Cambios

CC down the hill to MR, encountering a fence and following a small trail to an empty puesto. Many areas were boggy. Spotted Ibis ibis and numerous other birds. Reached the road in the afternoon with no cars heading our direction. Walked to the park entrance, but the ranger station was already closed (open until 6pm). Caterpillars abounded. Walking along the shore of Lago Jeinimeni instead of the trail is often more interesting.

Hiked on good trails through the national park. The view from the pass, which we ascended quickly, of the turquoise Lago Verde was beautiful. The caterpillar situation improved somewhat on the other side of the pass. Descended to Lago Verde and hiked up the broad river valley of Vallehermoso. All river fords were easily manageable. Weather was poor - rainy, windy and cold. After Refugio Vallehermoso, we left the RR for the optional route (in a north-west direction. The valley was extremely windy at first, but we found a relatively protected campsite at the forest edge in a kind of recess of the valley (close to -46.82125, -72.17825).

Hiked up the beautiful valley in north-west direction towards the two beautiful glacier lakes. River crossings were easy, at one the water was thigh-high. At the second lake there’s a mountain hut (-46.79241, -72.20793). Rocky path next to lake up to beginning of high plateau valley. Parts are boggy, otherwise easy CC. Potential wind sheltered campsite with flat spots at -46.76511, -072.21924. Hiked up along (and in) creek to third lagoon and the pass at 35-6 15.0(on 35-6), lot’s lots of suitable campsites there. Hiked down from the pass into a forest. Trail finding was initially manageable but became very difficult, with the path extremely overgrown or non-existent. Sometimes there were cow tracks, sometimes broken off branches to indicate the direction. Don’t underestimate the amount of time you will need for this part. Hut at -46.69930, -72.22469 right before the first river crossing. Some suitable campsites in vicinity to hut. Crossing was easy right next to the zipline at 19.9, water about knee high. We camped at a camp without water in old corral ca. 15 20 minutes before second zipline at 24.0, carried water from river crossing at 19.9.