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→Season 2025/26
==Season 2025/26==
* '''2025-12-04 to 2025-12-09 / 6 Days / Hiking / SOBO (east, then south) / Villarica Traverse + RR / Michel & Lisa'''
Day 1
Had a late start since someone (not gonna tell you who xD) lost their spork and so we had to wait until the outdoor Stores in town opened at 10.
Paid the entry fee for Villarica sector norte in advance online (10200CLP pp). Took a taxi up to the Centro de ski, although our taxi driver was hesitant at first due to bad road conditions he eventually agreed to take us up for 18000CLP. The road was fine and there were no problems at all in his standard sedan with 700'000km on it. Stopped at the CONAF office en route (not the center de visitantes) and registered - pretty straight forward. Show your proof of payment, get a tag for onto your backpack (so guarda parques can see you've registered for the Villarica Traverse) and write down your name and contact info in the list.
At the centro de ski we had to walk the first ~1.5 km to the start of the trail (i.e. where the track file starts as well). From there it's pretty easy walking on a well maintained trail. Only got as far as lagunitas XYZ where we camped (-39.44708, -71.98718). Water is clear but lots of algae growth in the lower of the two.
There was no water whatsoever between the centro de ski and this place (-39.43584, -71.99550) that is shown as a source of water on the OSM map as well (the lack of water surprised us somewhat as we are early in the season and had expected meltwater to result in some water availability). However, if you read the last entry about the traverse, there can be more water.
Day 2
Had a slow morning and late start, enjoying the calm and quiet in the forest close to the beautiful laguito. Filtered some water from the lagunita and treated it with micropur tablets on top, just to be sure. Turned out to be fine that way.
Estero Ñilfe had really grey water, just like 6 years ago when I was last here. Back then we drank it and were okay but I was glad not having to drink it again. Would definitely avoid that if you can. Then it was really sunny and dry for a while. The next water we found was Estero Tralco which was almost equally grey and therefore not good for drinking, though probably also not deadly. Continued all the way to Estero Aihue where the water is crystal clear and really cold (7 °C). Found a not really level campspot closeby, if you search longer you might be able to find something better. The ground is mostly pretty soft so we put rocks on all tent pegs. Lots of fine dust that gets everywhere which was a bit annoying. But the views are stunning here so it's worth it!
Day 3
Woke up to an almost full moon just above Volcán Villarrica and a calm, cloudless sunrise. People in the valley must have missed it due to the cloud cover visible from up here. :P
Next water source was at Río Pichillancahue (Llancahue on my map [-39.46842, -71.85767]). Shortly after that the trail joins a dirt road. We checked out the Chinay (marked as China on my map, lol) Camping [-39.45935, -71.82974] that turned out to be an abandoned camping with huts and lots of defunct infrastructure. Weird. We continued to the guardaparque [km 31.9] where there was nobody. Continued along the road until the trail turns off again, walked it for about 5 minutes where we found a wonderful camp [-39.45839, -71.81611] just next to the river. Sun, shade, water, it has it all! B-) only the tábanos are a bit of a lastima.
Day 4
Started earlyish to do as much in the shade as possible, which turned out to be a good idea. Water at [-39.46171, -71.82039] where one could also camp (but I wouldn't recommend it, it's dark and completely forested) and at [-39.47165, -71.82632] where you should definitely fill up. Then nothing until the end of the forest at [-39.50218, -71.76623] where there's a small stream and a couple of camping possibilities with reasonably flat ground. We continued on until [-39.51272, -71.75385] where we camped on nice flat ground next to the trail. A pretty tough day with our heavy backpacks but the views up here are again amazing! The area here with a few meandering streams is really beautiful. The only downside today were the tábanos everywhere and the extreme heat.
We apologize for all the dead tábanos en route and confess we had a little competition going on. If you find a few dead ones on the ground, it'll be a spot where we had a break (of which there were plenty). Lisa won 47 to 36, if you were curious. xD
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Well. It seems mother nature, karma or whoever was not happy with the trail of dead tabanos we left behind. At least if you believe in this kind of stuff. Just after sunset a group of 7-8 bulls showed up and mooed loudly, walked in our direction. They seemed to have lost a buddy of theirs and we were kind of on their trail. Or they were curious or both. Anyways, some of them came really close and they were absolutely massive, which both scared us, especially since they were very vocal as well. After a while they continued on over the hill and we thought they had left, but they came back after about 10 minutes and so we decided to pack our stuff together and left in a hurry, back over the creek and to a slightly less flat camp spot with no grass [-39.51135, -71.75112] where we thought they wouldn't follow us. At least that was true. But then a gust pulled out one of the tent pegs in the middle of the night and our air mattress had a puncture. So... Not a great night! >:~|
Day 5
We woke up to a somewhat cloudy sky and stronger winds. After packing up we hiked to Laguna Azul which is really pretty, especially seen from the pass above. Great spot for a break. The camp at the laguna is really a bit dirty (trash, pots and pans left there) and smelled of fish so we didn't stop for long. If you want to stop there, continue to the ford where there's nobody and it's not dirty/trashy at all. We continued, joining the RR of the GPT which first is a trail and later develops into an abandoned road. Many a fallen tree on the trail/road which have to be climbed or walked around. The trail/road is frequented by dirt bikes so there's always a pretty good trail. I'm not sure what Road end [44.6/1288] wants to indicate as the road only starts much further down, where the RR actually becomes MR, i.e. X [49.6/997]. There are lots and lots of really good camp spots along the MR, not just where it's indicated [52.2/794]. But they're all without water access. We decided to search for an option with water and finally found a place which had a really nice flat grassy spot: [-39.631233, -71.834371]. It looks like it's used as pasture for cows, but there were none present when we were there (yay, if you read about our experience the night before). You can walk down an old, unused road towards a broken bridge (about 500m, maybe 5-10 min) where there's access to the river. The river is rather difficult to access since its banks are steep (everywhere, not just at this spot). But at the bridge it's possible, if slightly complicated. If you don't feel comfortable climbing down over some fallen trees and rocks to the water, this might not be your spot. We quite liked it. The punctured mattress was fixed in little time, shining a headlamp through it from behind while checking the front really helps to find small punctures! There was a big thunderstorm at night which kept us awake again, at times it got pretty close (600m?) but mostly stayed up in the mountains.
Day 6
After another night of bad sleep thanks to the thunderstorm, we skipped breakfast in order to get going soon. Just before reaching the settlement [58.5/440] we had to cross a deep trench (about 2-3 m deep, 2-3 m wide) that cut through the road and there was only a wooden plank which was a bit scary to cross over. You might find a way around the trench though. The river after we had to ford, the bridge seems to be gone.
After the settlements came rather boring road walking and we were happy to be picked up by a local who drove us all the way to the road towards Liquiñe. We went to the shop across the road [66.4/237] which had a nice selection (even some veggies!) and stocked up for 17P.
==Season 2024/25==