GPT31P (Lagos de Aysen)

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Section Log, Alerts and Suggestions

Season 2019/20

• GPT31P / Regular Packrafting Route Southbound / 2019-Dec-03 / 5 easy going days / Meylin Ubilla & Jan Dudeck

After we aborted the traverse GPT90P due to an completely overgrown trail (after all settlers abandoned the area) we returned seamless on GPT31P to Coyhaique.

This section combines a succession of lake crossings and river floats into a quite diverse packrafting route.

This section is only feasible in southbound direction due to the predominant wind direction on the lakes and the flow direction of the river float.

GPT31P is a suitable continuation right after floating down Rio Palena (GPT27P & GPT28P) in particular if traveling with the ferry from Raul Marin Balmaceda directly to Puerto Chacabuco. GPT29P and GPT30P are both pretty special, only feasible in northbound directions and require a very big appetite for adventure and luck with weather so skipping section GPT29P and GPT30P is a reasonable choice for most packrafters.

The roughly 6 km float on Rio Blanco should not pose a significant challenge to even novice packrafters.

Lago Riesco, Lago Portales, Lago Zenteno and Lago Atravesado are between 6 and 10 km long with few suitable exits along the shore. In good calm weather these 4 lakes are true packrafting delights but if the wind picks up even these smaller lakes should not be undermined.

Lago Elizalde is a different category. This 30 km long Lage is a wind channel and pretty impressive waves can build up in windy weather. With a classic open packraft this lake traverse can easily become a frightening challenge. So packrafters with a classic open boat should wait for a calm weather window before venturing on this lake. We traversed this lake this time in pretty rough conditions with an extra-long double packraft with spraydeck. We ended up surfing in some parts at least 1.5 m high waves; something that we did not intent doing.

Portages: Lago Riesco to Rio Blanco: Easy 100 m portage crossing the gravel road. Make sure to not take the lake outlet river but do the portage.

Rio Blanco to Lago Portales: this roughly 3 km portage follows mostly the gravel road. Only the last 300 m are cross country down to the lake.

Lago Portales to Lago Zenteno: 1 km on minor roads and cattle tracks.

Lago Zenteno to Lago Atravesado: Connecting footstep hikers/packrafters might find the 24 km of gravel road annoying but we hopped on a car that took right from Lago Zenteno to Lago Atravezado. If you don’t like hiking gravel roads you might take the minibus that travels this route on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Lago Atravesado to Lago Elizalde: 300 m partly on stairs that end on a small hydro power station. Nice camping sites up at Lago Atravesado with space refuge but not down at Lago Elizalde. If you don’t have weather luck to cross Lago Elizalde in calm weather you may walk out from Lago Atravesado.

It took us 5 days but we had two very short days; one to rest in good weather on the shore of Lago Riesco and another one when we got invited by the settlers on Lago Portales. There we also learned why the trail of section GPT90P was partially cleaned.

Links to other Resources

Retired Section Article GPT31P - Lagos de Aysén

Images

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GPT31P: Lagos de Aysen

GPT31P: Lagos de Aysen				Hiking		Packrafting
Group	G: Aysen Norte		Total	-	-	90.7 km	25 h
Region	Chile: Aysén (XI)		Trails (TL)	-	-	1.3 km	1.4%
Start	Puerto Cisnes		Minor Roads (MR)	-	-	39.0 km	43.0%
Finish	Villa Frei		Primary Roads (PR)	-	-	4.3 km	4.7%
Status	Published & Verified		Cross-Country (CC)	-	-	0.3 km	0.3%
Traversable	Sep - May		Bush-Bashing (BB)	-	-	0.4 km	0.5%
Packraft	Required		Ferry (FY)	-	-	(171.2 km)	(65.4%)
Connects to	GPT28P, GPT29P, GPT32		Investigation (I)	-	-	(0.7 km)	(0.7%)
Options	236 km (4 Options & Variants)		Exploration (EXP)	-	-	-	-
	Hiking	Packrafting		Total on Water		45.5 km	50.1%
Attraction	-	4 (of 5)		River (RI)		5.5 km	6.1%
Difficulty	-	4 (of 5)		Lake (LK)		39.9 km	44.0%
Direction	None	Both ↓↑		Fjord (FJ)		-	-
Comment	Hiking: Hiking not feasible
Character	Packrafting: ↓ Recommended, ↑ Exploration option
Challenges	Valdivian Rain Forest, Farmland, Settlers, River Packrafting, Lake Packrafting

Elevation Profile of Regular Hiking Route (2019)