80
ediciones
Cambios
→Resupply and Accommodation in nearby Towns
==Season 2025/26==
*''' 2026-02-12 to 2026-02-15 / 3.5 days / Hiking / SOBO / RR until El Manso / Isabelle and Sander'''
This is actually called the horseshoe hike, sendero la herradura. Lots of water along the trail and nice settlers. Some additions to great earlier reports:
Day 1 - Cochamo to Refugio El Arco
Sixto from hostel bicycleta brought us with three other day hikers to the end of the road for 10k pesos. There an army of volunteers awaited al hikers for registration. They actually do a great job informing everyone about best practices on the trails. We also saw a photo of a ‘no loteos’ protest. We had the impression there’s a local effort to keep the park nice and accessible without any tickets or reservations. Up to the first campings it’s busy, but after that we only saw none or max two groups a day. Nice to speak with some people on the busy parts, it’s more like a cultural experience.
After two days heavy rain the trail was very muddy and especially a few km before and after El Arco the trail was very bad and made us slow.
At Refugio El Arco we camped like 50 meters to the south following a little trail to a nice open place with grass.
Day 2 - to Lago Vidal
Many small fords but with wet feet up to the pass, good for cleaning the mud. Before and after the pass the path was extremely muddy and we were very slow and worried about the rest of the trail, but improved a lot as we got closer to Lago Vidal. Camped next to lake on osm camping, some very small flat spots but super nice.
Day 3 - to El Steffen
Walked to Doña Luisa who got us a nice breakfast (8k). Next day was her 70th birthday so all her children were present!
At Steffen many cows and horses, but we were very chill with us camping in their field. Calfs and foals running happy around.
Day 4 - to El Manso
Easy walk to the brewery. Very happy it was open (Sunday afternoon), nice beers and some simple food. Quite nice minimarket with also fresh fruits and vegetables. Stayed to camp for 5k pp, there’s an outside cold shower, clean toilet and WiFi. Took the next day the bus around 12 towards Puelo to move further south.
*''' 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>
Day 1
We took the 8:00 bus from the Puerto Montt bus terminal with the company "Rio Puelo" (more details in the transportation section below). It filled incredibly quickly and left completely full, so we were glad to have gotten there 20 min early.
We passed Cochamo at ~10:30 and the bus was still full, it would've been difficult to impossible to get on the bus there I think.
Got to the ferry by bus at about 12:20. After the ferry on the other end of the lake, the next bus was waiting and took us further. It actually drove up Río Manso all the way to this point: [-41.70165, -71.98239]. But you might have to ask the driver to do that if you wanted to go there since it seemed we just dropped off a few passengers there. This would be an option if you wanted to packraft the Río Manso option (22-07).
We got to X{22-01} [25.0/187] (known to the bus driver as Lago Totoral) at around 14:30. The bus driver told us that we could not camp down the road at the lake (Lago Azul, i.e. Camp (22-02A} (3.7/222]) though he didn't say why. We started walking towards it anyways and found a closed gate with a "private property, do not enter" sign in our path after a few hundred meters. While we were looking at it, an elderly man came to us and started chatting from the other side of the fence. He seemed to be the owner of the land. We politely asked him if we could go down to the lake here to cross it in our boat or camp at the lake if the wind didn't permit crossing. He said yes and mentioned something about maybe helping him out for using his land if we did camp, though we didn't understand him very well. In the end he let us pass without any payment. There's a nicely kept campground a few hundred meters after the gate, which seemed to be his. We continued on the very well kept road to the lake, where there's some boating infrastructure. It seems that there are paying guests here sometimes (maybe in summer). You could camp here at the lake (i.e. Camp (22-02A} (3.7/222]), but there are quite a few structures around, better continue to the other end of the lake like we did (or, if you are fast and have the energy, go all the way to the next lake which would be a really nice place where there are no buildings at all, here: [-41.99745, -71.83223]. Practically no wind on Lago Azul made us put in and start. We had some light tailwind later on but didn't take out the sail and made it in 1 h 40 min, arriving at 18:20 at Settler {22-02} [3.9/217]. There are a couple of houses here and many nice campsites. As we arrived, three arrieros on horses came by who greeted us but didn't come to talk to us. We figured they didn't care much if we camped here, so we chose a site nicely sheltered from the wind close to the small stream (about here [-41.98298, -71.84432]). Some cows came to check us out but they seemed relaxed and friendly, so we stayed (very unlike our experience on GPT16, haha).
Day 2
Got an early start (early for us, anyways) and left by 8:00. The morning was fresh but not cold. We had to open and close some gates at the settler's property and were amazed by all the animals they have here - cows, sheep, horses, pigs, chicken, peacocks. You don't have to cross the little stream that flows towards their houses (we did, only to cross back again). The trail starts a little further up and is very clear. We got to the small lake, where it would be amazing to camp (as mentioned before, no buildings, nice flat grassland to put your tent, here: [-41.99745, -71.83223].) Got to Lago de los Rocas soon thereafter and put in at 10:00 with practically no wind on the lake and got to the end of the lake in 1 h 20 min with some tailwind and sailing. Especially once we reached the narrow end [-42.06854, -71.81438] the wind got stronger and then once we landed (12:30) it picked up even more (ideal for sailing, not too strong). So it could be a good idea to do this lake a bit later, more sailing that way. ;-)
The end of Lago de los Rocas would be fine to camp, but there's a ton of horse poop and two football goals on the big (flat) grass, so it's not that appealing (Camp {22S} [21.8/314]).
We hiked to the carabineros who were really friendly and chatty though a bit disorganized, haha. They said it was absolutely no problem to camp in between here and the argentinian border post. We didn't tell them about our packraft (also weren't asked) but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have cared. I can imagine it depends a lot on the officer who's in charge at the moment what treatment you get...
We went on to Lake (22S) [20.9/201] where there are nice campsites as well and put up our tent for the night (and afternoon, we arrived at 13:30). It's nice and sheltered here. :-) The two level-ish spots close to the water are not very big, but our two-person tent just fit on one of them.
Day 3
There was some slight rain at night and in the morning which delayed our departure a bit. There was already some wind and waves on the lake but the wind was in the right direction (westerly). We started paddling on Lago Inferior at 8:30 and made the 4 km to the end in 45 min. The waves were almost too big but we managed. After we arrived the wind picked up even more. We then continued hiking and didn't even try packrafting Lago Puelo since we were pretty sure that the wind would be prohibitive.
The officer at the Argentinian border control didn't seem too happy when we told him we had left Chile the day before and camped somewhere in between. But I think that was mainly because he suspected that we had illegally camped on the Argentinian side (at least I believe it's prohibited to camp here, but I'm not sure). We explained that we had camped on the Chilean side and that seemed to be fine. However, he was not too happy that we didn't have exit stamps in our passports. The chilean Carabineros had only put the exit stamp on a printed piece of paper exit form and not inside the passport, which we had thought was weird at the time, too. But they had told us that you don't get an exit stamp in the passport here. Well, after some eye rolling, the officer said "ah, no importa" and gave us our entry stamps. He even shared a tasty tortilla with us. :-)
From there we continued hiking without any issues. The trail is easy and well maintained, just like before. We forded Río Azul here [-42.08661, -71.62103] without issues, the water level was at or just above our knees (we're both around 170 cm tall). If there was rain before, the fording could become a bit of an issue. The views towards the south here are super beautiful! We hiked to the Visitor center of the National Park where the bus departs every full hour ([-42.08902, -71.61789]).
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2025-11-28 to 2025-12-02 / 5 days / Packrafting / NOBO / RP (partial) + Option 8 (Rio Ventisquiero) (partial) / Dave & Siyuan'''</span>
==Resupply and Accommodation in nearby Towns==
*Michael and Kasia 2026 - in Segundo Corral we stayed at a place called Hospedaje y Turismo Segundo Corral which is across the street from the Almacén (-42.07678, -71.86520). The owner is Claudia Alegría (+56 9 9703 5346). She offers camping 5.000 pp, and had two rooms 20.000 pp. She also offers breakfast and dinner if coordinated in advance. She is very kind and very helpful, and she responds quickly on WhatsApp. If you happen to be trying to cross the river to go to Argentina on the weekend she can help arrange a boat transfer.
*In Cochamo go down towards the lake. There is a church on the left & before you reach it there is a hospedaje on the right, good & cheap.
=Transport to and from Route=
* December 2025
Bus company Rio Puelo leaves every day at 8:00 from the Bus Terminal in Puerto Montt (booth #47) to Cochamo and onwards. We were there at 7:40 and by 7:42 the bus was already almost completely full on a Monday morning. So it might be a good idea to arrive early. Their buses leave from "gates" (andenes) 38-40. It seems there are one or two other companies that also have salidas at 12:00 and 15:00 though I'm not sure they always exist, the day before (Sunday) the 15:00 bus was cancelled. Better double check. The booths of the other companies that have buses are next to the booth of Rio Puelo.
* February 2023 / Gerald