Parque Patagonia

This hike cut through two reserves in the Aysén region, Tomango and Jeinimeni. The private land that separated them was purchased by the Tompkins Conservation group and the entire thing is now Parque Nacional Patagonia. I started in Cochrane, where you can walk to the trailhead from town. Got blindsided by half foot of snow that dumped on me the first night and was prepared only in the sense you should always be prepared for anything. By end of day 2 had crossed the ridge and descended into warmer weather.

From there a hitch saved a day of road walking to get from one reserve to the other, then had a few days of wide glacial valleys, ‘heart racing but not too terrifying’ river crossings, and ‘wait that’s the real color?’ glacial lakes.

Overall spent 6 days but had been carrying food for 8 - a heavy ass haul - because wasn’t sure about lucking out with hitches. End of the trail in Jeinimeni is a ways from Chili Chico, but a nice family gave my smelly ass a ride into town.