Chilean Patagonia hiking tour

We meet at the Arturo Merino Benitez airport and transfer to the hotel by taxi. Today we visit Santiago. Lunch and dinner on your own.

Early wake up to start a long trip. After a 2-hour flight to Balmaceda, we drive through part of the magnificent Carretera Austral (6 hours) to reach the Green Baker Lodge late in the afternoon. It’s located along the turquoise banks of Baker river. We prepare the bags for the next day. Welcome dinner with the accompanying personnel. Lunch and dinner included.

The adventure starts today! First we cross by motor boat the Bertrand and Plomo lakes. Then we start walking in the wild Soler valley. As we go up we start seeing some snowy summits, as well as the imposing ice cap in the background.

We continue up the river, going into deep native forests. In the afternoon we reach the Palomar camp. It’s a rustic cabin made out of old trees. The Gauchos join us to provide food during the next days.

The is the longest stage in the trip. We leave in the morning and go up a valley until the foot of Neff glacier. Crossing the glacier takes about 4 hours. There are some technical passages (moraines and unstable stones). Then we go up to our camp, nested in a native forest. We are not far from Laguna Espejo. We may see huemules (Andean deers). Once we get settled we can appreciated all the path traversed on the glacier.

Resting day (or spare day in case of bad weather). Optional: ascending the course of a stream (500 m altitude change) up to a pass, a sublime natural viewpoint overlooking several glacial peaks. This regions is probably the wildest and most secluded of the trek. We can often observe condors hovering in the air.

Descent into a dense primary forest until Laguna Cachet, then climbing up 2 hours until a place called La Terraza. We discover a superb panorama over a huge glacier, as well as Cerro Arenales (3400m). We settle camp in front of a breathtaking scenery.

We continue at the foot of immense ice walls. From time to time, blocks detach themselves from the wall and crash into the water in a deafening din, offering us a grand spectacle! After lunch, we go through a series of valleys to reach our camp above the Colonia glacier and its huge lake. It’s a truly unique viewpoint.

A 2-hour descent and walk along a fine sandy beach will suffice to reach Lake Colonia. We cross it by motorboat admiring many waterfalls. From the landing stage, we have a 30-min walk to reach the Sol de Mayo ranch. The afternoon program is to relax and take a well deserved hot shower! Then, a typical dinner with grilled lamb prepared by a gaucho.

A short walk takes us to where the Claro and Colonia rivers meet. We slip on the water on our rafts until Baker river, which we reach in the mid-afternoon. We set our camp for the night.

A peaceful rafting day, to enjoy the typical Patagonian landscapes. Then we reach the Saltón Baker, a vertical passage of 10 meters which cannot be crossed by raft. We therefore end the day carrying the equipment downstream by the waterfall.

A nice transition, because the Pacific coast is not far away and the vegetation is beginning to change due to increased rain. We set camp on the banks of Baker river, which expands more and more as we move towards the ocean.

Last stage of our descent towards the Pacific. The waters are now filled with sediments of the Baker river that mix with the saline waters of the fjord. We reach Tortel, a peaceful coastal village. It has a very original pontoons and staircases network, made of cypress wood. It links houses to each other and has earned the village a reputation of the “Venice of Patagonia”. It’s a Unesco World Cultural Heritage site. We spend the night in a local lodge, after dinner (included) in a small restaurant in the town center.

We return to the Carretera Austral and drive north. We stop for lunch at Cochrane. Today we traverse very diverse landscapes. We arrive at the Green Baker Lodge in the mid-afternoon. Lunch and dinner are included.

After a 6-hour drive we reach Balmaceda airport and fly to Santiago. We check in at the hotel for a well deserved rest. Lunch included.

Today we can visit Santiago by bike. In the afternoon, transfer to the airport to take your international flight.