Greater Patagonian Trail : Paso Mayer to Cochrane

Kilometres this section : 141

Kilometres completed : 1,139

Oh my god, La Ruta de los Pioneros. Barring that first few km from Cabo Froward, this is basically my first named trail in South America, and it is a recognised part of the GPT too - and wow, it is hard work. To begin with, it runs along the banks of Lago Christie, then Lago Alegre, so it should be flat, right? No, there's crazy up and down from the start, such hard work, I am barely making 2km per hour. An achievement at least, I pass the 1000 km point of my walk! Now and then the trail descends all the way down to the lake, and sometimes there's a little homestead, only accessible by this crazy trail or boat, I even meet a guy at one. Near these places there are hoofprints on the trail, I guess people ride out from the homesteads, in other parts it is badly overgrown. Not much sign of hikers, this is rather sad, clearly lots of work went into this some time ago, I walk over many log walkways over the course of a long day, some thirteen hours - but only 33km done 

Second day on the Ruta, I follow Rio Bravo upstream, of course this doesn't mean the trail is flat, but rather more more insanely steep up and down. Here and there I pass a derelict wooden hut, set in a little patch of green pasture, with fencing all made of rough-hewn wood, the former homes of the pioneers perhaps? I'm making slow progress again, although there is wildlife here to encourage me, specifically mosquitos and huge, vile flies. There always seems to be one buzzing around, sometimes more like half a dozen, if I pause they take the chance to land on me and start feeding, on sweat I think. They're easy and, I confess, satisfying to kill at least. At last a flat bit, I walk along the river, then of course have to wade the thing several times, the water is of course snowmelt, so freezing cold and the current is strong. It's a real relief to climb up towards a pass, the rocky terrain seems to mean no flies.

A cold night, then up to that pass, this is more like it, fine mountainous walking. Somewhat worryingly, my map says the pass takes me back into Argentina, well, the Chilean border guard said it would be fine, and indeed there's nobody here. A bit further, and another pass takes me back to Chile, and alas back down, into the land of flies. The ghastly things are so big that when I allow one to prepare to feed - necessary for me to successfully swat it - I can actually see the horrid proboscis spear into my flesh. I kill innumerable numbers of them, but there are always more. The walking is downhill now at least, then actually flat, it would be nice except there are so many deadfall trees, plus overgrown sections too, I lose the path several times, this would be impossible without my GPS. It is such a relief to finally finish the Ruta, coming onto a road with an awesome view of the Calluqueo Glacier and the laguna of the same name. A few more km before camping, only 40km left to Cochrane and civilization.

The gravel road to Cochrane is scenic enough, mostly running alongside Rio Tranquilo, easy walking of course but I do feel a bit tired for some reason. Well, I make it to town before 6, and find a lovely little campsite, time for a rest then. In fact, I decide to spend three nights here, which also means New Year's Eve will be spent here rather than out in the wild. Wow it is good to eat proper food, and not have to walk for hours. Cochrane is a charming little town nestled among the mountains, lots of tourists here again, and as seems to be normal for such places, there are some nice bars including one with its own brewery, I approve. I buy bug spray, and new socks, four of the old pairs are in holes after the Ruta. A look at GPT guide has that route at 5/5 for difficulty, seems right, so it hopefully can't get worse - also good is that the next few stops are all only four days or so apart. Bring on the next one!