When I set out from Cochamo the weather forecast was bad - lots of rain was predicted for the night. I therefore decided to walk just half a day in stay overnight in the last B&B before the National Park. This turned out to be a great idea as it was bucketing down at night while I was the only guest in a lovely wooden hostel run by an amazing young couple. When I finally left their place and civilization it was still raining - and I was pretty soon soaking wet from outside and inside.
The GPT leads you first to the campground at La Junta, a very popular place for Chilean backpackers and even that early in the season plenty of hikers were on their way. The trail was deeply cut into ground and felt more like a tunnel than a trail! I was going to see that phenomen very often on the Southern GPT where it is mostly caused by horses. Sometimes they have even created a washboard pattern on the ground! The trail to La Junta had been difficult enough - very much braided and slippery. But after that it got a lot worse ....
Because very few people hike on the trail was no much less developped - and not maintained that early in the season. Tree cover was so dense that my PLB could not get signal for hours and my GPS went amok - it was dozens of meters off in some places. This was especially problematic when the trail faded away and/or was blocked by a blown down tree. I then landed immediately in bamboo jungle where you would have needed a machete to make any progress! You could not see the trail when it was only five meters away because the undergrowth was so thick. I climbed over, under and around trees, fought my way through bamboo and had wet muddy feet all the time. Because snow in the mountains was still melting the river crossings were deep and swift - and ice cold!
There was no one else around and my PLB was only working erratically. What if I sprained an ankle or broke a leg? How could I get help? Would someone find me? I started to get seriously worried and was extra cautious on the trail.
When I finally emerged onto a huge meadow near a settler's home after 2,5 days of Valdivian rain forest I could have kissed the ground. Although the few settlers here live without cellphone signal and electricity it felt like being back in civilisation. The settlers had cut down the huge trees that were still lying around, had burnt the undergrowth and now this was a big meadow with sheep, goats and cows. For a short bit a was back to hiking at 4 km/h ... After not seeing anyone for two days I was surprised to run into a huge group of teenagers, accompanied be several adults and men on horses. They were going to where I just came from. But I had been struggling so much to get through that jungle - how would these kids fare?
Some of the settlers sell food to hikers or offer camping on their property. I decided to take advantage of that and ended in this kitchen eating self made bread, butter and beef stew. The owner, an older lady explained to me how she cooks on this wood stove with no refrigoration and the next shop a journey of 1,5 days on horseback away ... She also told me not to worry about the kids I had met. This school class had camped on their property the night before and were taking a rest day now while the men on horseback accompanying them where riding on to clear the trail for them. Bottom line: I had hiked this section just a couple of days too early. Had I come AFTER this trail maintenance I would not have suffered as much ...
Now that more and more settlers were living along the trail I had hoped that hiking would get easier - but it didn't ... There were some bridges but they were either broken from the last winter or they were rickety suspension bridges. No wonder - most people here travel on horseback and horses don't need bridges to cross a river ... By the way: I walked across the bridge in the photo with no problem!
One night I had just found a wonderful campsite on an abandoned meadow which unfortunately turned out not to be abandoned at all. When I had just set up me tent and started to cook three very curious cows turned up and decided to investigate my campsite. I managed to chase them away but they returned at 3 am ... After this rather sleepless night I decided to leave this section now earlier than planned. I was now flipping back up north anyways, so it didn't matter how far south I was hiking. And honestly, after this rather turbulent first three sections of the GPT I was ready for a real rest day in civilisation.
I knew that there were only very few buses per day on the dirt road going to Puerto Varas and I had no clue about the bus schedule. Therefore I got up very early in the morning, hiked out to the dirt road - and only half on hour later the bus picked me up. Perfect timing!
Because very few people hike on the trail was no much less developped - and not maintained that early in the season. Tree cover was so dense that my PLB could not get signal for hours and my GPS went amok - it was dozens of meters off in some places. This was especially problematic when the trail faded away and/or was blocked by a blown down tree. I then landed immediately in bamboo jungle where you would have needed a machete to make any progress! You could not see the trail when it was only five meters away because the undergrowth was so thick. I climbed over, under and around trees, fought my way through bamboo and had wet muddy feet all the time. Because snow in the mountains was still melting the river crossings were deep and swift - and ice cold!
No comments:
Post a Comment