53
ediciones
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sin resumen de edición
==Season 2025/26==
*''' 2025.04.01 / 3.5 days / Hiking / NOBO / RR + H, “Op.4 (Laguna Tagua Tagua)”-Bus / Kris and Stiina'''
We combined sections 22N and 21 from El Manso to Colonia Suiza - 8 days total. 3,5 days for section 22N from El Manso to Cochamó via La Junta.
A resupply in Cochamó and hitch to Ralún (El Cruce) for Section 21. 4.5 days for section 21 options 2 & 3.
Day 1 - 8:00 Bus from Puerto Mont to Laguna Tagua Tagua. We got there half an hour early, as recommended, but the bus didn’t really fill up and by the time we got to Cochamo by 10:30 the bus was half empty. It could be that on Sunday it is different than on other days on this particular route, less busy perhaps. The bus did one longer stop an hour before Cochamó and also a longer stop in Rio Puelo before continuing to Laguna Tagua Tagua. The bus ticket from Puerto Mont to Punta Canelo cost 8k CLP and we got there around 12:30. There are 7 ferries a day during the high season (Dec.-Mar.) earliest at 7:00 and the last one at 20:00 and two ferries run between Punta Canelo and Punta Maldonado simultaneously. We took the one at 13:00 and the ticket cost 1340 CLP. In Punta Maldonado we walked for a few hundred metres along the dirt road where there was a bus waiting at a small parking lot. There were also two food trucks selling a variety of different fast foods, mainly for all the people waiting in line in their cars to get on the ferry as each ferry can only take 8-12 cars at a time, the car queue was pretty long.
We took the bus to “Settlement, Shop, Bus {22N} [40.7/36] (El Manso)” there is a camp and a local El Puelo microbrewery. It would be a perfect place to end the day, but unfortunately since we were starting we didn’t try the beer, but they also sold a delicious homemade kombucha. The bus to El Manso cost 500 CLP.
For some reason our bags were very heavy once again and it also happened to be +32C when we started hiking around 14:00 so we only walked for about 7km before calling it a day pretty early, the heat got to us.
There was a rocky pebble beach and the osm map had a campsite marked: -41.69227, -71.96916. The water temperature in Rio Manso felt surprisingly warm, perfect for a long dip. We had a few hour nap in the shade on the pebbles before setting up the tent. However we didn’t camp on the beach, we set the tent up right by the trail on a small grassy patch, where the little side trail goes down to the beach. Two arieros passed by in the evening and our tent scared their horses, so not an ideal place for a pitch. The beach was campable, just rocky.
Day 2 - Good trail, very undulating, lots of ups and downs, Bridge {22N} [51.7/146] (Rio Steffen) is broken but there is sort of a driftwood dam on which it is possible to go across, otherwise fording also looked simple. Other bridges all good. First 3 km along the Lago Vidal very undulating with lots of muddy places. Pretty much all day in the foest, no views until the Lago Vidal, then at least some views of the lake opened up.
We camped here: -41.48798, -71.94550 in someone’s yard in front of a house. The house seemed disused. The whole yard was a bit slanted but there was one nice flat spot and the yard was full of pretty meadow flowers. Water from a stream nearby.
Day 3 - The trail along the lake slightly improved. The Bridge {22N} [79.4/612] is just a log across the river.
If coming from the north the Settler {22N} [79.7/611] has an information plaque on his gate with two WhatsApp numbers and a free WiFi that actually works so you can request a boat ride across the lake. They also sell some homemade products. In case you want to arrange the boat ahead of time the WhatsApp nrs. are: Andrés +57 954 799 902 & Máximo + 57 997 115 003
After that the trail goes into the forest once again and more or less stays in the forest until La Junta, some views around Lago Grande. The trail from around Lago Chico to La Junta ir pretty poor, though it is maintained it is very muddy in many places and very slow going. Also it somehow felt that from the pass going down to La Junta there was as much uphill as there was downhill.
The nicer campsite by Lago Grande was this one - Camp {22N} [84.9/1012]. The campsite marked on the OSM near the Arco waterfall smelled heavily like horse piss and wasn’t nice.
This place Bridge, Camp, Refuge ? {22N} [94.2/418] (Rio Valverde) had a nice meadow for camping even with some remnants of what used to be a dry toilet however the horseflies around there were more than anywhere else and also not sure where you would go for the water because the bridge was over a ravine.
In this area Camp ? {22N} [95.6/342] definitely many campsites possible, but there was an easy to ignore sign somewhere saying that it is a private property, go figure.
We rocked up in La Junta campsite and since we didn’t notice the gate and started walking straight through, following the RR the staff working there immediately noticed us. They were nice and explained to us that the correct route now is the variant H if we wanted to continue to Cochamó. We told them that we have no reservations whatsoever they actually invited us to stay at the campground if we wanted. Since the place was epic and definitely the highlight of the whole section we couldn’t refuse such an offer. Looking out of our tent at the sunset colors on the granite giants was amazing. A very nice well kept campground that did not feel crowded at all and had very good facilities. Showers, cold only but still good!
So yes the RR should be rerouted along the variant H, you can’t just walk through their campground.
The campground next door Trawen sells bread, coffee, hot chocolate, though at a price.
Day 4 - The trail after La Junta did improve but only marginally, still all in the forest with plenty of mud. However on the way we made a Chilean friend and chatted the whole way which was very nice and made the otherwise dull walking more interesting.
We got to Centro de Visitantes Valle Cochamó before midday and had to register our visit, no problem, the people were nice.
At the parking lot by Los Arieros cafe, a few hundred meters after the visitor center, you can hire a mule/horse service for your bag and buy some completos con papas fritas y sopapillas y bebidas diferentes. The lady working there absolutely hated her job and was calling everyone stupid.
The bus from there to Puerto Mont is leaving at 13:30ish, closer to 14:00.
After walking about 3km down the road we got a hitch all the way to Cochamó which concluded our section 22N.
After resupplying in Cochamó we continued on to section 21 going nobo and then optioning towards Colonia Suiza.
(Continued in section 21)
Overall for the part of the section 22N that we did I would say that unless you are a big fan of forest hiking and muddy obstacles, it’s not a section worth the effort. I know of some nicer forest walks closer to home. The views around La Junta are worth though, so I would just hike-in for those, spend a night or two doing the variants and hike back out.
For more stories, photos, videos on the trail and in case you want to ask us anything you can find us on IG: @smallfootprint_bigadventures
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-12-15 to 2025-12-17 / 3 Days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP + RH / Michel & Lisa'''</span>