Cambios

*2022 Nov 9-11 FrankThe office of Club Andino Piltri in Bolson, which was a great source for hiking information, has burned down & they are currently homeless. Rivers are running high & I did not get any info. on the current status of the route so I walked round it on the road in 3 days. Day 1: I got the morning bus to Epuyen then walked about 42KM NOBO to Pasarela Rio Azul near Lago Puelo at the start of GPT22. Although you are near the main road (Ruta 40) you can often walk away from it on small gravel roads & tracks. No place for food on the road until you reach El Hoyo where there is a great bakery on RHS of road (the first place you come to NOBO) Friendly with very good fruit pie. At the north end of El Hoyo just after the viewpoint you can cut left on a dirt road, go right over a small hill & come down on the main road into Lago Puelo. Epuyen has a bus station, a few shops & a cafe.Day2: 7:40AM bus to Epuyen & continued SOBO. All on road, first on Ruta 40 then on much quieter Ruta Provincial 71. It's paved as far as Cholila, then gravel. In Argentinian Patagonia the roads generally have a wide gravel margin so you can walk away from the traffic. Nothing on the road for 28KM except a marsh with flamingos in it. Then you come to Butch Cassidy's house (down a signed track, 500 metres off the road) 100 metres down the main road is La Legal museum & cafe, friendly, displays about Butch & local history in Spanish & English. There is no need to go into Cholila which is 3KM off route. As you approach Cholila the main road turns left up a small hill. Go straight ahead on a gravel road (the old RP71 road) After 5KM you come to a junction. 300 metres on your left is a shop with good supplies, they even had camping gas. On the right is a campsite & 200 metres further where the road becomes gravel there are cabanas & rooms. Day3: Walked the gravel RP71 to Vila Rivadavia in 3 hours & continued on GPT24. Vila Rivadavia has 2 small shops, 2 campsites & La Pilarica lodge, good soup & coffee, wifi, expensive rooms. It's in the village 1KM off the route. From La Pilarica you can take a shortcut to rejoin the road in 300 metres (ask them to show you as there is a lot of thorn scrub off route)