Greater Patagonian Trail GPT 20 - 21

The repair will last to the end of the hike!

When I arrived in Santiago de Chile after a long flight I immediately had to surprises: Firstly my backpack arrived without its protective layer of clingfilm because a customs officer had removed it with a cutter knife - probably in order to check its content. Unfortunately with this he had always left a long cut in the back of my backpack which had even penetrated my quilt inside! I "repaired" it with duct tape and hoped for the best. Secondly I had to realise that Chileans had some doubts about my "feminity". Standing in the airport's toilet and brushing my teeth two confused women asked me "Is this the ladys' bathroom" because they confounded me and my height of 1,84 meters with a man ....

I took another flight to Osorno close to the starting point of my hike, slept a lot, got used to Chilean supermarkets and foods, and took a bus to Anticura where I had an appointment with Jennifer and Marcus, two other German speaking GPT hikers. They had already been on the trail for a couple of weeks and are experienced mountaineers.

This outcrop on the ridge was the problem!

We camped together close to Anticura and set off on GPT section 20 - and my first full day on the GPT at once turned into a nightmare. The long way up to the mountain was overgrown with bamboo and I turned out to be allergic to it. My nose was runnig, my eyes were itching and it got so bad that I could hardly see any more with one eye! When we got above tree line the trail disappeared and the snow started. Luckily it was so soft in the afternoon that we could even climp steep slopes on it but I got more and more exhausted. Very worn out I reached the first pass and was rewarded with a spectacular view! Now it was only a couple of kilometers walk and a couple of hundred meters of altitude in descent and we could call it a day. But this was when the problem only started ...

We soon reached a rocky outcrop on the crest that could not be bypassed on one side because of a huge steep snowfield. We tried the other side and ended up on an extremely steep where it was impossible to continue and even difficult to turn back! Marcus discovered a better and lower route which was another challenge for me to reach. The slope was so steep that each step caused rock falls and a fall could have led to serious consequences. We finally reached lower snow field where I slid down several meters. I felt so weak that Marcus came up again to carry my backpack down for me! When we had finally bypassed this difficult section my legs were trembling and I fell several times just from exhaustion. But we had to continue two more kilometers before we reached flat camping ground .....

Jennifer and Marcus relaxing on the porch of our bungalow

At least our next potential obstacle turned out to be less problematic. The river we had to cross the next day was so deep that it even reached our backpacks when fording but there was hardly any current. Jennifer and Marcus had planned to stay overnight in the little village of Las Gaviotas and I was so exhausted from my first day on the trail that I even joined them ...

We split up for the next trail section because it involved crossing the huge Lago Todos los Santos. Jennifer and Marcus carried a packraft for that purpose whereas I had to pay a settler for the boat ride. We did not meet again on the trail but we kept in touch for the rest of the hike via phone and mail to exchange trail information.

Rudy in his boat

In order to arrange that boat transfer I had called the settler Rudy Yefy on his cell phone. Therefore I was very surprised to see him on the trail on a trail coming my direction. He had expected me the next day due to some misunderstanding. At that point I still had no clue what kind of effort this boat transfer involved! Rudy sent me ahead walking and the stretch from his house to the lake took me three hours which he made in half the time on his horse. Then he had to "park" his horse, get the boat, fill her up and take me across the lake. The ride takes one hour each way and is so bumpy that you definitely should not do it if you have problems with your intervetebral discs... He then had to get the same way back whereas I hiked on. No wonder that this ride costs the equivalent of 100 EUR... Chile is not a cheap country....

When I reached the small town of Cochamo the next day I was definitely ready for a rest day. It had been a difficult start - and it was not going to be any easier on the next section!