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==Season 2023/24==
* 2023-12-14 to 18: Fangwen and Tobi / 5 days (4 hiking) / NOBO / West traverse (Bahia Pescado to Villa O'Higgins).
This trip featured great views and a real feeling of adventure, but for us, it was also a challenging trip that brought us to our limits. The GPT manual already has lots of details, so we will mostly focus on our personal experience and some logistical aspects.
As far as we know, after Jan&Meylin and Jess&Paco last season, we are the first GPT hikers to explore the Florida peninsula in this new GPT section (previously, GPT 37H was just taking the ferry between Candelario Mansilla and Villa O'Higgins).
Day 1: we took the ferry from Candelario Mansilla to Bahia Pescado in the morning. There, we met the lovely family of Nicole, Misael and their three year old son, Facundo. We had a great time with them, and they were delighted to have visitors (the last visitors having passed half a year earlier). If you have the chance to spend a full day with them, we strongly recommend this, as it was a section highlight. We slept on their floor for the night.
Day 2: we started hiking just before noon, and camped at a wind-sheltered location at around km57.
Day 3: we hiked to the trailhead (km 54.8, beginning of the CC eastbound ascent to Canadon los Patos), and despite it being 6pm already, decided to push onwards towards the pass. Unfortunately, we took a bad route (hiking uphill first and then traversing in steep terrain) and had to turn around to spend the night at the trailhead.
Day 4: We started early with the hike up to the pass: this time, following the easier option of first traversing in the mellow terrain, and start going uphill only when we were already close to the pass. This worked much better, despite having to navigate between some cliffs on our way up. On the other side of the pass, we went on via some muddy swamps and river beds to stay at the camp km29.3 by the beautiful Laguna Verde -- a wonderful location for a camp and a highlight of the trip.
Day 5: we woke up early to make it to Villa O'Higgins in one day. The terrain was comparatively easy to walk on for the whole day. Before the pass (Portezuelo Los Corrales) there were some snow fields, some of which required some creative rerouting. To our great relief, the steep descent on the north side of the pass was entirely snow free. The rest of the trip was relatively easy walking. After 25km of hiking we reached Puerto Bahmondez. Half-way to Villa O'Higgins a car passed us and we were able to hitchhike.
Difficulties: as mentioned, this trip was quite challenging for us, despite the excellent conditions and our years of backcountry experience. In retrospect, this is something that probably many GPT hikers experience when they go on their first "wild" GPT section and find out what is considered a "trail" on the GPT. Technically, there were no substantial challenges for us. The river crossings were all at most knee deep, thanks to the good weather. (Also note that in bad weather, some of our campsites might be flooded). But the progress from Bahia Pescado to the first pass (Canadon los Patos) was frustratingly slow at times, since the trail was frequently overgrown with bushes (sometimes thorny ones), or covered in mud / water, or difficult to recognize such that we lost the trail and had to backtrack or bushwhack our way back to the trail. Psychologically, this was a tough experience for us. The crux of the trip was the CC section on the west side of Canadon los Patos. This 1.7km straight section took us almost two hours. After the pass, conditions were generally easier, progress faster and the terrain and views changed more often, which made hiking much more enjoyable. The last day, despite consisting of 28km of hiking almost felt easier than the previous days, as the terrain was easier to traverse than the overgrown trails along the coast of Lago O'Higgins.
We can definitely recommend 37H, but hikers unfamiliar with overgrown trails should be aware of the physical and mental challenge that the terrain poses.
Logistics: We combined sections 38 and 37 on our NOBO trip. For the (resupply) logistics regarding section 38, see our trip report on [[GPT38|that wiki page]].
We took the ferry from Candelario Mansilla heading to Villa O'Higgins, but we asked to be dropped off at Bahia Pescado (start of the West part of GPT 37). The ferry company (WhatsApp +56 9 6627 8836, https://www.turismoruedasdelapatagonia.cl) charged us 30.000 per person instead of the 50 or 60.000 (?) to Villa O'Higgins. We gave the captain a bag of extra food and belongings to be picked up in Villa O'Higgins after the section 37 hike. This worked out without problem (the company has apartments there, so pickup should be possible any time of the week).
If you can, get in touch with Nicole ahead of time, her full name is in the GPT manual, and with that you can find her Facebook account.
If you don't want to walk on the road the last 7km from Puerto Bahmondez to Villa O'Higgins, you can either try to hitchhike (cars were infrequent but the first one we tried took us) or arrange for a taxi with Roberto (WhatsApp +56 9 8193 5236).
There is some cellphone reception at Puerto Bahmondez. Ricardo in Candelario Mansilla should have some internet connectivity. Nicole's family recently got Starlink satellite internet, which works really well (better than in El Chalten and Villa O'Higgins). You can also charge your devices with them.
==Season 2022/23==
