start date	activity	country	place	from - to	days	km	km/ day	comment
28.03.2013	pushing wheelbarrow	Chile		Chaiten - Volcano Michinmahuida trail beginning	1	29	29	Start after 2pm
29.03.2013	walking with backpack, inflatable packraft		Pumalin National Park	Volcano Michinmahuida trail beginning - Leptepu	4.5	70	15	very dense forest
02.04.2013	kayak, walk, bicycle		Pumalin National Park	Leptepu - Hornopiren	2.5	99	39 0
05.04.2013	terrible weather			Hornopiren	1	0	0	hail, heavy rain and strong wind
06.04.2013	walk		Hornopiren National Park	Hornopiren - Chochamo	2.5	92	36	starting new stage the same day
Total:					11.5	290	25

 

It was unexpected difficult, but great week.

         Where is the line between adventure and an unnecessary risk? On the one hand, if we do not risk we will not achieve anything, on the other hand - is it worth it?

Pumalin National Park was theoretically one of the most difficult points of the expedition. I have sent dozens of emails to find some clues. Only two people have stated that it is very difficult, but perhaps possible. Anyone else told me that this can not be done - dense forest, cliffs, strong rivers, swamps, cold, etc.         
      So I guess it was not surprising at all that when I walked into the forest with a machete in hand, I was pretty nervous. I couldn't sleep the last two nights. I was wondering, why am I doing this to me? However, the fear has gone at the time of commencement of operation, there was no time to worry - as on the exam.

Thursday.
   The last farewell supper with the wheelbarrow.

         Good Friday.
    I'm turning off from the official trail and waded through a dense forest. It happens in different ways - torn ferns, bamboo barrier, fallen trunks, vertical walls, soft ground, rushing rivers, rotten logs. During the first hour of the fight I made just over 300 meters. Besides, I was soaked. I wanted to come back. I had doubts - maybe they were right?     
        Fortunately in virgin forest nothing is the same for a longer time. I was moving from one tragedy to another. Changes are good. And forest is beautiful, smells and looks different. Just do not be in a hurry. Because who rush in Patagonia, is wasting his time.   I also gained the experience and started making more better decisions, I went wiser and faster.

Topo map is useless in the fog, but compass helps to keep the direction. Another gorge, the river flows back to the west. How much more effort to finally cross the pass and walk along the river flowing in the opposite direction?
    When I finally got my stream the navigation problem ended, but got another - how not to break a leg on the trunks, which love blocking my way, how to know which rotten logs might break under my weight, and which not? I understood what means the soft ground between the weak roots, when you can not see the ground under a thick bush. Go along the river? - Too rough and deep. Mountain? - Dense forest, steep slopes, sharp plants. It was not easy. But gradually I was moving forward and that was the most important.

Saturday.
    In the morning I had to dress up in my wet clothes, because the second set for sleeping always must stay dry. Then I moved quickly to warm up. I put machete away, as if I fall, I don't want to stick myself on it. I fell many times and finally I broke the walking pole. The second one had gone with the river. Hiking poles really helped me with balance, sensing holes in the ground, the assessment of the depth of the river. The sleeping mat was also lost from the outside backpack's pocket - I used packraft as the insulator.     

         Easter.
       Something itches me on the shoulder. Pain. Oh, boy, it bit. Again. Quickly I dropped a spider, but it fell on the second sleeve and bit for the third time. Physical pain was not a problem, just the fact that I was very far away from any kind of help. I eat quickly antihistamine tablet as if it could kill the venom. I analyzed my knowledge - in Patagonia there are only two deadly spiders. It was not a black widow, the other one I do not know. However, a single bite trace, not double like after the jaws. Anyway, the spider probably fell on me as I broke its net between the trees, and they can not be as toxic as the ground ones. No, the spider was too small, I will stay alive.
And at the end of the day I got the gift - the main river. So I pulled out my inflatable boat and for the next 9km/3h played with the river. Sometimes I would prefer a bit slower and less waves, but it seemed to me that I control it. Water pops up into the packraft - an early camp because of the risk of hypothermia

Easter Monday.

I'm sitting in my inflatable pontoon and I'm glad I do not have to walk. The river is shallow and wide, my legs are sticking outside to first received the underwater boulders and slowed me down. I have 16 meters of fall in the next 4 kilometers. Nothing extraordinary can happen ...
     Suddenly, all the sound has gone. Silent. That how it is below the surface. I swallowed the water, quickly grabbed a branch. The head emerges, the noise again, the roar of the foaming river. Everything happens very quickly, like in a thriller. A very strong current is pulling me along with my packraft attached me. Finally the string breaks. I climb the fallen tree branch and watch as the boat disappears around the bend. I could not jump into such a powerful river with my boots as anchors.
     It happened - fallen trunks narrowed the river flow and multiplied the strength of the current. I could not get around obstacles and hit the tree, I was in a trap - I could not move in any direction. I could not get out until I went overboard. Now, I was standing totally wet on the tree in the middle of the river, without luggage, in the wilderness.
Fortunately I didn't panic, no blaming at this stage. I did not have time for this. I went back and crossed the river in a shallower location, up to the hips. I started running to keep myself warm. Then gradually I was understanding my position. I had to be fast, because if I do not find the packraft (got out to the sea or sunk punctured during the accident), I have to find a warm shelter before nightfall.
     After an hour (2 km away), one of the stones glowed a bit different - I ran like a madman, my heart was pounding nervously. Stone or maybe ... I found the boat - one of the most wonderful moments in this journey. Of course it was on the other side of the river - it was necessary to swim. After all, "Easter Monday" to be remembered.

After drying the stuff and resting I continued. It was easier along the river, but did not want to see it anymore - I went through the forest. It turned out to be one of the worst I've ever seen - a machete in action, one kilometer in over two hours. I had a plan to miss the house of a millionaire Douglas Thompkins, from whom I received a refusal of passing through his territory (Pumalin is one of the largest private parks in the world), but fatigue moved me into his residency.
       Douglas was not home, so the gardener took care of me. I was fed, washed, given a roof over my head. Vincente is working there for over 20 years and has never heard of the passage through the mountains, they never had a visiting tourist. To continue my march I had to wait for the low tide to the next day. I was relaxed.
   We make mistakes on our life, which often later we are regreting. I am ashamed and sorry that I acted irresponsibly - I risked too much. The river is a powerful element, and the water is not my domain. It remains to withdraw some conclusions for the future.

This was by far the toughest trekking in my life. The worst part was knowing that it was not fun, as I was inside, I could not stop. Mentally, however, I was going strong and gained a new experience. I went through the dense forest and I am glad of it.       

        After Easter.
  I called several times by satellite phone changing departure schedule - because instead of three days, I walked here five (I had a food reserves). Robert arrived by ferry in the appointed place - now together we were kayaking through the fjords. At the beginning we had wind and waves. Then silence. Peace. Relax - bathing in the natural hot springs. Let's move on - dusk, dark night. We were paddling in the silence. Above us thousands of stars and the Milky Way, sea as smooth as a mirror, I could only hear the splashing oars and my own thoughts. After midnight we ate a delicious dinner cooked on the beach campfire.

Another day. First dolphins greeted us cheerfully and were swimming around. Moments later, we were observing penguins resting on the water. The sea was calm again, so we moved pretty close to the sea lion colony - and they jumped into the water to look at us closer. The first time I saw how the water flows onto the beach at high tide, as on the forward film.
         On the last day we started before sunrise maneuvering in the dark between sand not yet covered by the upcoming tide. At the end it started rain, but most importantly, that there were no wind and the waves.

         Kayak was a new experience for me, a different perspective. The great advantage was also traveling with Robert, who was the perfect tour guide - he knows the fiords, great chef, sense of humor and a lot of ideas. Kayaking is not a cheap form of sightseeing, but in this industry Patagonia El Cobre is ahead of the competition. Being in Hornopiren I recommend to stay in his ecological campsite.

  I just needed to get to Cochamo where the bike was waiting for me. I could go along the coast or a shorter route through the mountains, but pathless. I think I didn't get enough pain, because I chose the forest version. I had valuable tips from locals, but I got lost a bit. When I went around another waterfall and at one point I was hanging on hung on vegetation roots, I tried to look at myself from the side - wet dude hanging in the wilderness forest and smiling. What for I'm asking? It rained so hard that I was not able to light a fire - no warm dinner. It also turned out that one of the oldest trees in the world - Alerce, were so beautiful, huge, majestic, proud. Even it was sometimes very hard, I will miss the dense forest. I felt already an expert in its penetration.
Once I get back.

Special thanks for Vincente, Robert and Pablo.

Prices in Australian dollar AUD

Country	Days	Food	(how many) paid accom.	Permits Entry fees	Guide hire	Equipment purchase, hire	Equipment or other freight fees	*Transport	Other	Total
Chile	11.5	$333	(2) $15	$10	$211	$340	$96	$0	$32	$1,037

rent a kayak with guide for 3 days
equipment shipment
thermal baths entry
parcel postage to Santiago
machete purchase

 

back to top