Bring ancient ice fields back to life during this weekend escape
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 99.65 mi
- Elevation gain
- 7,618 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 7,615 ft
- Max elevation
- 1,641 ft
- TrailRank
- 28
- Min elevation
- 703 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Coordinates
- 1266
- Uploaded
- June 30, 2014
- Recorded
- June 2014
near Coihaique, Aisén (Chile)
Viewed 424 times, downloaded 2 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Waypoints
Waypoint
0 ft
Plaza de Arms
Depart from the Plaza de Arms on Paseo Horn, heading southwest toward Arturo Prat. Take a left, continue 4 blocks to Av Simpson and turn right, advancing a couple of blocks to the road on your left that descends toward the Simpson River
Photo
0 ft
El Claro Sector
Follow this road through the El Claro Sector and veer right at the fork, taking the next left (Km 3) for Route X-608, and the Coyhaique Airfield. Pass the airfield in continue straight passing a series of farms and forest sectors that border the Simpson River. Around Km 16 you will pass a beautiful cascade before coming to a crossing where there is a giant wall of sand to the right, the remnant of a giant ancient lake that formed during the retreat of the glaciers and covered much of the valley you will soon be moving through.
Lake
0 ft
Seis Lagunas Sector
Turn toward the left, entering route X-648 and the Six Lagunas Sector. For the next 20 km you will see a multitude of lakes and lagoons and spectacular scenery. The landscape is full of blues and greens, flowers, fields, and you will likely spot a variety of migratory birds. Millions of years ago, this entire landscape was under a gigantic ice field and later, when the ice receded, an enormous lake was formed that extended throughout this entire route. If you look closely in the Seis Lagunas Sector, you will make out the borders of this ancient lake, which shrank during the centuries; appearing like contour markers on a giant living map.
Photo
1,002 ft
Route X-686
In km 36 you will come to a crossing. Take the road on the right (Route X-686), which winds for approximately 48 kilometers bordering Elizalde Lake, the Paloma River and, finally, Caro Lake. As you border the Elizalde Lake, pay attention for the clues of the ancient moving ices that are all around you: smooth and polished rocks that are often scarred by deep scratches marking the path of advances and retreats. Elizalde is one of the most well-known and visited lakes in the region, with a public beach, camping areas, various cabanas, a rural hospedaje and various boat operators who offer fishing excursions. This is a great lake for trout!
Photo
1,038 ft
Paloma River Valley
The next section takes you through farm lands on the way to the Paloma River Valley. Keep watch for a strange honeycomb like rock formation on the overhanging rock wall you will see on your left in Km 47. This rock formation is called columnar jointing and it’s formed within basaltic lava flows like this during the cooling process. When the lava cools rapidly from the outside in, often as a result of being submerged in river currents, shrinkage occurs and causes cracks to form in this unique and beautiful hexagonal pattern. Looking at this incredible formation, you can imagine this landscape taking shape after hundreds of thousands of years under ice. The eruption of volcanoes shaped new contours in the recently exposed land and the retreating ice was giving force to giant rivers. Thus, in this very spot, the river’s waters cooled the lava and formed these perfect hexagons. Now, hundreds of thousands of years later, your travels have brought you to this very spot, to observe and imagine these ancient landscapes.
Lake
746 ft
Caro Lake
As you continue through the valley on the way to Caro Lake, the landscape transform again, with thousand year old forests and the photogenic corrals, horses and farm houses of the sectors rural ranches. The lake is surrounded by forest of tepas, coigües, mañíos and arrayanes, providing an evergreen exuberance that shelters the rocky beach with plenty of wooded areas for camping.
Waypoint
0 ft
Valle Simpson
Return along the same path to its junction with the track of the sector Six Lagoons, where you must bend to the right and move forward a couple of kilometers toward the junction opposite the small village of Villa Frei. Turn left and follow this road for approximately 10 Km, passing the village of Simpson Valley up to the junction with Route 245 which runs between Balmaceda and Puerto Aysen. Veer to the right and at 19 km you'll be back in Coyhaique.
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