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→Season 2023/24
==Season 2023/24==
*2024-Feb-01 to 2024-Feb-04 / 3.5 days / SOBO / RR-E-RR-I-RR / Matthias de Austria
I hitchhiked to Las Peñas in the late afternoon, shortly after on the street to the first Laguna a young friendly local couple picks me up, we drive to the Gate at -34.7739,-70.7782 they discuss with the lady, she lets them pass for free, but the gringo has to pay 4000. Got a piece of watermelon from her, at least.
RR stopped by new Plantage at -34.7982,-70.7724. I bushbash around it on its western (right) side. Reached E, street here cuts the plantage in two parts, but try to find a way through the bushes around -34.8010,-70.7678 (on its eastern, left side) to go back on RR, but no luck, all little paths there lead to thick dornbushes. I think the western side after crossing E would be possible (around -34.8022,-70.7702). Anyway I hike E. Long climb up without water until nice camp at -34.8428,-70.7841 at 1500m. No pool. Reach it at 10pm, saw a cute Tarantula, which made my tiredness of putting up a tent disappear. First camp there, next camp at Laguna Fria, nice swimming. There is a little stonewalled place at -34.8774,-70.7436. Take some water afterwards as the way down to the valley is long and without shadow or water. The valley is very beautiful, lots of water, amazing pools and campsites. Night 3 at -34.9654,-70.7429. Around -34.9962,-70.7611 there is a new ranger camp, consisting of 1 ranger living in a tent 5 days a week. Young and friendly ranger, first person I saw for 2 days, asked me immediately if I hike GPT. He thinks its an amazing thing. I register in his phone. Barking free running dogs at the Puesto at -34.9990,-70.7917, I am tired and want no confrontation, walk through the riverbed, but it took me quite a while to find a way (-34.9981,-70.7854) there bc of thick vegetation.
Fordings: all very easy. No snow fields to cross.
In Los Queñes (little supermarket there, enough food) I tried to take the last bus to Curicó at 18:30 (as I read here) in front of the supermarket, but it already drove off at 18:10, leaving me, waiting for this bus at a little park next to it, behind. After 1 hour of hitchhiking attemps a very friendly couple takes me to Curicó even driving me directly to my Airbnb.
*Jan-10-2024 to Jan-12-2024 / 3 days / SOBO / variant A, RR, variant I / Matthieu
Nice section, the laguna fria zone is really beautiful, with all the remaining snowpatches.
6000 pesos for entry in the laguna del encanto zone (4000 for the day, 2000 for camping).
The technical part is after the laguna fria until you join the treeline down. Loose rocks, steep and slippery descents with very dry ground. The only snow patch left on the RR is when you go down to the first cirque after the laguna fria. You can easily go around by the right side, by the stones.
Variant : A, hitchkiked to el Llano. - I : if you take this variant, you don't have to cross the estero los pejerreyes that seems strong this year, so it's the secure choice. Trail is in very good condition, with lots of tracks, so I assume that locals take it this year.
Water : all the markers are correct, and you find other good streams all along the uphill to the pass. The valley going down follow the river, plenty of streams.
Camping spots : water 30,2, awesome spot before crossing to the right as Matthias said - 300m after Ford 44,3, on a little pass just before going back to the river down. Plenty of camping spots all along the valley
Accomodation : camping tres palos a los queñes, 10 000 pesos, very nice spot with a pool of river water. Micros to curico 10 minutes before 9h am, 2h pm and 3h pm
No problems with dogs or private properties.
* 2023-Dec-19 to 2023-Dec-21 / 3 days / SOBO / RR + Variant A+D+I + traverse of Cerro Capallo / Matthias
Road hiked variant A to avoid route finding around gates in the early morning.
New Variant Cerro Capallo (2583m, marked):
I started from RR where variant G starts heading to one pass higher up on the ridge, crossed descending to the north ridge of Cerro Capallo, followed the main ridge to the summit and a bit beyond, then you can descend the SSE ridge to reach the cirque of the southern Laguna.
The variant is quite easy, loose boulder scree to cross was the most difficult. It is shorter and with probably less height meters than RR, and there was no snow on the ridge at all compared to some on RR and a lot on variant G. Snowfields on the descent to the laguna were only slightly inclined and could have been bypassed on easterly facing slope.
The Valley leading down to Queñes is very beautiful and there are many beautiful pools to bath in. When planning keep in mind several fordings and about 300 additional hm up (it was 400 hm with variant I) add substantial time.
Variant I adds some height meters but avoids 4 fordings I suppose
Dogs:
the MR on RR crosses fenced private property about 2 km before Los Queñes. After I entered three dogs came running up to me but only fiercely barked at me, luckily. You could follow the advice of Hannes & Luisa and bypass by the riverbed.
In Los Queñes the MR of RR was washed away by last winter’s flooding. Go down to the river bed and up again on the other side.
Busses to Coricó at 15:00 and 18:30 in front of primary school.
Camping spots :
km 30,2 near marked water (before the river to the right), km 42.7 (arriero camp, -34.91107 -70.72997, water and pool 20 hm down easy to reach)
*2023-Dec-15 to 2023-Dec-17 / 2.5 days / Hiking / SOBO / 04A-RR-04E-RR / Lilian
I go for {04-A}, resupply at Puente Negro, 3 small shops and 2 tiny shops there. (Agua Buena and Las Peñas also have some small shops, but they were all close when I was there. Maybe too early?)
Km21 : gate and 2 dogs, a women come out and charge me 4000CLP for entrance fee.
Km23.2 : sandy spot can fit 1 tent just beside the road at downhill side, a side trail leads you to there in 20sec. Beside the river, with a fire ring and swimming pool!
Then i take {04-E}, the junction of {04-E} is at RR km24.4, easy walking, some camping spots and water resources.
Lot of camping spots with fire ring from start to {04-E} km2.5, some stream is flowing too, but maybe dry soon.
{04-E} km6.5 : pass, some flat spot, but better camping spot is forward.
{04-E} km7.1 : nice camping spot with fire ring and log seats, beside a flowing stream too! Look like it is a reliable water.
{04-E} km8.6 : pass, large area of flat spot with great views.
{04-E} km8.85 : water flowing.
RR km33.4 : water flowing.
Km33.85 : pass, several sandy spot in this area can fit total 3-4 tents, you can found 2 nice spot at compass north of the pass, with great views and cell services too!
Snow start from km36.1 to km39.7, not difficult and passable. Beware of windy.
Look like some nice flat spot at first lake km37.7, second lake km39.3 and beside a stream km40, but they are wet and muddy now(sonw melting).
Km42.5 : camping spot with fire ring and log seats at down hill side.
Km45.2 : large flat area can fit some tents after a river crossing.
Km46.3 : camping spot with rock seats.
Km46.45 : camping spot with fire ring and rock seats, a side trail here lead you to the river(40sec), 1 more nice camping spot with rock seats is just beside the river.
Km49 : pass after a stream crossing, with some flat spots and good views, but mostly the ground are hard.
Km51.1 : locked gate, climb over.
Km51.35 : camping spot with fire ring.
Km52.55 : nice camping spot with fire ring, picnic table ang wooden seats, close to the river too.
Km53.6 & 53.9 : cross river 2 times, strong flow and above half of thighs at early morning.
Km54.5 : dirt road start, lot of flat spots beside the road on both side.
Km58.6 : locked gate, climb over.
I met a park ranger at the dirt road, he said he came to here for observation, maybe this area will be national park at the future.
A small shop in Los Queñes, super friendly.
* 2023-Nov-24 to 2023-Nov-26 / 3 days / Hiking / SOBO / RR / Jens
The route over the hill of Aguas Buenas cannot be reached via the route marked on the map, as there is a gate in the way. Further to the west is another path, which at some point further up the hill meets up with the original path again. From there it is easy to reach the road to Las Penas.
In Las Penas I am asked for 4000 pesos. I told the man that I wasn't going to stay but would hike to Los Quenes. He was happy with that.
Shortly after the first lagoon, a cherry plantation was created, which completely blocked the main path with its fences. I tried to walk along the fence, but had to turn round after a while because of the bushes. On the other side, you can easily get around the plant ash and after about a kilometre back onto the actual path by the river.
On the second day, we climbed up to 2400 metres. The climb was steep but not difficult. Shortly before the top, we were surprised by snow that remained lying on the ground and accompanied us for several kilometres towards the valley. We had no problems getting over it. However, it is possible that the snow could turn out to be problematic when it melts.
* 2023-Nov-24 to 2023-Nov-26 / 2,5 days / Hiking / SOBO / Variant A + RR / Yannick & Nolwenn
- Water : all markers are good and even more water present - snow from km 36,4 to km 40,5
- Camping spot : km 22,5 ( Laguna del encanto ) | km 40,5 ( ridgeline - water from the snow around )
- River crossing : a few river crossings between km 42,4 to 54,18 - the last one on Estero Los Pejerreyes was really tricky, strong current and water at waist - Nolwenn couldn't do it with her bags so Yannick did it twice and was helped by Jen's ( other GPT hiker) - Nolwenn jumped in the current and 'swam' to the other side
- Weather : Sunny
- Resupply : there is 2 little shops in Los Quenes, but we didn't resuplly as we are heading to section 12 to go NOBO from there -( there is too much snow on section 5&6 at the moment )
- Accomodation : camping ' Tres palos' at Los Quenes - 8000 pesos per person ( you can ask for informtat the pizzeria in town)
- Option roads : variant A - we wanted to avoid going into private properties - the road was quiet in the morning and after ' Puente Negro' it turns into a gravel road
- Warning : still some snow near the Laguna Fria area, but it was manageable for us.
- Overall : Nice section, the views from the pass are beautiful. The Laguna was frozen still. The dogs in Los Quenes in the street we're all super nice and not aggressive at all.
==Season 2022/23==
* 2022-Dec-08 to 2022-Dec-11 / 3 days / Hiking / SOBO / RR / Martin & Helena
We started in the afternoon at the property of José Pedro (see our comment from the last section) who showed us a little different way than the beginning of RR with saying the owners changed since the trail was established and it might be problematic to get on the trail through some gate? We are not sure bc we decided to follow Jose’s advices and didn’t even try to start on the RR. His way should be a little shorter and easier, its basically the same direction to the bridge as RR but more on the left side. You just aim at the highest mountain visible in that direction, half way on the hill, and always stay on a clear path - anything else got us off after all. We lost the path a few times and ended up close to the top of the hill from where we got clear view over the farms. You just need to get down and from there you actually connect to the RR. In one point you get to a natural “fence” made out of branches that goes around the farm and thats the only time when you should go into it, just for a short time.. then there is a short section through the cherry farm (sufficient hole in the fence) and after reaching one of the main gates which was opened its easy walking down the road to the bridge.. we met even some cars with workers and there were plenty of cherries everywhere in this time of the year. We crossed the bridge at night already and therefore had to camp close to the road to Las Peñas, but there are some cabanas to spend the night in.
There was still a lot of snow before the descent to the second lake. We therefore walked along the ridge and then descended further ahead to the lake. Track.is not yet in the official GPT GPS files. But the trail is marked on the regular map.
Descent was steep, but the trail was in good shape (easy cross country) Camp{04}[53.4/852] no longer exists. However, 500m before there is a bigger camp with tables and benches. 500m later (at -34.98982, -70.75429) a smaller one with a simple fireplace. Both directly on the river.
==Season 2021/22==
* 2021 -Nov-28to 2021-Nov-30 / 2.5 days / Hiking / SOBO / RR / Kris&Stiina
We started from Agua Buena around noon and tried to follow Franks suggestion, but after a few hundred meters where the road turns left we encountered a gate with four angry dogs behind it, otherwise the gate would be climbable.
For more stories of the trail, pictures, videos and in case you want to ask us anything you can find us on Instagram: @smallfootprint_bigadventures
==Season 2020/21==
