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ediciones
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→Season 2025/26
==Season 2025/26==
GPTP82
2025-01-29 to 2025-02-05 /7 days and 1 rest day / Packrafting/ SOBO / RP + Var 01 / Lisa & Michel
Key Points
- Previous entries are very detailed and have been super helpful to us, especially from Natalie and Tomàs
- Track files now contain Romans tracks, no need to download them seperately anymore
- High levels of Rio Nef make the route considerably slower and you might need to bushwack around parts of flooded trails. This seems to have been a problem for Natalie and Tomàs and now us. We don‘t know how much it changes seasonally (might be better to do it late in the season as the glacial melting will be less than in summer, Lauren and Seb did not have issues with high water levels in March)
- The trails did not seem to have been maintained the last two years, from the description we felt like its definitely more overgrown than it has been. That makes trailfinding and BB slower. If no one clears the trail be prepared for very slow progress with lots of thorns. (This is mostly for the first part up to Lago nef, although the other side did not seem to have been cleared either, the vegetation is much less agressive on that side)
- Absolutely stunning section with amazing views, no people, lots of BB and frustration.
- Try to get a good weather window, otherwise you miss out on all the good views.
- We did not have a machete and we were fine, I don‘t think it would have been of much use.
- SOBO makes more sence as Lago Nef is the biggest challenge and you might get stuck without finding a way through the ice.
- There are buses from Cochrane to El Maitén (3pm Tuesday, Friday and Sunday - beginning of the trail if doing SOBO) and Colonia Norte(8.30am Monday and Thursday, ending of the trail with SOBO) that would shorten roadwalking. However make sure to ask in Cochrane for when and where they go exactly.
Day 1: Cochrane to Settler Abandoned (29.6)
We took the 7am bus towards Coyhaique and got out at -47.132211, -72.72116, a bit after El Manzano. We were hoping for a hitch on the MR but no car passed us on the ~3h road walk. Careful that you don’t miss the beginning of the trail that leaves the minor road on the left in a curve. In this part we did not lose the trail, but it was overgrown and progress was slow. With Natalie and Tomàs believing no one had worked on it the previous year, it now seems no one cleared it in the last two years.
Due to high water levels the trail was flooded here -47.12517,-72.90743 (same as Natalie and Tomàs mentioned). We first tried BB around, Michel fell and broke one of his Poles, then tried to find the way up through the bluffs that Natalie mentioned but cold not find a solution. I assume we had lower water levels than they had, since for us the trail was not completely flooded, it just included fording a side arm of the Rio Nef twice, with quite some flow. We had not tried before because it was impossible to see how deep it was. First ford was mid thigh (177cm) and second only knee deep. If you can still see the middle part of the trail (for us it was an island), this is probably the fastest option. The trail continued to be overgrown until the abandoned settler. We camped next to Rio Nef about 500m after that, nice beach access to the river but not sheltered and no other water source. It took us 11h to get there, about 8h30min excluding breaks.
We assumed Rio Nef could change its level depending on the time of day since it‘s all glacial melting but the level was the exact same in the morning. The lake seems to be a reservoir inhibiting such short time changes. So don‘t count on fords to be easier during the morning hours.
Day 2: Settler abandoned to Lago Nef (Camp 50.6)
After Settler abandoned the trail becomes a bit better, less overgrown. As Natalie said, first ford (37.0) was easy, the camp there looks nice. Well sheltered and clear water access. The second one (38.5) was as mentioned quite a surprise. Rio Nef has flooded the trail, I don‘t know how it would look with lower water levels. However instead of going around (everything looked like heavy bushwacking) we chose to ford along the edges of the inlet of River. Water levels went up to a bit more than hip deep at the deepest point and it was very slippery. Still faster than making a trail around. If your PR is quick to inflate that would definitely be the safer option - or go with drysuits through the ford. Especially since the water is freezing cold (5 °C). We could not find the trail that goes to the puesto as everything was very swampy and wet and instead went around RP on the right side of the fence, crossed the swamp over some logs and joined the trail after the puesto - hence never went to see it. The easiest way would have been to walk on the outside of the fence and then go onto the logs as they had crushed the fence there anyways. But this may be fixed in coming years since the puesto there seemed to be used (horses around and the building looked in surprisingly good shape). Tabanos and Mosquitos were horrible in that part. Ford (40.2) was easy and good water source. (remember to take water here, no water sources until on the way down from the pass). Shortly after the trail again becomes overgrown and hard to see at times. Keep your GPS at hands, it is nice to be on it even overgrown. Did not seem like anybody had worked on it this year but worked well to the pass. Great views up here of Lago Nef. We were a bit discouraged because the icebergs had all piled up on the south end of the lake and it appeared like we might not get through with our packraft. However we later found out this can change a lot through the day and if you cross the lake early after a windless night the ice gets some time to disperse a bit and not be as tight.
Way down from the pass was easy in the beginning but then much more overgrown and harder to see than on the way up, very slow. Basically it became much more overgrown as soon as it wasn‘t steep anymore.
Once you make it to 44.4 the CC parts are very fast and easy walking, the trail parts were hard to see and partly flooded for us. Always possible to go around and join the trail soon after though. Much slower than CC sections. We camped at Camp (50.6), a bit sheltered from the wind because of the moraine of the glaciar but not much. Clear water source closeby - no need to take water from Rio Nef. Long day again, it took us 12h30min to get there, 10h50min of hiking excluding breaks. Very slow progress all day.
Day 3: Lago Nef to Lake after Glaciar (57.8)
Started late since we were tired from the hard days. Hardly any wind on the lake when we got there at around 10.30am. The lake was not frozen, lots of icebergs and blocks of ice close to our (south) shore. Seemed like we could get through since it was not too dense so we got our packraft ready roughly at the point the gps track suggests as a launch point. This was only because the iceblocks seemed the least dense to us there, go wherever there is the smallest amount of ice. That changes a lot depending on the wind on the lake. By the time we were ready to leave, the wind had picked up quite a bit (headwinds, the predominant wind direction here) and the ice was pressed more toward the shore. A bit annoyed about ourselves and that we did not leave earlier, we decided to give it a try anyways. We managed to get through the ice by slowly edging our way through and pushing away the blocks with hands and paddles (careful not to use the blades but the handles as the blades migh break on the hard ice). At some point I was a bit worried that we might get stuck in between with no possibility of going forward or backward, but that didn‘t happen. Once we were past the band of iceblocks close to the south shore we made faster progress with medium strong headwinds (~10km/h, gusts of up to 20km/h) and reached the end of the lake after a bit less than 2 hours. We crossed the lake in the middle since the southwest shore had more ice and only went towards that side after ~3km on the lake. The lake exit was a quite steep granite shore, very wind protected. Getting out was easy, getting the packraft up (we use T-Zips and have all our gear inside the boat) was hard since the shore is very steep and unstable. If you can, I‘d suggest leaving some heavy gear in backpacks on the outside of the boat so you don‘t need to carry up all together. The crossing of moraine and glaciar was slow but easy. In the beginning we stayed a bit further left of the gps track to be on the high part of the moraine and than crossed onto the glaciar at the point with the least steep slopes, which was easy. From there we stayed a bit further right than the track files, probably similar to previous groups. However since the glacier is changing constantly that obviously is not fixed. Natalies reference point (-47.08282, -73.25064 , rounded solid rockwall to your left just before a drop off to a glacial lake) was very helpful - just know that you want to go up the steep slope to the left of that rockwall, i.e. climb above that rock. We aimed for its right side and then needed to turn around a bit, having to scramble through very loose and steep sand and rocks. After that, CC is easy. We made camp at the first lake right after the glacial lakes, very pretty and perfect for a swim. After this there is the next lake you could camp at or the mentioned expedition shelter but then on the trail through the forest camping could be hard (and definitely not as beautiful) until here (-47.139213, -73.258273) where there is a beautiful spot next to the stream you need to cross. It will take you another 2-3 hours to get there.
Including getting the boat ready and repacking and breaks this shorter section took us around 6.5 hours.
Day 4: 57.8 to after Lago Cachet Dos (Camp at -47.12079, -73.15232)
Nice CC along the lakes. Once you enter the forest the trail is less overgrown than before Lago Nef but very easy to lose. Especially in the wet sections with swamps and grass it is hard to see but worth trying to find it again as it is nice if you‘re on it. After some kms it rises on the right side of the valley and is easier to stay on from there on, progressively getting better. The descent to the riverbed is mostly on big granite rocks and very enjoyable. After crossing the stream you‘ll descend into the dry river bed and CC down on hard sand - very fast progress. Eventually it rises up to the high valley on the eastern side of Glaciar Colonia, in dry conditions the steeper sections are easy but when wet this could be tricky. We camped at -47.12079, -73.15232 next to a small lake with incredible views over Glaciar Colonia. Somewhat wind protected because it‘s set back from the cliff, but out in the open. We had quite some rain that night and the next morning and were fine.
Day 5: Rest day and exploring the surroundings
We chose to wait out the bad weather and explored the surroundings once the rain passed. If you get the chance it is really worth going up the hill to the weather station you‘ll see and then down on the other side where you‘ll have a perfect view over the waterfall and where the river enters underneath the glaciar, an incredibly beautiful and impressive sight for us. Even more with all the remains of how the glaciar used to block the river.
Day 6: Lago Cachet dos to Lago Colonia (-47.25881, -73.191799)
Continue CC around the lakes and along the stream, very enjoyable walking and beautiful views. Easy fords. Once the track joins with Variant G the trail starts, it is not very clear until the beginning of the forest. In the forest we hardly lost it and if we found it again quickly. In the steep section in the beginning the trail deviates a bit from the track files but joins again quickly. We followed the trail and it was perfect. Lots of ups and downs and very annoyingly deep boggy sections kept us slow. By the end we both had completely soaked shoes, the grasses and mosses are hard to read and you sink in deeply. Beautiful views on the Lago Colonia once you reach the highest point. From the expedition camp down to the lake less clear of a trail but very enjoyable steep granite sections that get you down quickly. Lots of Mosquitoes all day. We camped at (-47.25881, -73.191799) at the lake, very flat but not sheltered - not a problem since the lake was almost without wind for us. If windy, this would not be recommendable. Stream with clear water closeby.
Day 7: Lago Colonia to End of Rio Colonia (-47.301876, -72.90828)
We crossed Lago Colonia with light headwinds (against the predominant wind direction, don‘t know what was going on) and took quite long. Packed our boat to porter the first rapid as it looked really hard to line it through. However I think we probably had lower water levels than others did so that might have made the rapid harder (lot‘s of big boulders everywhere). We had lower water levels than visible on Google Satelite images. Inflated our boat and tried lining the second rapid. (Thought it was rideable at first but no, not for us at this waterlevel) and had troubles doing so (don‘t have a line long enough, had to be partly in water to get boat through, almost got pulled down and then carried the boat around on the boulders) and got back in after the rapid. Retrospectively we would have preferred to porter until the end of rapid two, it‘s an easy CC across boulders and would have been as quick. Really comes down to water levels though. Rapid two might be much easier to portage on the right hand side where the shore isn‘t as steep and there‘s less flow. We ran everything after and the fourth rapid was definitely not bigger wavewise then the first/second so the river must really change a lot. We had ground contact quite often but never got stuck. After the first ~5km on the river the rapids are over and it‘s a smooth, yet cold ride down. We camped here (-47.301876, -72.90828) at around 6pm. (All day took us 8hours including breaks and de-and inflating the boat)
Day 8: Rio Colonia to Cochrane
We saw the bus tables in Cochrane of the bus going on Monday 8.30 and Thursday 8.30 to Colonia Norte and thought if we were at the bus stop at 10.30 we would catch it. We were wrong. Still not sure when exactly the bus leaves - we talked to 3 different groups of people and everybody said smth different (either at 8.30 from colonia norte or at 12 or at around 9.30 to 10). Everybody agrees that there should be a bus that all of them never had taken and that it leaves from the bus stop (-47.26623, -72.83772 (at Option 4)). We believe it must leave early (8.30 or 9.30) from there as we did not see it and were there at 10.30. Walked the road for about 20kms until the first car passed in our direction and took us all the way to Cochrane.
2026-01-05 to 2026-01-10 / 6 days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Anh
