74
ediciones
Cambios
→Season 2024/25
==Season 2024/25==
*'''2025 Apr 16 to Apr 26th / 10 hiking days, 1 zero day / SOBO / Hiking / RR, Opt 1, Var D / Michael and Kasia'''
Quick Notes: A really stunning and worthwhile section. This was a close second to GPT37 La Florida for us. We had great weather during most of it, and there was just something calm and meditative in the atmosphere. The area on Peninsula La Caramela was especially enjoyable. Note: the track files were completely redone last year or the year before. I have used GPS coordinates as much as possible. Whenever km markers are used they refer to track files that were sent out by Jan for the 2024/25 season.
CAMPS:
Night 01: -48.82792, -72.79143 (inside of disused corral just below the trail, flat spot for one tent, no meaningful wind protection, water is about 150 m away)
Night 02: -48.86604, -72.89975 (this was an emergency camp literally in the middle of the path because we couldn't find a flat space anywhere else, so we don't recommend it; it was flat enough for us and water was about 150 m back up the trail, no wind protection, nice morning view)
Night 03: -48.90699, -72.98192 (camping area at the home of Don Luis, covered area for food prep and eating, flat spaces for tents, water close by, mice in the covered area, so we recommend keeping your stuff near the tent away from that area at night)
Night 04-06: -48.92020, -73.05417 (Camp 38-01 8.7, flat spaces for tents, good wind protection, great water access, we really liked this spot)
Night 07-08: -48.94216, -72.96680 (around km 30.6 of RR from 2024/25 track files, inside a grove of large trees, flat space for two or three tents, very good wind protection, good water access, the space almost looked prepped for camping, we really liked this spot)
Night 09-10: -48.90111, -72.77850 (just after Ford 71.9, flat space for two or three tents, okay wind protection, easy water access)
Night 11: Argentina BCP, north end of Lago del Desierto (Very nice view of Fitz Roy, easy water access at the lake)
WATER: We found water easily and often.
Day 01 - April 16th
We left Ricardo and Maria's around 10:00. They had agreed to store the food we had for section 39 at their place until we returned. We passed by the carabineros to register. It took about 15 minutes. The officer filled out a form with our passport info, age, emergency contact info, and asked if we had an SOS with an active subscription, how many days of food we had, how many days we planned to be out, and if we had mountaineering experience. Then he took our photos and showed us the route on the map hanging on the wall. We started up the road, then crossed the Bridge 1.8. It was old but stable. The route was sometimes good and clear, other times hard to follow. I checked the GPS a lot since there were so many animal trails. We stopped at Settler 4.5 for lunch. It was sunny but windy and the space in front of the house provided some wind protection. After lunch we continued toward Port 8.5 Bahía Esmeralda. To that point the trail was fairly clear and easy to follow. Around km 8, just below the trail there was a corral (-48.82792, -72.79143). We found a flat space big enough for the X-Mid 2 just a few meters inside the gate. Water access was down at the lake, about 100 m away.
Day 02 - April 17th
We continued on the route. For quite a while it was surprisingly easy to follow. There was some light bush bashing getting around the Bahía, but once up it was fairly clear. At around km 10.5 (-48.82381, -72.81144) the trail passes through an unmarked abandoned puesto. This would make an excellent camp site. There seemed to be a lot of flat space both in the open on grass, and under trees in the event of strong wind. There was also a stream running through it with good water access. The property seemed to be in a bit of a depression that provided the whole space with some degree of wind protection as well. If we had known about this property we would have tried to make it there the night before. The route led up into some rocky hills, the trail was still generally fairly easy to follow, though sometimes different animal paths made it confusing. The views of the lake were very pretty. There was some bush bashing but nothing that we found too difficult. We would not recommend trying to camp at Settler 19.1 Cerro Colorado. There was nothing flat, the property is fairly wind exposed, and there is no easy water access as it sits up on a plateau and the water is in the valleys on either side. It isn't difficult water access, it just isn't close. We ended up going about another half km to try to find a better spot. It started to get dark and we just ended up setting the tent up right in the path because it was the only flat place we could find. Water access was about 150 m back up the trail.
Day 03 - April 18th
This day had the most bush bashing and the most challenging navigation. It was still really pretty and we enjoyed it, but it was definitely slow going. Be sure to keep an eye on the GPS. There is a point that both Misael and Ricardo had warned us about where it is critical to cross one of the gorges at the correct spot or you have to hike really far down and then really far back up again. If you follow the track files it is not a problem at all. As the route dropped down toward the lake there were some very pretty forested sections. At km 26 (-48.90595, -72.95504), a little over a km before Settler 27.1 Ventisquero Chico, there was a really nice area to camp. There was some flat space with grass and a small stream for water. This is a good option going either direction as an alternative to camping at Ventisquero due to the mice issue. We arrived at the lake around 17:30 and it took maybe 10 minutes to get the attention of Don Luis. He came down and rowed over to pick us up. (This was in mid April when sunset is around 19:00, so I think that was why he was available earlier) We found Don Luis to be a very kind, gentle soul, soft spoken but friendly and helpful. The 20.000 CLP includes boat transfer both ways and the ability to camp at the small campsite he has set up at his place. There was a flat, grassy area to set up the tent, and he had a small shed with two walls, open on two sides that provided some wind protection and also had a table for cooking. He also had a water line from the creek to use for convenience, but the creek was just outside the gate anyways. He initially offered to let us set the tent up in the shed for the wind, but the tent was too big so we went with the grass, and there was no wind in any case.
Day 04 - April 19th
It turned out to be good that we did not set up in the shed. We had left a few of our kitchen things there overnight, and I arrived in the morning to find that a mouse had chewed some things. It seems like the mouse was not after food, but maybe nest materials. It chewed up a rubber spatula, a sponge, my rubber gloves for washing, and it chewed on the soft rubber caps of our thermoses. It didn’t touch two rigid plastic containers with food in them, nor the two rigid plastic bowls that we eat from, which were clean but definitely smelled like food. All that is to say, if you camp here, the shed is a useful place to cook and eat, but we don’t recommend leaving stuff there overnight. The trail up to the pass is in great shape and easy to follow, though there are occasional diverging trails, some which come back and some which don’t, so I checked the GPS often. The forest there was amazingly beautiful, like something out of a fairytale. We really enjoyed just being in it. At the top the pass was a bit marshy in spots, but nothing too tricky. We decided to camp at Camp {38-01} 8.7. There was a clean running stream just a few meters away with easy access, and the whole area had good wind protection
Day 05 - April 20th
The weather forecast for the day was rain and high winds throughout the day so we took a zero day. Throughout the day we could hear the glacier cracking from the other side of the hill, almost like small thunder.
Day 06 - April 21st
We did a day hike out to see the glaciers. The trail out is again mostly very easy to follow with markers nailed to trees fairly often. Once out of the forest there are various animal paths, but they mostly go the same direction so we picked the ones that had the least amount of water in the trail. The day was full sun with almost no wind, and it was such a pleasant day to be out. We made our way up to the plateau and then started across it. We were hoping to see Glacier Chico. What we did not realize until we were already up there is that it is not possible to see Glacier Chico from that side unless you walk almost all the way down to Refugio Militar. After it became clear that we would not get a view of the glacier we started back. The plateau itself was pretty and we stopped to have a cup of coffee and enjoy the view. We backtracked to camp for the evening. It was a great day hike and very recommendable, but if we were to do it again we would skip the plateau and, at the point where Opt 1 and Opt 14 meet, switch to Opt 14 headed southwest to get a better view of the glacier that direction.
Day 07 - April 22nd
We packed up and started back down to Don Luis. It was cloudy, but not windy. In just the couple of days we had been up, most of the leaves had finally fallen off the trees making it look more like winter. We arrived at Don Luis’ place around 14:30. He was there and took us across right away (again, this is in the fall so we probably had very good luck with his schedule and we wouldn’t count on that during the summer months). At Ventisquero Chico we stopped for lunch. Then we began hiking south. The trail was overgrown in parts and difficult to find in places. We got lost a few times. It started to rain a bit and we found a tree under which to wait the rain over. We found a great campsite at (-48.94216, -72.96680). It looked almost prepared for camping. There was a nice stream with easy access about 50 m away.
Day 08 - April 23rd
We did an out-and-back toward the viewpoint. It was a partially overcast day. The trail was difficult to follow at some points and there were many muddy spots and lots of streams crossing the trail. We stopped at the Viewpoint 32.2, and also at the puesto Mosquito. It looked like it would be possible to camp there, though we preferred the spot we were in. We got to about a half km past X {38} 37 before we had to turn back. It was getting late in the day so we sat for a snack and to enjoy the view, then headed back to camp.
Day 09 - April 24th
We took Var D up the hill. It wasn’t really visible for the first half or so, but the second half was clear. The rest of the way up to the plateau was easy to follow. On the plateau it was cold and kind of windy. There were a number of marshy spots. The few river crossings that there were were all dry foot crossable when we went through. At Ford 71.9 we did have to switch shoes to get across. The water was mid-calf and moderate current. We camped just on the other side of the ford. It started to rain some just as we finished getting things set up.
Day 10 - April 25th
We hiked up from the Ford 71.9 to the road, then down to the carabineros. It was very cold but not windy, and the clearing over Fitz Roy behind us promised sun during the day. We arrived at carabineros around 11:30. When we arrived at the BCP we checked back in and signed off on our expedition report. We then applied for our salvoconducto. While we waited for it to come in we set up everything to charge, and I walked over to Ricardo and Maria’s place to collect the resupply that they had stored for us. I bought a couple of breads, a package of cookies and two pears from her. She didn’t have much left as it was the end of the season. The salvoconducto was not coming and we were beginning to think that we would have to camp for the night. Around 15:00 the border guard took pity on us and called to see if it could be expedited. They arrived in about 5 minutes after that. He said that they prefer people complete the trip between the two BCPs the same day for safety reasons, because of “wild animals” (I think he meant cows) and branches that can fall in high winds, but that if we knew the risks and accepted them, we were fine to camp part way between as long as we stamped in on the Argentinian side within 24 hours. We checked out, packed everything up and started back up the road. Due to how late in the day it was, we knew we would not make it too far. When we got to X {38-01} 0.0 we found a really good, flat spot just off the road with a good stream close by for water. Unfortunately the winds were really strong, and Garmin weather was forecasting them getting stronger throughout the night. After looking around and failing to find a more protected spot, we finally walked back down the hill to where we had camped the night before. It was windy down there as well, but noticeably less so. We also constructed a meter high wind wall which helped a lot.
Day 11 - May 26th
We hiked back up the hill and got back to the road. It was windy, but not raining. The road was in very good condition, and there were only a few points I had to check the GPS due to roads branching off. Beyond the sign at the end, it was very clear where Chile ended and Argentina began. I guess because the border patrol uses horses on the Argentinian side instead of trucks they did not feel the need to build a road. The trail was often confusing and had a lot of muddy spots. There were also several ad hoc bridges that hikers had built to get over streams. We arrived at the BCP around noon. The guard was very nice. He took our information and hand wrote it in a book (they must radio in the information later) and we got our first stamp into Argentina, as all the other entries we had made had been through border points that do digital-only. We were considering continuing around the lake, but the weather was leaning toward rain and the next day was supposed to be nice, so we decided to camp for the night. We dropped our bags and began looking for a campsite. Much of the area that is designated for camping was on a slight incline so it was a little challenging. At one point I made a small hop over a stream and when I came down I must have landed weird as I heard an awful sound and felt a terrible pain in my calf muscle. It ended up being a level 1 calf strain, but at the time there was no way I could hike further. It was devastating to have gone so far and end up with a hike-ending injury after something as small as a little jump on relatively flat ground without even any weight on the back. Kasia went and talked to the border guards. The short version is that, since the last of the tourist boats were done for the season, they arranged to take us across on their boat. We waited two nights there and then at 09:00 they took us across the lake. A couple of military guys picked us up on the other side and drove us to El Chalten and to the health center there and then left us. Ultimately we were not charged anything and did not even have to do any paperwork.
'''2025-MAR-14 to 2025-MAR-17 / 3.5 days / Hiking / SOBO / OH-2 + RR to chalten / Adrien, Julien et Valentin