9
ediciones
Cambios
→Season 2025/26: Added entry log
==Season 2025/26==
* '''GPT37H / 2026-01-30 to 2026-02-01 / 3 Days + boat ride following morning / Western Traverse /SOBO / Hiking /RR, G, RR, H / Alex and Aoife.'''
Attractiveness: 5/5
Difficulty: 3/5
Florida Peninsula. Overall, beautiful section which does feel quite remote. And very novel to be picked up on the southern end via the Boat.
Pre organising required as we wanted the boat to meet us at Bahia pescado and take us to Candelario Mancilla.
Due to our time constraints and the boats only operating on Monday, Thursday, Saturday (weather permitting) we did this Western Traverse in 3 days. We managed but it was too much. I think 4 or maybe even 5 days would provide A much more leisurely pace where you can stop and enjoy your surrounds a bit more.
We arrived late into Villa O'Higgins the night before and went straight to the Ruedas ferry office and met with Sebastian. We organised the Monday boat would pick us up at Bahia Pescado at 9am and bring us to Candelario Mancilla . He also agreed to bring our foodbag for section 38 & 39.
Camped at Camping Tierra Paraiso. 8k pp. Nice enough place, grass to pitch on and was quiet at the time.
As we were in a rush we didn't quite think through establishing a communication system well. So I'll mention what we did and how I would do it better.
It seems generally hikers and Ruedas assume at Bahia Pescado that Starlink can be used at:
Settler {37H-H} [4.5/264] (Bahia Pescado, Nicole and Misael)
-48.825720, -72.700350
to contact Ruedas and confirm they are there to be picked up etc. This idea doesn't work when Misael and Nicole aren't home.
So the morning we started the hike I sent a whatsapp message to Seb explaining that I am going to send a test message on my Garmin Inreach to him and if he could reply to confirm he got it.
I didn't hear back so messaged him on whatsapp from on top of a hill a few kms into the hike to put my mind at Ease and assured him we would be there on the Monday even if we don't have internet reception to confirm this. He also confirmed he got the inreach Message. So I said I would contact him on that when we arrive.
I never got a response back from Seb on my Inreach, Im guessing that maybe due to Chilean phone plans only providing data and minutes which only seem to work to contact other phones with the same service provider.
So I think talking about the Inreach and doing a test message in Person and just being clear about that process would be something I would recommend.
The two supermarkets in town were relatively stocked for dry goods , don't expect much in terms of fresh produce.
Day1: 30/01/26
We got a hitch from the edge of town the 7km to Puerto Bahamondes. Apparently there is a bus from Villa O'Higgins tourism office - we had someone mention this to us but can not confirm.
Distance: 23km
Time: 1015- 2000
Water:
Water along the way even on the pass.
Route:
Walked the 750m of minor road to where the TL starts. Followed Emily's track notes, following the animal tracks along the river. We were there after sunny weather so was less boggy but you could see it could be very boggy in parts. Trail was easy to walk on and follow managed to keep dry and shoes on with some creative route finding until ford [19.7/607].
Due to warm weather there was lots of ice melt so massive flooded section over the trail so avoided this.
Took shoes off once we reached Laguna Verde and walked in the shallows until the other side of ford [24.9/542]. Track became a little bit harder to follow from then until camp. Basically you would be in the trees until it got thick and then you would be rock hopping on the shoreline until back unto the trees. Lots of trees down and water level of Lake higher then RR shows on GPS in some sections.
Camp:
We were tired and decided to camp at (-48.63257, -72.60775) space for 1 tent, sheltered, flat and access to lake for drinking.
Day2: 31/01/2026
Diatance: 24km
Time: 0830-2000
Water: Lots of water along the way.
Route:
Easy start along nice trail. At ford [30.56/ 575] water was just above knee ( we are 170cm tall) . Had to take shoes off a few times. Lovely views the whole way up the ascent to the pass. We had great weather. Views from the pass to the West are amazing... well worth it. Some boggy sections , but not too bad.
Route was relatively easy to find until the cross country section at ( -48.64337, -72.73005). We followed animal trails in general direction until around ( -48.648055, -72.736618) where the track started to contour and then gradually climb, the path was well trodden so we followed for a bit, but then decided we had gotten too far off route so descended down to RR , we regretted this decision as we had to push through knee high spikey bushes for the remainder of that section.
Would recommend to continue following prominent animal tracks from around above waypoint and stay high until roughly above the waypoint:
‘Trailhead [55.6/344]’ (-48.65420, -72.74617)
and descend on the animal tracks of your choosing. Trail was then easy to follow and relatively quick until the final CC section, the descent to camp, we found the landscape intuitive enough to read and get down easily.
Camp:
[62.2/262] ( Arrollo De Rrumbe) , there was a couple of streams close by before you get to the final CC section, otherwise water At the lake. Well sheltered, beautiful views across the lake. Nice sunset and sunrise.
Day 3: 1/ 2/26
Distance: 22km
Time: 0700-1800
Water: At fords and streams along the way.
Route:
Followed the RR until variant G ( as per Emilys recomendation, Thanks). We crossed a Ford [ 64.0/375], mid calf. Started raining after lunch and wind picked up. After the pass on descent down to Bahia Pescado lost the trail a few times. Followed RR to variant H and then took Variant H to the way point settler [4.5/264] ( Bahia Pescado, Nicole and Misael) . No one was home, except the chickens. At the time, it was hard to find a sheltered spot, pitched next to a big bundle of hay qnd camped there. No streams located in that area, drank from the lake. Messaged Ruedas from Inreach, no response back.
Camp:
Within 50m of
Settler {37H-H} [4.5/264] (Bahia Pescado, Nicole and Misael)
-48.82551, -72.70026
Next morning:
Picked up by Ferry that was 2 hours late ( we were getting nervous) . Boat pulled into the headland at around (-48.826254, -72.699904) where it pulled up we had to embark from a rock pulling ourselves up onto the boat from a handrail. Several passengers on board were definitely curious as to how/why/where we had been. Took about 20-30 mins to Candelario Mancilla. We stayed at Maria and Ricardos in a cosy little cabin (15k pp) , 10k pp to camp. Access to Starlink, hot shower, and at the time fresh bread and eggs. Definitely recommend the fresh bread and eggs.
'''2026-Jan-21 to 2026-Jan-25 / 5 days / Hiking / CCW / RR / Kole'''