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All Routes

Walk overview

General Argentinian route information

Rio Villegas to the waterfall

  1. Buses and Rio Villegas
  2. Hiking along the Rio Manso road
  3. Suspension bridge across the manso
  4. Meadows and flatlands along the Rio Manso
  5. Fences to avoid on the Rio Manso
  6. Rio Manso - easy camping
  7. The waterfall marked on the map

The waterfall to the Argentine - Chilean border

  1. El Manso: Rafting campsite, restaurant and minimart
  2. Argentinian customs - Gendarmeria Nacional
  3. The case of the missing refugio
  4. Crossing the Argentina-Chile border

General Chilean route information

Paso El Leon to Torrentoso

  1. Chilean Carabineros, border crossing and the hamlet of El Leon
  2. A rangers' forest camp
  3. Conditions along the route
  4. The turn towards Torrentoso

Torrentoso to end of Lago Vidal Gormaz

  1. Torrentoso turning
  2. Camping at the south end of Lago Vidal Gormaz
  3. Along Lago Vidal Gormaz
  4. Food supplies at the north end of the lake
  5. Route to virgin rainforest

Lago Vidal Gormaz to La Junta

  1. Lakes in the rainforest
  2. Junction of two rivers and two paths
  3. El Arco refugio and natural bridge
  4. La Junta refugio

La Junta to Cochamo

  1. Granite cliffs and La Junta campground
  2. Trail conditions along the last leg of the path
  3. End of the path from Argentina
  4. Main road to Cochamo and Campo Aventura
  5. Cochamo and civilization
Map of the section 1 route, all contained image map links are available from the textual links on this page Buses and Rio Villegas Hiking along the Rio Manso road Suspension bridge across the manso Meadows and flatlands along the Rio Manso Fences to avoid on the Rio Manso Easy camping on the Rio Manso The waterfall marked on the map
part a Section 1: Click on the "i"s above for information and photos of the route. part c

b. Walking the road parallel to the Rio Manso

Most of the traffic along the road, of which there is not much, is mini-buses carrying rafts and rafters. We had been advised that it is easy to hitch a lift with one of them but the day was beautiful and the first bridge isn't that far from the highway. The road is in quite good condition and many of the drivers are kind and slow down to avoid kicking up too much dust. There are a few streams along the road and we filled our bottles from one clear stream without filtering and suffered no ill effects. The Lupines and fox gloves were in bloom when we walked in January and the local architecture is often realized as stunning log work.