813
ediciones
Cambios
→Season 2024/25
=Season 2024/25=
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-01-07 to 2025-01-01 / 2,5 days / Packrafting/ SOBO/ RP, RR, variants D, F / Tomáš & Natalie'''</span>
Finally we did something totally standard.
Day 0: The hitch, 5 km
We ressuplied in Entre Lagos and started hitching after 17:00. We got one bus and one car that got us to turn-off for option 6 and then a brown bus came that drove us all the way to the start of the MR&BB. The bus leaves every day Osorno at five in the afternoon, arriving to the border around 1930. It leaves the next morning at 7:30. We walked five km to Camp [8.0]. Met a German and a Chilian camping there. They knew nothing about GPT, just saw the trail on the map. We told them how to get the track files and gave some other advice. We wonder how they fared.
Day 1: over the ridge, 17 km
We started at seven, beating the sun and tabanos in the long climb. There is no bushbashing for a long time on the MR. When it started (about 2 km? - it does not slow you down much), we cleared some with our machete. If everybody just got one and spent one hour per day (when appropriate) on trail maintenance, we would have a nice trail I (Tomáš) think. Tomáš did the ridge via D and F. Natalie did not like the snow wall and folowed RR. The snow wall on the ridge actually had an opening where the GPX tracks lead you and it was totally fine to get on the ridge: some walking (15 m) on 30 degree snowy slope, but it was soft and slip would end soon anyway, The pinacle after the summit cannot be safely scaled (loose rock, even when you have got the skills, I would not trust those holds). I chose to go left, between the rock and ice. It involved using my hands, SAC 5 I would say. In the middle, where there was only a small gap, I cut steps into the snow and walked on it, seeing it was very thick from bellow. This is not ideal - probably better go to the right right away, though that looks steep too. Found very scenic sheltered campsite with water from melting snow (will probably last a few more weeks) at -40.79137, -72.14787. There is a 20 m deep volcanic cave there. Casablanca can probably be climbed from the pass through a ridge, but it was cloudy, so we have not tried that.
Day 2: through bush to hot springs, 17 km
After crossing the plateau, we entered the forrest. After previous day's rain, our lower bodies got soaked. The trail is there, sometimes more overgrown, sometimes less. We used our machete to clear it some. No easy access to water at the water waypoint, but good acces about 500 m further here: -40.82253, -72.17044. Last water was about 200 m before the X waypoint.
About one km from waypoint "Important: Nobo: Overgrown Trails", we both, walking maybe 100 m after each other, independently got lost. In this part of the forrest, there are many (animal?) trails. I, not looking at GPS, following to me an obvious trail while using the machete, suddenly realized I was in the middle between the TL&BB and the alternative BB trail. This at least used to be a man-made trail, as some old cut marks attested. However, it petered out. I walked in a circle, the forrest being surprisingly passable at times. In the end I found myself on the BB trail. It seemed like ages ago, there might have been a trail, but now it is (not so horrible) bushbashing. After an hour of being lost, I finally got to the X waypoint, thinking Natalie would be kilometres ahead; however, she was lost as much as me, so she had been waiting for only five minutes. The trail from there to lake is an actual trail. At the lake, all of a sudden, tabaños hell started. About 15 second after we left the forrest, aiming for the beach, about 50 red tabaños surrounded each of us, buzzing viciously. They seem to strongly prefer open sunny low locations. We got to shore, picked the inner part of our tent and used it to change into drysuits - they provide good protection from the horseflies. It was about seven when we got to our packraft, still surrounded by a dozen of tabaños. We set of against sizeable ways, hoping to reach the termas waypoint 7 km far. In over an hour, we covered maybe two km when Natalie spotted steam rising from a lakeshore here: -40.85792, -72.21726. There was a pool made from stones in the lake and a quite hot (60 degrees? - painful to touch) stream pouring to it. Waves being high, the pool was quite cold. We improved the pool walls but when we were done. the waves already calmed and the pool got too hot, so we made a new breach into the pool wall, improving the balance of temperatures somewhat. However, we kept getting a mixture of a slightly too hot or cold water. The small beach provided a slopy place for tent that was surprisingly ok.
Day 3: hot springs to El Poncho, 5 km
In the morning, we started paddling. Turns out steam and hot springs (without pools) are present along the shore for about 1 km from our camp. The proper hotspring is here:-40.85944, -72.22694. The waypoint in the track files is off by about 2 km. It is a beach with dug holes in it and it sees regular traffic - a motorboat brought people both in the evening and morning. People had shovels and buckets - not exactly sure how it all works. There is a sign saying it is prohibited to camp there. It would be a perfect camp - there is a stream about 100 m west of the beach. There were several other streams flowing into the lake around this part. In El Poncho beach where you are supposed to boat out, there is nothing: no shop, no ressuply. There is a cell tower on the opposite bank, but only some 3g signal: I only managed to receive e-mails, but could not even send replies.
* ''' 2024-Dec-23 // 2.5 days // RR NOBO // Mara & Tobias'''