Rios Claros - Valle Baule - Río Los Cipreses. Chile

GPT03 (Rios Claros) Exploration
29.02-03.03.2024, 4 days, 104 km
Team of 2
Base weight 2.9 kg

Brief summary:
This exploration unexpectedly turned into the discovery of one of the most beautiful mountain valleys I have ever seen in Chile.
The difficulties are not exceptional, but their density and variety in such a short section pose a serious challenge even for experienced hikers:
- Steep scree and rocky slopes and traverses.
- One very difficult ford
- Passing narrow gorges with an active river
- Bushwhacking
- Even swamps (!)

Details, tips:
The first part of the route until Pass3 is pretty easy.
The trail between Pass3 and Pass4 is not always in place, but CC here does not present significant difficulties.
The main obstacle for us was the navigation challenges for Baule Valley after Pass4.
This valley consists of several beautiful amphitheaters separated by a series of vertical rock belts with numerous waterfalls.
Although we found the remains of an old horse trail in the valley, the lack of any signs of its use in recent years raises questions about its relevance.
Also, the upper amphitheater (from the Pass4 to the first rock belt) turned out to be (at the end of February!) under snow, which complicated the search for the remains of the old trail and we were forced to create our own foot path. After some exploration we managed to find a northern passage (a steep but simple green gully) in the upper rock belt towards a small intermediate valley with a lake to the north, from where the path winds through three more rock belts to the middle valley, a very spectacular point.
We walked around the lower rocky belt along the very steep scree southern slope. The path below on OSM maps is represented as a trail, which it is not. This is a very demanding 100% CC on the bottom of a canyon with an active river. In my opinion, in this place it is worth trying to find a bypass of the canyon 100-150m higher along the right (southern) bank of the river.

Attention! The following is information about Option 1 RN Rio Los Cipreses actual as of the end of February 2024:
- The southern part of the Reserva nacional Río de Los Cipreses (the Río de Los Cipreses canyon itself) for visiting requires authorization from CONAF, which is extremely doubtful to obtain, so passing SOBO through the valley may be a violation of the rules, but at the moment there is no registration for exiting from the park.
- Ford 9 is very difficult even in late February and can be impossible early-to-mid season.
- The valley above this ford apparently has not been visited for a long time and is significantly overgrown.