22
ediciones
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==Season 2025/26==
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''3.03.26-5.03.26 / 3 days / From Villa O'higgings to Lago del Desierto / SOBO / Pierre et Clotilde" </span>
After the ferry crossing from Villa O'Higgins (with the company Turismo Las Ruedas +56966278836, but apparently there are others), the boat drops you off in Candelario Mancilla, where Ricardo and Mari Luisa's campsite is located. You can leave your belongings there while you're trekking.
Day 1 : From their campsite, we went to see the border guards, as you need to inform them about the trek you'll be doing. They're not bothersome; it's more of a security measure. They take photos of you. Don't mention your packrafts if you plan to use them, as they might not be very accommodating about that.
Then we did the loop, passing through the peninsula and keeping Lake O'Higgins on our right. There aren't any major difficulties, but a GPS is necessary and mandatory because the trail isn't always clear, and wildlife creates new paths. The views of the mountains, the lake, and the first Tempanos are fantastic. You'll be alone; the trail is very quiet.
For our first campsite, we slept at -48.86302, -72.897725, which turns out to be a spot used by the settler Don Lucho, though it's not always in use. You can sleep here with your tent or under the shelter to the left of the house.
Day 2: The next day, we went to this point -48.917816, -72.96385, where we inflated our packrafts for a round trip (about 16 km) on Lake Chico to get closer to the glacier. Be careful of icebergs that can capsize and icefalls from the glacier. The conditions were ideal for paddling: bright sunshine and no wind. Alternatively, there's a trail to the left.
We slept on the same beach as the launch point.
Day 3 : For the return to Candelario Mancilla, we took the classic route that crosses a beautiful plateau and descends along the river, crossing a few streams, until we reached the gravel road and the Gendarmerie post. You need to return to inform them that you've completed your trek.
We slept in one of Ricardo's cabins (30 000 pesos para dos) and ate a delicious hot meal prepared by Mari Luisa. They offer several products : eggs, pasta, arroz, fideos, lentejas, sal, azucar, tortilla, carne vegetal, avena, polenta, atun,papel hygienico, galletas, cervezas, chocolate.
They have Starlink, like everywhere else, so it's easy to do the Salvoconducto (a type of mobile phone service).
Ricardo can also take you to the Argentinian border for 10,000 pesos per person.
From the border, it's a 5 km walk to the Carabineros post, and Lago del Desierto, where we paddled, offers an incredible view of Fitz Roy on a clear day. On the other side of the lake, you can hitchhike to El Chaltén or take a rather expensive tourist bus.
''' GPT 37 + 38 | 1/16-1/23 | 7 Days | Western Traverse + RR Counterclockwise | SOBO | Graham + Gabe '''
Section 37 - 5 days
Picked up at Bahia Pescado
Section 38 - 2 Days
Section 37 was beautiful, challenging at times, but quite a nice desolate section. Mild weather, got some nice views. Laguna Verde is beautiful.
Trail is actually in quite decent shape, perhaps section 36 lowered my expectations. However, if you don’t lose the trail, did you ever even have it?
The Puesto at Bahia Once Hermanos is not abandoned, but was not currently occupied.
Waited at Bahia Pescado for boat, the company could receive my messages but not vice versa, so I used third party to communicate with them via whatsapp — shoutout Ally.
Section 38 we started with the pass with the plan of doing out and back to Don Luchos. Pass is quite chill. Don Lucho was not home, so decided to take loop along lake back. Got pounded by freezing rain, but 2 hours later it was one of the most beautiful day we have had in the south.
Got to Ricardo’s late that night, was gifted Cazuela to warm our souls. Lovely people who are actually related to Roberto (the kind Arriero on section 33!)
* '''2026-03-02 / 1 day / hiking / SOBO / Isabelle & Sander'''
Because of time we walked in one long day 34 km from the camping at settler ricardo at the ferry from Ohiggins to camping Lago del desierto (expensive at 30k ARP, like 20 euros, pp and not very nice, but includes a hike to glacier huemul if you’d like). There’s a nice spot halfway the lago del desierto (on osm) but with a brand new sign prohibiting camping so we continued and left the space to the huemules.
Border crossing just takes few minutes per person so was going fast, contradicting some reports below. Met many nice cyclists. We enjoyed this bordercrossing, but don’t expect anything like the fun Carabineros at paso Vuriloche.
* <span style="background-color:aqua;">'''2026-02-24 to 2026-02-28 / 5 Days / Packrafting & Hiking / SOBO then NOBO (anticlockwise "lying P)) / RP / Antoine,Dani, Michel & Lisa'''</span>
- If you leave food at the camping (Settler {38-A} [0.5/310]), make sure it's mouse protected. We came back to a few holes in our bags...
- You can buy food at the Camping (very good home made bread- we bought 40 héhé, meat (you should notify them in advance since it's frozen), pasta, tomato sauce, oil, eggs, sometimes even beer and wine). And the prices are fair. They have small cabins for 30k and a nice hot shower. Here's the contact for reaching out: Mari Luisa Candelario: mariluisa78(at)hotmail dot com. / 0056 974461661.
- If you want a transport by car to the argentinian border, contact Mari Luisa beforehand, for us it was 10k per person.
- The carabineros want you to fill out this expedition form if you go to the peninsula. They weren't happy when they learned that we went there without notifying them.
- The views on this section are amazing and it's well worth the detour, even without packraft. The best views were from slightly uphill of Camp (38} (20.8/693] (S48.906071° W72.934563°), from slightly downhill of the pass on the peninsula (about -48.91524, -73.03481), from the Viewpoint {38} [35.5/874] and of course from the packraft on Lago Chico.
- Viewpoint {38} [35.5/874] is a good campsite as well, at least in calm conditions and offers amazing views of Lago and Glaciar O'Higgins. The rumbling of the calving glacier can be heard constantly. There are some large boulders that would provide shelter from westerly winds as well. Plenty of water there.
- Don Lucho (actually his son david) asked us for 20k per person for accessing his private property (the peninsula), although we ferried ourselves over the river in our packraft. We asked him if he could do a group price and he went down to 10k per person. We thought it was okay to pay something for the maintenance of the trails (they are actually really very good). If you did the loop in the other direction you might not have to pay anything.
- Doing this loop in the opposite direction (counter clockwise) would be the saver option and at least on the Lago Chico also more scenic. Because you might get stuck at Glaciar Chico in bad weather conditions. The rest is probably more scenic in clockwise direction like we did.
- Options C and D (coming down from the pass towards the peninsula) are better than RR (much less overgrown), in our opinion they should become RR. Access to option C when coming down from the pass is a bit overgrown, but then turns into a good trail.
- The steep downhill after Pass {38} [40.4/1225] (starting at -48.98290, -73.08804) was fine to do even in wet conditions.
- The Refuge (38} [47.0/397] (Refugio Militar Valle Piramide) was open and a very good place to wait in high winds. There seems to be a solar power setup that's disconnected but that could work if you plugged everything in.
- We did the loop in 5 rather relaxed (i.e. not too long) days.
- Generally speaking trails are surprisingly good on this section, especially on the peninsula thanks to the settlers Don Lucho and his son.
- Additional water points: S48.927130° W73.081616°, S48.959326° W73.114626°, S48.961134° W73.111681°, at and east of Pass {38} [40.4/1225].