[rubywrangler]

I wanted to hike from the northern entrance of Parque Nacional Patagonia, about 1.5 hours from the town of Chile Chico, back to the southern entrance near Cochrane. I had planned to do this later in my trip after returning my rental car, because 1) the car was ridiculously expensive and it seemed stupid to park it for 5 days, and 2) having a car made the logistics of this one-way hike more complicated. But the weather gods provided a window I couldn't resist. The bus between the two towns only runs on Wednesday and Friday. I couldn't leave Cochrane until Saturday, which meant I had to drive to the northern entrance, hike back to Cochrane, take the bus back to Chile Chico, arrange a ride to my car, and then drive back to Cochrane to continue traveling south on the Carretera Austral. So that was the plan. On the way to Chile Chico, I picked up some hitchhikers. One of them told me that his friend, who worked in the park, had mentioned that the pumas are very active this time of year... but I had nothing to worry about because "they're friendly". I arrived at the northern park entrance (formerly known as Reserva Jeinimeni) at 8:30am Sunday morning to get my permit and pay the fees ($14000 CLP, $16 USD). The ranger gave me an overview of the route and said the first river crossing was only knee high, but the second one (Rio Jeinimeni) was mid-thigh, and the best place to cross was left of the marked crossing. The route is described here. Basically, walk up Valle Hermoso and down Valle Avilés, then a road walk through Valle Chacabuco to the main park complex, then up and over Mt Tamanguito and down to Cochrane.

map drawn by the ranger

I hit the trail at 9:30, feeling very nervous about crossing Rio Jeinimeni. As I got closer, I started to question what I'd heard the ranger say. Was it 400 meters or 40 meters to the left? I thought he said 40 but I'd written 400. Why didn't I practice my Spanish more before I got here?? Argh. It turned out to be 40 meters, and thankfully the river was not as deep as advertised - only came to my knee, and I’m short - and the current was manageable and it wasn't THAT cold.

lago jeinimeni

looking back after crossing the river

I continued walking up the river bed for awhile, then cut left at a trail marker and climbed steeply up and over Paso Gloria, for stunning views of Lago Verde (Jade who? haha). Then steeply down to the appropriately named Valle Hermoso, and up the riverbed toward looming Cerro Jeinimeni.

up the riverbed

first view of lago verde

lago verde

looking back

After another mile or so and a few more river crossings, I arrived at the refugio in Valle Hermoso. I set up my tent and then went to check out a side valley with a couple hanging glaciers and lakes. It took me awhile to find the route and the right place to cross the river. Then I followed cairns up the river bed, crossing the river as needed (10+ times) until eventually the route turned into a trail. The trail appeared to dead end at a viewpoint across from the first glacier, but I think it actually scrambled up and over the cliffs adjacent to the river. I was past my turnaround time at this point, so I climbed up a little ways for view of the first lake, and then headed back to camp. Day 1 total was about 15 miles.

Valle Hermoso

refugio

Keep the place clean for the brontasauruses?

The next day I continued hiking up Valle Hermoso, following pole markers and cairns. The trail weaves between the rocky riverbed and very scratchy brush to the south, eventually turning left into forest and climbing up to a pass that separates Valle Hermoso from Valle Avilés. On the way to the pass, I ran into a guy named David who I'd met in Coyhaique. He had camped in Valle Avilés and was dayhiking to the lake I'd visited the previous day. We chatted for awhile, and agreed to meet for dinner at the fancy restaurant at the main park complex the following night. He also offered to drive me back to my car if we ended up at the same camp a couple nights later. Then I continued on to Valle Avilés, where the scenery began to change from glaciers to Patagonian steppe.

cerro jeinimeni in a cloud

valle aviles

valle aviles

looking back

The mountains became green with low vegetation and not many trees - reminded me of the Sacred Valley area of Perú. There were two more river crossings in Valle Avilés, one of which was fairly scary due to a fast, churning current, but I'd had a lot of practice crossing by that point. The trail through Valle Avilés has a lot of rolling hills and couple short climbs. There aren't many - maybe any - side trails (yet?), and off-trail hiking is not allowed. My understanding is, the park does not want visitors to disrupt the animal populations they're trying to reestablish, particularly puma and the huemel deer. I hope they eventually build some higher trails so you can get a good view into the Jeinimeni mountains. There are plenty of friendly looking ridges around the valley...

destroyed shepherd's hut

worst water i ever tasted. what is this godforsaken orange rock?

the mountain from whence the terrible water came

I could see rain ahead, and dark clouds continued to build as the day went on. Just after I crossed a suspension bridge about ~5 miles from my intended campsite, Casa Piedra, the sky let loose a torrent of rain and wind. It lasted about an hour, and then off and on for another hour, but the sky was clearing when I got to camp around 6pm.

suspension bridge

canyon below

looking back up valle aviles

Casa Piedra is a developed campground with bathrooms, showers, running water, etc. Each campsite has a shelter with picnic table. I chose one with a nice view but a little wind protection, hung all my wet things and went to check out the Casa Piedra (Stone House) itself. It was locked. That seemed strange, since the bathrooms were inside. The camp was deserted and there was no signage to explain, so I went back to my camp to make dinner. A little while later, another camper appeared. He said that he had asked at the main park complex if the park was shutting down due to covid-19, and they said no. But, they had locked the camp gate, and there was a car parked inside (David's car). It was all very mysterious, but I had hiked almost 19 miles and was too tired to worry about it.

my camp shelter and laundry

view from camp

The morning was cold, but it would be another long day so I forced myself to get moving when the sun came up. As I was passing by David's car on my way out of camp, I noticed that he was inside. He'd hiked out in the dark and slept in the car. I broke the news that he was locked in, and we went to check out the gate. It looked like he could drive around it, but would have to go over a small tree. He decided to wait awhile to see if a ranger would show up, and I started the long road walk to the main park complex. It was a gorgeous golden morning and right off the bat I ran into a herd of guanacos crossing the road (Valle Chacabuco is teeming with them). I continued on the road for an hour or so, until David caught up with me in his car. No one had shown up to open the gate. I hitched a ride the rest of the way to the main park complex, and we decided to do a dayhike before our fancy restaurant dinner.

casa piedra

first guanaco encounter of the day

guanacos resting in a dry lake

guanacos browsing near a different lake

guanaco approaching the car near the main park complex

park mascot

We parked near Camping Westwinds (which was not gated) to do the Lagunas Altas loop. Just as we were getting started, a couple other tourists pulled into the parking lot and called to us. They had tried to go to the visitors center, but a sign said it was closed due to covid-19. To my extreme disappointment, the restaurant was also closed. According to the staff at the park lodge, it was unclear whether campgrounds were open without services or closed completely, but trails were still open. So, David & I kept going. The trail climbs 2800 feet in about 4 miles, then winds through 6 or 7 lakes and loops back to the parking lot over another 10 miles. It was nice, but not nearly as scenic as the two previous days. It was also kind of hazy all day. Day 3 total was about 18 miles.

lagunas altas trail

valle chacabuco & beyond

When we got back down to the valley, the gate to Camping Westwinds was closed, and two rangers were waiting for us. Contrary to what we'd heard earlier, all of Chile's national parks had been ordered to close completely due to the virus, and we were getting the boot. We made our way back to Cochrane for the night, where we learned that Chile's international borders were closing to incoming traffic the next day.

on the road back to cochrane

Epilogue: David immediately made arrangements to go back to Santiago and fly home. I was not going to change my plans at first, but after tossing and turning all night decided that I should come home in case flights to the US dried up and my parents or sisters ended up needing me. The next day I caught the bus to Chile Chico, and was able to arrange a ride back to my car en route. (Huge thanks to Ignacio at Jeinimeni Adventures! Definitely recommend them up if you need transportation from Chile Chico to the park.) As expected, the park was gated and a ranger was waiting to let me out. 48 hours and 4 airports later I was back to Seattle. Now I'm in self-imposed total quarantine for 14 days and catching up on Magical Andes (Thanks Brad for mentioning, hadn't heard of it. But wtf, they basically skipped over Chilean Patagonia entirely except for TDP! )

[RichP]

Very nice. It's good to see new national parks being established in this amazing part of the world. It sounds like you just barley made it out before things shut down tight.

[Brushbuffalo]

[rubywrangler]

[Brushbuffalo]

[iron]

what a spot. that's quite a delta on the lake!