nearby, right on the junction where option 1 joins the option 1C -37.89779, -71.17220.
The temperatures were to further drop below 0C at night, so we braced for a chilly night.
Day 2 - Option 1C (Natalie’s and Tomáš’s new route on the boarder of Chile and Argentina)
The cold wind persisted and even though it was less overcast than the day before it was really cold already from the morning.
According to the map the morning walk promised to be an easy breezy along a 4x4 track towards Argentina and it was for about the first 1.5km until we reached the meadow on which there were a lot of cows and bulls.
The first group of around 20 with a big bull among them got alerted by us but they were a bit further from the 4x4 track and across the stream so even though they showed some anxiety about our presence we managed to pass them quickly without an escalation. A bit further we saw the main herd of about 80 cows and the 4x4 track went slightly closer to them. The cows noticed us already from a distance and started acting a bit weird, as we got closer ca. 100m which in my mind is still keeping a safe distance, something triggered them and they all started running, some of them away from us but the majority of the herd seemed to be running right at us, yikes.
Luckily there were bushes nearby so while staying calm we kept our stride and went behind the bushes to seek cover and to get out of their sight which worked. They were all mooing at us but they didn’t continue to chase us and we managed to keep on walking while staying out of their sight behind and around the bushes.
Cows are annoying and hard to read, I prefer being charged by a pack of dogs rather than a pack of cows, I find dogs are a lot easier to understand.
We had it happen to us once before on section 33H, that time we didn’t hide just stood our ground raised our poles and shouted at them and the cows stopped about 10m in front of us and then kept pushing us out of their meadow, also not the most pleasant encounter.
Further along the meadow there was another group of about 30 cows that also got anxious the moment they saw us so we just bushwhacked around them.
Once the road started to climb up we were clear of the cows. Probably the main reason they are so triggered at this time of the year is that they all have calves that they are very protective of. Probably all they have seen are humans on horses i.e. arieros, so when we walk by a strange looking creatures who don’t even command a horse they just freak out. Oh well, it’s part of the GPT, at least we have all these trails thanks to them.
The last water before gaining the ridge was here -37.90611, -71.12002. Getting to the flat ridge top is an easy CC with some trail lower on the ascent. And the ridge is mostly also an easy CC until you get to here: -37.95882, -71.12612 the ridge gets narrower and there is one easy step of downclimbing. After that the ridge remains narrow (not a knifes edge) and since we were going down on it we couldn’t see what’s below and from above it looked like a cliff drop. So from the place where we did the downclimbing step there was sort of a saddle from which we went below the ridge on the north side, traversed underneath the cliffy part of the ridge and then rejoined the ridge. Doing the ridge in this direction that was definitely the better way to do it. Looking back at the cliffs from below I could see that if doing the ridge in the opposite direction one could probably stay on the ridge and find a way through the cliffs with a bit of scrambling since you could see what is ahead where you are going. But coming down on the ridge it just seemed a bit more time consuming and since it was still very cold and windy and we had been walking for over 5h without breaks we looked for what is the fastest and easiest way not the most adventurous.
Then came the BB of the spur above Puesto {10-01G} [0.2/1484] in the beginning there was some trail that then disappeared. We pretty much tried to follow the gpx exactly but there was definitely no trail there. A steep and sometimes very steep BB through the bamboo thicket. It wasn’t too bad but after 6h of walking without a lunch (because it was too cold to stop) the BB felt very annoying. I definitely wouldn’t want to do it in the opposite direction, but people earlier claimed it was easy, so who knows, maybe we were doing it wrong.
I believe there must be a better way somewhere there, either on the same spur or in one of the gullies on either side of the spur, because we saw a bunch of cows on the meadow near the top of the spur. Unless they all got there from the valley north of the ridge on the option 1D trail, because we also saw a lot of cows down in that valley. It was finally time for a lunch by the stream -37.97455, -71.13867 first water since coming up the ridge.
Soon after that the trail reappeared and it was quite pleasant walking once again. Another potential, sheltered campsite on the way: -37.99719, -71.13963.
There was nobody at the Puesto {10-01C} [23.3/1260] except cows but it looked like people would still be actively using it. We skirted around the fence of it and then the trail turned into a minor road that Natalie mentions.
If you are heading towards Guallalí then it’s probably the easiest to just keep following the minor road going west. Our plan was to join the GPT11 RR directly. The trail, if there was any, leaving the road and continuing south was not visible or obvious until you reach the edge of the trees 50m further south. Then some part CC, some part cow trails brought us to the GPT 11 RR.
(Continued in Section 11)
Overall I would say it was very nice and scenic way to do the section 10, we didn’t see a single person the whole way since leaving the Butalelbún. A good weather for this way is definitely preferred but we did it in suboptimal conditions and it was still nice (lucky it wasn’t raining). The main challenges for us were the cold and the cows, the rest was minor.
The plus side to the cold weather was that we didn’t see a single tabano which was a pleasant surprise, compared to sections 8 and 9 when they were very vicious and followed us even on the ridges.
For more stories, photos, videos on the trail and in case you want to ask us anything you can find us on IG: @smallfootprint_bigadventures
*'''2025-08-09: Track file update 2025 and investigation suggestions of Jan Dudeck'''