Hiking from Cochamó (Chile) to Bariloche (Argentina) 02/20-02/25

Saturday, February 20th 2016

Since we weren´t able to devote much time to making plans yesterday, we got up early and scrambled to put a plan in order. I was able to find a rough description of the hike online that was provided by www.cochamo.com. I believe the website is maintained by the people that own one of the refugios in the valley. This summer the refugio happens to be closed for renovations, so I don´t know if the website is kept up to date. I also tried to search travel blogs of people that have done the through hike to Argentina, but couldn´t really find any doing the exact same thing we wanted to do. I did find a few with similar routes and all of them seemed to have a horrible rainy time! We will be hiking in rainforest a lot of the way, and we keep hearing that it can be really muddy and have even heard the mud can be knee deep, so we went out and bought gaiters this morning to keep mud out of our boots. We also went grocery shopping for 7 days worth of food. This was the first grocery store we had been in since leaving the Carratera Austral, and we knew we had truly left the food desert when we had the option of not just one, but 4 different kinds of whole grain bread in the bulk bread section of the store!! Woohoo! It was a joyous shopping experience. We bought what have become our staple camping foods: pasta, sauce, canned beans and veggies, potato flakes, bread, rice cakes, peanut butter and jelly, cookies, dark chocolate, trail mix, oatmeal and hot chocolate. After shopping we went back to the hostel and packed up. We decided to store a bag of things we could live without in the basement of the hostel to lighten our load. We will be going with just a dirty outfit and a clean outfit, one will be for hiking in each day and the other for wearing inside the tent and while we are doing laundry in Bariloche. After we make it into Argentina we will hike back to Chile via a different mountain pass. Our bag will remain the the basement for around 2 weeks or more.

We weren´t sure if we would be able to be ready in time for the 12:30 bus to Chochamo, but we were, so that was nice. The ride was 2 1/2 hours. We were dropped off on the side of the road a few minutes South of the town of Cochamo along with lots of other backpackers. From there we boarded a mini bus that took us 7 km up a dirt road to the trailhead at the bottom of the valley. We stopped there and had our lunch. I like to start each hike with a nice meal including fresh ingredients, knowing we won´t have anything wonderful to eat for awhile, so we had whole grain pita breads with chickpea avocado salad and tomato slices. From there it was a muddy 5 hour hike up the valley to La Junta, the main basecamp for exploring the granite domes of the valley. we hiked up river along the Cochamo River, and the grade was never very steep, but avoiding the mud pits required a lot of maneuvering up and over roots and fallen logs and going around into the bushes, and made the trail somewhat strenuous. The trail was constantly branching off in a braiding fashion, there seemed to always be several trails to choose from, but they all eventually met up. Horses use the trail too, as some people pay to ride up or to have their gear carried, so the main trail is very eroded and is definitely muddier than the side trails. Most of the way we were in humid dense rainforest, so dense that combined with the overcast sky, very little light came in, making it a dark and somewhat boring hike, as the scenery never changed.

When we finally made it to La Junta, we found a big cleared meadow full of tents, hundreds of them! The views of the domes from this place were incredible, and the camping area felt like it was straight out of a hikers fairy-tale dream world! It´s hard to explain, but it felt almost magical, we´ve never seen anything quite like it. Even though there were a lot of tents, each camping area limits the number of people in it, so the tents were spaced out nicely. Each camping area is a different family farm that lets campers use their fields. On a map, La Junta appears to be a town, but it´s just a small gathering of farmers whose families have lived in the valley for generations. The first few we checked were all full, so we rode a cable car across the river to the more secluded Campo Aventura and called it a night.

The next 3 photos are the description of the hike that we had

A delicious lunch to start off the hike

Rainforest on the hike to La Junta

After 4 hours of hiking in the dense jungle we finally got a view of the river and one of the domes. It was way more impressive than it looks in the photo.

Lots of tree sized fuchsias along the way 

View we had at the end of the trail, main camping area in La Junta

Jeff riding the cable car across the river

Sunday, February 21st 2016

Today we kept our tent in place and did a day hike. The day started out foggy, but according to the weather forecast, it would be a clear day. We knew from the Lonely Planet guide book that 6 day trails had been built, but we didn´t have any information on them. This is an area that has exploded in popularity in the last 10 years and even more so in just the last few. Climbers will come and camp for weeks in the valley to try their hands at the endless array of high granite walls. The day hiking trails were built in the last 10 years or so and they were built by climbers! We chose to hike to the top of Arco Iris (which means rainbow in Spanish), because it is the only trail to the top of one of the domes, and it is also the only trail we really knew anything about, and we had seen the trailhead across the river just before coming into the main camp last night.

We got a late start because we got delayed for awhile while we tried to search for a different cable car across the river. We eventually found it, but wasted an hour! We got to the trailhead around 10:30 to begin what would be an all day hike according to the description we had, again from www.cochamo.com. For about an hour and a half we followed steep switch backs through the muddy forest. Eventually it became so steep that we had to start using roots, trees and occasional ropes to pull ourselves up. It then became even more steep and we encountered more ropes, a few of which were on exposed rock outside of the forest. This part was very challenging, especially for me, since I don´t have much upper body strength. The rope sections over rock were the hardest part and even a bit scary, but we made it up. After about a half hour with the ropes we went back into a section of forest, this time it was drier and less steep, and the vegetation had changed. We were in a forest of gigantic millennial alerce trees that were decorated with orchids and lichens. We also saw lots of bamboo and neat stiff leafed ferns that resemble sago palms, with fronds sprouting from a central spherical truck. After 45 more minutes we were above tree line. The fog had cleared and we were awarded spectacular views of domes and mountains in every direction. We could have stopped there, but we wanted to get to the top. The description said the trail wouldn´t be marked above tree line, but we found that it was marked with rock piles/cairns, probably from all the hikers that had found the way over the years. It took us two more hours and required some minor climbing and rock scrambling, but we made it to the top. We were very glad to have the rocks marking the way, because all of the trail is over solid granite and would have been difficult to figure out the way on our own without a map and only the limited description. From the top we could see more of the surrounding mountains, and it was definitely beautiful, but we think the view was just as good from treeline. One annoyance we had was that if you looked down to the saddle where we had climbed up from and across, there was another peak which was about 100 feet higher! There was no way up this mountain with out more fixed ropes, since the top was all smooth granite, we explored it and couldn´t find a way.

By the time we started back down it was 5:30. We hurried as much as we could safely, as we knew we´d probably be walking part of the way in the dark. Luckily Jeff had his headlamp. We hadn´t seen many people on the trail, which surprised us, but I guess the ropes section eliminates a lot of people! One the way down we saw no one! It got dark around 9-9:30. We only ended up needing the headlamp for the last 15 or so minutes of the trail and for the walk back to our campsite after crossing the river. It was a full moon night and still crystal clear, and was quite fun riding the cable car across the river in the moonlight.

We made it back to our camp at 9:45 and sat in the moonlit field eating our very late dinner and looking up at the amazing view. It had been an exhausting day, and because of all the ropes and rock climbing, it was easily the most strenuous hike either of us has ever done.

Trail description

Foggy morning view at our campsite. The pretty flowered tree behind the horse it called Ulmo, and they are abundant here.

Alerce tree

Another big alerce tree. They never look as massive in photos, but if you compare the trunk to the other very massive trees around it, you will see it is indeed quite large!

Lichens and orchids on an alerce tree

View at treeline

View at treeline

View at treeline

Looking toward the top of the mountain from tree line, not sure if you can actually see the top from here, as there were a lot of false peaks, but Jeff things the high point on the left is the one.

View about an hour from the top

In this photo you can see the clearing in the bottom of the valley where all the campsites are located.

Nearing the top

Lots of nice snowfields near the top provided nice drinking water

There were lots of tricky sections to negotiate over and around.

View at the top looking toward the higher mountains to the north, the hill on the far right in the 100 ft taller peak, nut the true peak is probably the one on the left above the lagoon.

Mt Tronador (The Thunderer) Volcano. We will be hiking along the base of that mountain on our way back into Chile in about a week.

View west from the top toward Estero Reloncavi, Chile´s northernmost fjord

View at the top

View at the top

A young alerce tree.

Fern

Going back down on one of the ropes. It doesn´t look so steep, but it was! It would have been near impossible without the rope.

Monday, February 22nd 2016

Today we hiked 7 hours up the valley. The description said 6 hours, but the description is for going the other way, and it was mostly uphill for us in the direction we are going. From La Junta we had to immediately cross the La Junta river. There is no bridge across it unless you go up river aways, and in heavy rain it can be difficult to cross. It hasn´t rained in a few day though, so we were able to walk across easily on rocks. After crossing we just followed along the Cochamo River and continued up the main valley. For awhile we were close to the river and enjoyed a nice gentle grade, even footing and little mud, but eventually the trail went away from the river and over rolling hills. We again battled the mud, roots, stumps, and huge steps up and down, which don´t sound so bad until you compare it to one legged squats with 40 pounds on your back! It drizzled a bit today, but it waited to start until after we had left, and we were protected by the forest the rest of the way. We didn´t need any rain gear. The clouds were up high, so we still had mountain views. All the rain did as act as a coolant for us, which was nice. We are lucky that it hasn´t rained heavily recently, or the mud would have been way worse. We were never in over our ankles and didn´t need the gaiters yesterday or today.

We encountered few people on the trail. Near the end of the hike we met Ben, a guy from California who is an Outward Bound guide in Yosemite! We also met a couple from California what will be traveling South America for 3 months on a $2,000 budget! We had seen them lost in the morning, they couldn´t find the trailhead and we thought they were following us, since we knew where it was, but they apparently did not. They showed up to camp about an hour after us and asked us how we ever found our way through the forest, they seemed a bit loopy. We also encountered a Chilean couple dressed in full rain gear and heavy duty ponchos lost just before a second river crossing. They explained that the trail ended up ahead with a sandy beach at the river and no way to cross the river. They stood there helplessly. The trail never crosses the Cochamo River, but this was a different river, coming from another valley. They however didn´t realize that. We walked down to the river quickly forded, and picked up the trail on the other side. We thought they would be following us, but we never did see them again. This is a prime example to why certain people lacking basic outdoor skills, such as map reading and compass use, should not be in the wilderness. We also saw lot of deposited trash along the trails yesterday and today and at the campsites and in the refugios. The valley is overrun with young Chileans that don´t know outdoor etiquette. It really annoyed us! 

Our camp for the night was at Refugio El Arco, a small wooden hut that can be used as shelter during times of rain. It´s a 5 minute was from El Arco, a small granite arch that spans a gap above a waterfall. There is a young alerce tree growing on the arch. Below the arch is a small pool of water. Here marks the start of the Cochamo River. We camped in the forest right next to the refugio, but we found out after we´d already set up our tent that there was a nice field nearby. We didn´t care enough to move, and it worked out great, as everyone else camped in the field and it was just us in the forest. In all there were probably 5 or 6 other tents. 

A map of La Junta that we saw posted at Camping La Junta on our way out. It would have been nice to have from the beginning. 

A nice topographic map we found posted at camping La Junta. Show our route up the valley, down the length on Lago Vidal Gormaz and up to the border.

Closer view of the map. I don´t know how well these can be seen on a computer screen. Worked well for us with the zoom function on the iPhone.

Closer view of the second half of the hike, days 3 and 4.

Also found this weather report posted as well. They use Wind Guru down here, a very detailed forecast. Looks like good weather for us!

If you look closely, you´ll see Jeff walking through one of the eroded troughs.

View of one of the domes through the drizzle.

One of our sources of drinking water for the day.

Avoiding a mud pit

A neat heart shaped tree knot

More mud, somewhat unavoidable here.

Logs in the trail to provide a mud free walking platform.

Alerces

Evergreen Beech trees (Coigue)

Even more mud!

El Arco

Tuesday, February 23rd 2016

We got an early start today (8:30), hoping to separate ourselves from the rest of the hikers. Our hiking description says its more popular to hike the other way, but yesterday we saw only 2 people going the other way and everyone camping near El Arco is going the same direction as us. Shortly after departing, a young Chilean couple caught up to us in a slow going section requiring multiple stream crossings. We slowed down and let them pass us and didn´t run in to them again until we arrived at the next camp.

We hiked up for 2 1/2 hours up and over the pass into the next valley. It was again muddy with roots and stumps and bushes and big steps to negotiate. It was exhausting, but at least we had the cool of the morning as one thing going for us! At the top we went over rolling hills alongside series of 3 lakes situated on the downhill side of the pass. The vegetation changed to less jungle like and less dense forest, the humidity went away and the trail dried out. For the first time of the day we were actually enjoying ourselves! We admired a strange phenomena in the trees in which they were super wide with buttressed roots on one side and incredibly narrow on the other side. We figure it had something to do with winds, soil depth and the trees possibly growing extra roots to hold themselves up on the slopes. It was really neat. 

From the lakes it was a downright luxurious trail down the Lago Vidal Gormaz. The trail was dry, not too steep and easy to follow and was just so incredibly nice compared to what we had come from. We arrived to camp around 4 pm, after only 6 hours of actual hiking. That was an hour sooner than we had expected to arrive. We set up our tent in a farmers field full of sheep, horses and cows right on the lake shore. We took a refreshing swim and had a leisurely rest of the afternoon lounging in the grass. Ben came over by our tent and had dinner with us. It was nice to have some company. We made arrangements with him and a Chilean couple to take a boat across the lake the next morning at 8AM, instead of hiking the 11 km along the shore. This service was offered to us by the boy that was sent out into the field to collect fees from the campers (5,000 pesos per tent/$7USD). The fee for the boat ride was a flat 25,000 pesos, but they could take 5 people, which worked out perfectly for us. The field where we camped belonged to Tito Bahamonde. Our hiking description discouraged us from camping there and promoted instead Carloncho´s, but gave no description of how to get there. We learned Carloncho´s was 20 minutes further down the East side of the lake, which was out of the way. We also learned that Carloncho is the son of Tito, so not really sure why it would matter where you camp. We were perfectly happy with our camp.

Cross section of one of the wide narrow trees

Jeff standing next to a tree with wide roots

Narrow side of the same tree

One of the lakes in the pass, looking back to the foggy and humid Cochamo Valley

Cleared fiel near the lake at the end of the hike

Farm buildings at Tito Bahamonde´s farm

Look back to the pass from the farm

Campsite at Lago Vidal Gormaz

Wednesday, February 24th 2016

We had to wake up extra early to get ready for the 8 AM boat ride. The sun hadn´t yet come over the mountains and it was freezing! Our ride was 45 minutes late and came from the Eastern shore of the lake. It was a small aluminum boat with just enough room for 5 hikers and backpacks. Also in the boat was the young man who had collected our fees the previous night and the man driving turned out to be Carloncho! It took us about 45 minutes to ride across the lake. The boat was very loaded down, the water level was just inches from the back of the boat where Carloncho sat at the motor! The ride was chilly as the sun still had not made it over the mountains, but we were very glad to be riding instead of walking. So far this hike has been way more strenuous than we were expecting!

From the other end of the lake we split up and began walking down the outlet river to the lake two hours to Torrentoso, marked as a town/settlement on the map. It turned out to be just another farm, but marked the junction for the border. Continuing straight there would lead to the Rio Puelo valley and another border crossing at El Bolson, a hike we will save for a future trip. We turned left and hiked 4 hours along the Rio Manso to the border. The river is slow flowing with a gentle grade, but is surrounded by steep mountains and no shoreline, so the trail went up and down along the mountains with few views of anything but trees. By the time we finally arrived to Chilean customs we were exhausted. Chilean customs is in the settlement of El Leon, also marked as a town on the map. It was the largest cluster of farms that we saw throughout the whole hike and even has a school, but I still wouldn´t call it a town. Getting our exit stamp took forever for some reason, but we appreciated the rest. From there it was an hour walk to Argentine customs. We had to cross the river to get to the Argentinean side and apparently the bridge went out and was never replaced, because we were shuttled across the river by some guy with a small motor boat!

From the river to the Argentinean customs, we walked along a dirt road. We saw a couple of cars in the area. They appeared to be campers, but all of the cars had Chileans plates, so we don´t know if the cars were there permanently or if they had driven all they way around through Argentina just to visit El Leon. They were of interest to us because we were in need of a ride out! From the border, its 43 km down a remote dirt access road for Nahuel Huapi National Park to the nearest settlement with buses going to Bariloche, which is 113 km away.

The border itself was just a barbed wire fence with a wooden gate, like so many other livestock fences that we have seen. On one side was a welcome to Chile sign. We got our entrance stamp for Argentina, which also took a very long time, even though no one else was there. The customs agent said there was basically no chance of getting a ride out today and recommended we try tomorrow 10 km down the road where the first official campground is located. We stopped for the day around 8 PM just down the road from customs, exhausted, and camped in a field on the side of the road. Luckily there was a nice big blackberry bush in the field for us to enjoy.

Carloncho and the young man riding away after dropping us off

Lago Vidal Gormaz

Gate at the ¨town¨of Torrentoso

Boat ride across the Manso River in the absence of a bridge

The border

Thursday, February 25th 2016

We woke up early today with the hopes of getting on the road early and beating the others competing for a ride out.  We had a nice breakfast of oatmeal and blackberries that we had picked the night before and packed up and started walking down the road.  There wasn´t much along the way, mostly forest and fields and a single farm until we came to the first official campground 10km from the border.  Jeff checked it out and saw there was only about four cars and three tents containing the other backpackers we thought we would be competing against for a ride. We decided to keep walking and past other things that we had marked on our tourist map of the road.  We walked and walked, taking occasional breaks.  We saw about 15 cars entering for the day but only saw one delivery van that was going out and he didn´t stop to take us.  We ended picking a lot of blackberries along the way and stopped for a lunch of rice cakes with pasta sauce and hot sauce!  We continued walking for another long stretch and were thinking of just walking to a police station that was further on down the road and just waiting there for outbound traffic later on in the afternoon as we were tired of walking on the road, always worse than any trail after a while.  I also started to get blisters on the backs of my heels.  Just as we were feeling pretty lousy about going any further, a Sprinter van came up from behind us and stopped! Inside were the other backpackers!  We had passed the Sprinter van parked at a farm house aways back and dreamed of getting a ride in it. It was apparently called into service to come pick up the others from the campground 10 km from the border and bring them down to the little town Rio Villegas at the main highway intersections. We had no idea that this could have been an option so we just kept walking and hoped we would get a ride. We piad 10,000 Chilean pesos each for the ride, which we gladly paid to be done with the walk. It was still a long way to the police station we had planned to stop at and much further to the highway.  We felt fantastic just sitting in the front and watching the road flash by at a much faster speed.  All in all we walked about 25 km on the road in about 6 hours.  We got out of the van and paid and went across the highway to try and hitchhike for an hour while we waited for the bus.  As soon as we got there, a bus going south to El Bolson took some of the backpackers and we waited for the northbound bus with another couple.  We tried to hitchhike the whole time but no one would stop.  We waited about an hour for the bus and paid $100 Argentine pesos, exactly what we had leftover from our time in El Chalten!  The bus took about an hour and passed lovely scenery in Nahuel Huapì national park on the way to Bariloche.  We arrived at the terminal and walked a short distance to the Tango Inn Hostel that we had seen on previous trips.  We made a huge pot of our leftover pasta, showered and went to bed, happy that we had made it such a long way without too much difficultly.

This map was given to us at customs and gave us hope that the road would be busy with activity!

Another map of the area, including the Rio Puelo Valley to the south.

Blackberry bushes along the road

We saw this same mountain for hours!