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→Season 2024/25
==Season 2024/25==
*’’’2025 Mar 17 to Mar 31 / 12 hiking days, 3 zero days / SOBO / Hiking / RR, Opt 22A (Glacier Calluqueo), Var B / Michael and Kasia’’’
Quick Notes: a nice section, very long so we really had a chance to sink into the wilderness, the trail can be a little tricky at times with all the mud, but overall easy to follow, once we got through the gate we did not see another person until 1 km before the trail met the driving road.
CAMPS:
Night 01-03: -47.60141, -72.49162 (grassy area, flat space for 1 tent, space for more tents if you aren't picky about lumpy ground or a slight grade, nice view, some wind protection, closest water is 300 m away)
Night 04: -47.65599, -72.47866 (about 250 m past Puesto Calluqueo, in a grassy field under trees; look up before choosing camp site as there are a lot of dead branches hanging from trees, water is about 250 m away at the river)
Night 05: -47.70850, -72.49490 (about 100 m before a stop-over puesto, flat space for one tent, another spot nearby closer to the trail, river access is about 150 m away, some wind protection)
Night 06: -47.80911, -72.52036 (Camp 79.9, actually a stop-over puesto, it had a table and fire pit, there was flat space for a couple of tents, closest water was about 200 m away at the estero)
Night 07: Puesto El Burro (km 92.3) (flattish spot for a tent, water is about 200 m away)
Night 08-10: Camp 110.9 (excellent water access, fishing possibilities, nice view)
Night 11: -48.03699, -72.49126 (near Settler 118.9 Margarita Bustos, in the woods, decent wind protection, good water access at the lake)
Night 12/13: -48.09404, -72.49794 (in a forested area near the lake, water access was a stream, decent wind protection, dark and damp, not a site we would recommend)
Night 14: -48.14246, -72.43804 (next to puesto, flat, grassy area with space for several tents, no real wind protection, excellent water access from the river, tons of mosquitos)
WATER: No issues with finding water generally, however in a few spots it was a bit of a walk from camp to get water access.
Day 01 - Mar 17th
We took the subsidized bus from Cochrane to Lago Brown and the driver let us off at the cruz at the northern end of Lago Confluencia [X {36H} 33.9)]. There was only one other passenger on the bus. The driver, Orlando, was very friendly. It was 16 km of gravel road after that. Not the greatest, but there wasn't much elevation gain until the end so we made good time, and the surroundings were quite pretty. Only two vehicles passed us and neither picked us up. It rained a little, was sunny a little, was windy a little, but overall very pleasant weather. The trees were changing color, especially close to the glacier, and the reds of the leaves were really pretty contrasted with the turquoise of the lake. We hiked to the trailhead of Opt 22A. Just across the road to the west was a road heading in and then a gate. There was a flat, grassy area down to the left. We found a flat spot there. There was a house past the gate, but no one was home when I went to ask if it was okay to camp. However, we did not have to go through the gate to get to the area where we camped, there was a small path leading down to the grassy area before to the gate, and there used to be a fence there, but it has been taken down and rolled up, so I think camping here should not be an issue. The downside was that there was no water nearby so we had to walk 600 m round-trip to Rio Pedregoso to get water.
Day 02 - Mar 18th
We left the tent setup and just took a day pack to do Opt 22A (Glacier Calluqueo). About 140 m from the beginning of the route is an unmarked ford of the Rio Pedregoso. It was knee deep where we forded with a fair amount of current. It also has almost no visibility due to the milky quality from all the glacial flour. On the far (east) side of the river, the bank was a fairly flat rocky bank. It looked like it would be possible to camp there with a free standing tent. From the river the trail went steeply up for a bit, then began to follow a forested ridge. After the ridge there was a narrow, exposed traverse for about 400 m, then it returned to forest for most of the rest of the route. At the end of Opt 22A there was a campsite with a stream about 200 m before it. It had some wind protection and a fire ring. We went past the campsite, and the trail actually went another 150 m or so to a nice lookout point. We stopped there to have coffee. On the way back down we walked a little bit of Opt 22B. We returned to camp as the wind picked up and it started to rain a bit. We thought this was a really nice side hike and definitely recommend it.
Day 03 - Mar 19th
We took a zero day. It had rained in the night and there was some light rain during the day. I walked down to the river to get water a couple of times and it was noticeably higher and faster than the day before.
Day 04 - Mar 20th
We started for the gate marked Fin del Camino, and almost immediately had to turn back. The guys from Puesto Calluqueo (we assume) were driving their herd of cows down. Once the cows had passed we went through the gate. The early part of the trail until the first ford was essentially a road and was very easy to follow. Fords were all easy, and we left the water shoes on in between them since they were so close together. After Fence 56.5 the trail became a maze through swampy areas. No one was at Puesto Calluqueo when we passed. We went 250 m or so past it and found a forested area with a flat spot. There were a lot of dead branches and dead trees around. We were able to push some of them over to make the site a little safer. Water access was about 100 m away at the river.
Day 05 - Mar 21st
The day continued the maze of swamp. At one point we had to switch to water shoes to avoid a significant detour. We stopped at the south end of the laguna to have lunch. Just to the east there was a good stream. We heard it before we saw it. We had wanted to get to Camp 68.4, but the day had taken longer than we anticipated, so we opted to camp early and attempt the La Picota ford the following day. We found a flat, grassy spot about 100 m before an unmarked puesto. Water access was about 75 m away at the river which had good access.
Day 06 - Mar 22nd
We took Var B and headed up to the infamous La Picota. The way down to the ford was terrifying. The trail was extremely narrow and steep, and the material slid easily. About half way down I just leaned back into the hill and started to slide down on my uphill leg. The soil was extremely loose and would pile up under my legs quickly. Once a good berm had formed under my back leg, I would pull it out and repeat the process. This created a kind of stair step effect in the hill that Kasia could walk down. The ford itself was actually uneventful, mid calf and with moderate current, and okay visibility. On the way up on the other side we found a lot of really good berries. After the first pass we found a trail that was clear and easy to follow that allowed us to bypass Ford 71.8 and stay on the east side of the river down into the plateau. We stopped to have lunch and set up the tent to dry out. It was sunny and warm with very little wind, so it was very pleasant. The way down from the second pass was easy. The valley was beautiful. The first two fords were dry foot crossable. Ford 77.4 was a little tricky. There was a large rock that the river split around. We crossed to the rock, then went up and over it, down the other side and then through the water again. It was only ankle deep, so not problematic, but the route wasn't so obvious. We just left the water shoes on after that until after Ford 78.9, also easy, mid calf with very little current, though we had to go slow because the water was completely opaque from all the sediment so it was entirely by feel. We should have left the shoes on longer though because the trail shortly started to go through swamp, and then came to an unmarked ford and we had to switch again. We camped at Camp 79.9. The site is actually a stop-over puesto. There was a table, a wind wall and a fire ring. The closest water was about 200 m further along the trail at the estero. There was a fox that came in the night and hung around for awhile, but didn't bother any of our gear.
Day 07 - Mar 23rd
It was a clear, cold morning. There was a thin layer of ice on both the inside and the outside of the tent when we woke up. We started the day in frozen water shoes. There was an unmarked ford (the estero) that is potentially dry foot crossable about 200 m from the camp. The remaining fords were mostly ankle deep, half calf at most, with not much current. The river was very low and the area where the track went through, to the east of the river, looked swampy. We crossed to the west of the river and just went CC for about 2 km, then crossed back over. This worked out well for us. We stopped at Puesto La Pampa for lunch. There was a nice sunny spot to set up the tent to dry out. Water was about 200 m away. There were a ton of mosquitos there. Further along the route, the trail up the hill provided some very nice views on either side. There were a lot of muddy spots on the trail, so slow going at times. We camped at Puesto El Burro, some flat space right around the puesto. Water was about 150 m away.
Day 08 - Mar 24th
It was cloudy and cool with no wind. We walked to Puesto Las Tablas for lunch. Other reports have said there is no water there, however we found water not far from the puesto (-47.92729, -72.56685). Across the grassy field there is a low hill with a few large trees. Just behind it was a stream with good, clean water coming down from the hill up above. As we continued on, there was a lot of mud on the trail and we took our time getting around it to keep our feet dry. We did the CC/BB east-southeast to go directly from 104.7 to 110.9. It took us about an hour. There were many animal paths, so we just selected whichever seemed the most open. It definitely saved some time over going RR the whole way. For us the campsite at 110.9 was just okay. There really wasn't any flat, level space for a two person tent. There is good, easy lake access, but at that time of the year the sun doesn't ever really hit the beach near the site. There were also a lot of mosquitos.
Day 09 - Mar 25th
We decided to take a rest day. We tried fishing but didn't catch anything. Neither of us had ever fished before, so I can’t say we did it correctly.
Day 10 - Mar 26th
We took a day hike over to Rial's place. We had seen The Last Gaucho in Patagonia after last season and wanted to see the place in person. The door to the puesto was just tied shut and it looked as if people were still using the area for cattle. We opened the door to look around, but we saw mouse droppings and rodent chew marks on some things, so we left immediately and re-tied the door. After we had looked around, we followed a plastic water line up to a little stream and then continued on some trails we found. The route was a little above the regular packrafting route and eventually connected with it. We followed the packrafting route almost until the lake, then crossed back over the river and went CC back to RR and back to camp. It was a nice, short day hike.
Day 11 - Mar 27th
The path around the lake was easy to follow. The route provided some nice views over the lake. We arrived at Settler 118.9 (Margarita Bustos) in the late afternoon. There was a corral with a flat, grassy area near the house, but we opted to camp in the woods, both for wind protection, and also because the area near the house had a lot of mosquitos for some reason. There were very few in the woods. No one was at the house, but it did look like someone spends some time there. We took water from the lake.
Day 12 - Mar 28th
The day was cloudy and kind of cold. There was an unmarked ford at around km 119.3. It was mid-calf with very little current. A lot of the trail was in the woods. There were fewer muddy spots than in previous areas. We knew that the following day was supposed to have bad weather, so we planned to camp at Refuge 126.1 (Entre Lagos). As others have stated, a giant tree fell on the puesto a few years back and completely destroyed it. There was no place around the puesto that looked flat enough to camp. Also, the only water we found were two different trickling streams with a lot of mud, both quite far from the puesto itself. We went back down to the lake and looked around there. We finally found a spot that was flat enough, but we had to pull down a couple of rotting trees to make it safe in the event of wind. There was a stream running very close by that was kind of shallow, but clear. It worked well enough as a water source. Most of the forest was made up of fairly thin trees, close together, and a lot of dead branches and trees. We would definitely recommend looking up before choosing a campsite here if wind is in the forecast.
Day 13 - Mar 29th
We took a zero day to wait over rain and wind. It turned out to be not that windy, which was fortunate, but it did rain throughout most of the day.
Day 14 - Mar 30th
In the morning it was quite cold, but at least not raining. In the afternoon we passed by Rubén’s place. He invited us in, but we decided to decline as we were trying to make some distance. He walked us down to the gate and opened it for us, and explained the route. He said sometimes hikers take the wrong path and get lost. We had no issues sticking with the GPT path. There were a couple of places where we had to be creative with getting around water to not have to do a shoe switch. At around km 135.4 (-48.14246, -72.43804) we came out of the woods and found an unmarked puesto. There was also an unmarked ford that needed to be passed to continue. We decided to stop early for the day with the hope of getting the gear dried out. There was a large grass area that was mostly flat and we were able to get the tent up before the drizzle started. Fortunately there was some sun peaking through as well and it was just enough to get the inside of the tent fully dry. We kept our stuff under the large tree next to the river while we waited. The major drawback to this site was there were a ton of mosquitos.
Day 15 - Mar 31st
We started the morning with the ford. Right after the ford we were following the GPT track file, but we ended up at a dead end. There was a fence on our left and we back tracked along it almost until the ford when we saw an opening in the fence. We went through it, then up to a path and it reconnected with the GPT track shortly after that. After that the trail was easy to follow. There continued to be a lot of up and down. Up high the terrain was rocky and exposed. It made for some amazing views, but was also a little tiring as the winds were very strong that day. At around km 138.5 (-48.16224, -72.41415) there was a stop over puesto with a wind barrier and a fire ring. We stopped and had lunch there before continuing. The wind got stronger throughout the day, though fortunately it was not raining. About 1 km before the path connects with the road we met a day hiker going the opposite direction. When we arrived at the trailhead, a couple from Santiago on holiday was just walking up. We talked to them for a couple of minutes and they offered us a ride to O’Higgins. What amazing luck! We arrived in town around 17:00.
*'''2025-MAR-20 / 1 day / Hiking / SOBO / RR+OH (var. 12) / Ivan, Jakub, Daniel'''