Day 8 –
Lago Cachorro Camp
February 7, 2008
Submitted by Pat
Coffee call is scheduled for 7:30 am but I wake up early so I help Juan build the fire and watch the coffee and breakfast preparations until folks start to trickle out of their tents for another day of fun and adventure. After a breakfast of rice and chocolate porridge, those of us who are interested get ready for the “big” hike. Roberto describes it as a long hike, maybe 9 hours, with 4,100 feet of elevation. I have no idea if I can do it without pushing myself past my comfort zone, but I want to try, and like Don said, ‘What am I going to do sitting around camp all day?’ Don really doesn’t want to go – he’s pooped – but is even more anxious about not having anything to do in camp. Unfortunately, he left his iPod back at the farm house. So Juan, Kate, Frank, Don, Eduardo, Nancy, me, and Greg set out – first by ferrying over to the trailhead by kayak then a short bushwhack to the “trail”.
The first part is indeed a bushwhack, not easy walking for anyone. Then we hit a path which is pretty primitive and unforgiving. As we walk into the forest, Eduardo points out the Canelo tree, which is a sacred tree of the indigenous Mapuche people. Another tree he points out is a sturdy beech called Lenga. I love the flora, trees and moss and delicate flowers still in bloom. No fauna though – only the horseflies that torment us.
Don struggles because the first mile of the hike is really the steepest and hardest and he has no legs. Neither Don nor Nancy had eaten much at breakfast so they are running on empty. We stop to rest often. Eventually Greg and Eduardo exchange food because it’s clear Don isn’t going to make it to the top and Nancy and I don’t know how much we have left either. When Don decides to turn back I can see how hard it is for him and for Nancy – she offers to go back with him but he urges her on. Turns out to be the right decision for both of them.
Greg and Don head back and Nancy, Eduardo and I press onward. When we reach the tree line, we enter an incredible alpine meadow. I keep expecting Julie Andrews to come spinning over the crest of the hill in her apron and singing about the hills that are alive. Alpine grass and clumps of short trees, lots of space and no prickers. Plenty of horseflies though and even some mosquitoes or gnats. We meet up with Juan, Frank and Kate and eat some snacks before heading out of the meadows and onto bare rock. The three jackrabbits climb ahead while Nancy and I diligently bring up the rear, one step at a time. As we reach each false summit, Eduardo tell us, “The top is just over the next one”, and we keep going. It’s hard going but not harder than many of our White Mountain hikes, the difference being in the Whites there is a well marked trail and up here there’s nothing.
We finally reach the summit, well as far as we are going to go anyway, and both Nancy and I rejoice in having made it to the top because the views are incredible. Sitting on the edge of a sheer hundred foot cliff we look down onto a glacier. Behind us are views of all three lakes we had been exploring – Leon, Fiero and Cachorro. We eat lunch and hang around for a little over an hour before we reluctantly pack up and head back down.
It’s a long walk down, and by the time we reach camp, I am finished, kaput, DUN. We meet the rest of the group, listen to them tell the tales of their kayaking adventures and eat dinner. Roberto gives us the low down on what tomorrow is going to entail – up at 5:00 am, pack camp, kayak to the trailhead across the lake, an hour hike with full gear, repack our gear and lash it to our kayaks, lower them down the cliff, kayak back to the first camp, deflate the kayaks, hike 5 miles back out to the trailhead, take a one hour drive standing up in the back of a truck to the farm house, repack, eat lunch, gather all our stuff, cram it into the bus, load up and drive 5-6 hours to Coyhaique where we we’re staying in a hotel and having our celebration dinner. Needless to say, after we chat about that, everyone hits the hay early.