At km 7.3 of the trek (1520m above sea level) you have to cross a moderately wide stream, which flows down from Cerro Piuquenes. Just 600 metres further ahead, the trail arrives at the Río Claro, which carries a much greater volume of water and has a very powerful current. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE RIVER, on this particular trek. Just keeping walking along the north bank of it. Further on, the climb starts to get a little bit steeper. After a few more minutes of walking the Valle del Indio starts to open up on you. You'll see ñirre shrubs all around, and should be able to make out Cerro Tres Puntas and the Salto del Indio (a waterfall), in the distance. About 45 minutes after you cross the stream, you should get to the small CONAF shelter: "Refugio El Bolsón" [km 10.1 -- Altitude: 1686m], which is also a camping area. There is plenty of space to pitch your tent close to a small brook that flows through the site. This camping spot also offers an outstanding view of a dramatically steep and rocky peak -- the appropriately-named, Colmillo del Diablo [= The Devil's Fang], which is located just two kilometres to the North.
On leaving Refugio El Bolsón, the trail heads upwards and goes through an area of ñirre shrubs. You have to be careful around here because it's easy to get lost. There are several orange arrows that point towards the river, but they take you to the "Salto del Indio " waterfall rather than Laguna de las Ánimas so, be mindful of watch out for that. After about 20 minutes of walking you get past will have made your way through the first area of ñirresplants. You then carry on through a clear and open section in order to cross a wide and rocky ravine, with little in the way of vegetation growing in it.
Just beyond the rocky ravine, you get to a meadow with more ñirre bushes. The path basically crosses this section close to the foot of the slopes on the northern side of the valley. Having said that, it's really hard not to lose sight of the trail. Keep following it by looking out for bare patches where there is no grass growing. Unfotunately, the ñirre bushes' branches tend to cover up these bare patches. So, just keep being patient, and where wherever possible, try to break off all of the branches that are creating causing the most obstruction, in order to help out anybody else who uses the trail after you.
Tras salir de este matorral de ñirres el camino pasa por el lecho seco de un esteroAfter passing through the ñirre scrubland the path crosses a dried-up stream, llegando where it gets to yet another a otro matorralanother load of bushes, menos tupido que el anterioralbeit less dense than the previous ones. Desde el lecho seco del esteroFrom the dried-up riverbed, mirando hacia el looking towards Cerro Tres Puntas, pegado a la ladera del cerro que está hacia el nororiente, deberán ver carteles que indican you should see signs that point the way to “Laguna de las Ánimas”. Desde estos cartelesFrom the route signs, se debe continuar por la parte baja de la ladera del cerroyou should carry on along the bottom end of the sparsely-vegetated slope, sin vegetación, un poco más arriba que el lecho del vallea little bit higher than the floor of the valley. LuegoWithout crossing the ravine, 'sin cruzar la quebrada inmediatamente posterior a los cartelesand immediately behind the signs, comienza el ascenso de la cuestais where the climb really begins -- undoubtedly the most arduous section of the trek. Se tardará 60 It typically takes an hour and a 90 minutos en subir la cuestahalf to walk up "Cuesta Las Ánimas", a lo largo de un which you have to do by way of some major zig-zag que sube por rocas y arenillas, siempre con la quebrada zagging over rocky terrain. There are a nuestra derechacouple of good rest stop locations along here with beautiful views down into the valley. Hay un par de descansos con vistas muy buenas del valle. En el portezuelo Once you have finally hauled yourself up on to the ridge(km 14,6 - 2260m), puede que corra algo de vientoyou could well find that it's rather windy up there.
Desde el portezuelo se avanza hacia la Once you are up on the ridge, and on the "final straight", things get considerably easier. The path heads eastwards towards Laguna de las Ánimas hacia el Este, primero con suave pendiente descendente, seguido de un ascenso también suave. No debiera tomar más de 20 minutos hasta alcanzar el último cartel de It goes gently downhill and then gently uphill. The last CONAF del circuito, que señala "Laguna Las Ánimas". La laguna sign on the route indicates that you have arrived in the vicinity of the lake(km 16,0 - 2283m) es un bello espacio andino. The lake is a somewhat small yet pleasant Andean spot with a white sand beach. The water, con playas de arenas blancasunsurprisingly, pero de agua muy heladais very cold. Desde el Bolsón hasta la laguna deberían ser 2 It's definitely a 3 horas.scenic place to spend the night in a tent :-)
La laguna es un bello y agradable lugar para acamparThe ascent from Refugio El Bolsón up to the lake typically takes three hours, y así volver el día siguienteor less.
==Permisos / Tarifas==
