After the last tours in Bariloche, I wanted to travel further in the next few days to the former hippie village of El Bolson, which is almost 120 km south of Bariloche. There I planned a few smaller hikes to the various refuges in the area.
Drive to El Bolson – Friday 26.01.2024
After I had a quick breakfast at my accommodation, I made my way to the bus station on the outskirts of the city. There I booked a ticket for the next bus, which arrived shortly before 11 a.m. and left promptly at 11 a.m.
Unfortunately, because there was a lot of traffic on the roads, we made very slow progress and the journey took almost 3 hours in total. At least I was able to look at the beautiful landscape out the window and so the time went by pretty quickly.
When I arrived in El Bolson, I walked to a campsite on the outskirts of town and set up my tent there. Afterwards I ran to a nearby supermarket and bought food for the evening and for the next multi-day tour. Back at the campsite, I packed the things I had bought into my backpack, left a small bag with items that I wouldn’t need in the next few days at reception and then made myself a few delicious burgers on my small gas grill.
Later I walked around the city a bit and took a closer look at life there. Since El Bolson is said to be known for its delicious ice cream, I of course bought one and enjoyed it in the warm evening sun before returning to the campsite and going to sleep.
First Refugios – Saturday 27.01.2024
At around 9 a.m. I left the campsite and made my way to the city center to take the bus to Wharton, a small town outside of El Bolson from where most hikes start.
The bus arrived there at 11:30 and I went straight to the park entrance. Here I had to register online again and the park rangers explained to me what I wasn’t allowed to do in the park, asked me where I would like to stay overnight and whether I had at least 2 liters of water with me. They explained to me that I would need at least 3 overnight stays for my tour to the last refuge in the park and that I should stay another overnight stay for the further climb to a higher one, otherwise it would be too difficult. Overall, I found the effort here at the park entrance a bit excessive, as the path here was pretty easy and harmless. At least I was finally able to set off after the check.
At the entrance I passed a plant that I know well and that is said to grow well in this area.
It went over a wide road, first briefly down the mountain to a river and then I crossed it with two smaller suspension bridges.
On the other side it went straight uphill and in the hot temperatures I quickly started sweating. Throughout the entire route I repeatedly had to overtake other hiking groups who were clearly having more problems with the steep climb than I was. Due to the large number of people in front of me, it sometimes felt like I was on the crowded sections of the Way of St. James and I was always happy when I was able to walk on sections with few people.
After a while the path became less steep and I could walk around the area fairly easily. Most of the time it was slightly uphill through the forest and every now and then I got a nice view of the surrounding mountains.
The path repeatedly took me along the water and in between I also had to cross smaller streams. After I quickly left the first refuges behind me, the path became more and more lonely and soon I was walking through the area almost alone again. Running in the shady forest was also very pleasant and I made quick progress.
After 4.5 hours I ended my tour today at a very simple campsite, which was actually just the family hut and an outhouse, and set up my tent there on the river bank. Later I cooked myself something to eat and read by the river for some time.
In the evening I chatted for a long time over a beer with Veronica, a Russian journalist who is currently living in asylum here and is hoping to become a citizen of Argentina. She told me about her escape from Russia, how she is currently getting by here without a credit card and what problems she is currently seeing in Russia. Since she also likes hiking, we also exchanged ideas about a few nice tours and made fun of the laborious registration process at the park entrance.
At around 9 p.m. I went back to sleep so I could be rested for the next day.
Hiking fast – Sunday 28.01.2024
Since I had planned a longer route for today, I got up at 7:30 a.m., took down my tent and had a quick breakfast. Afterwards I made my way straight to the furthest refuge in the valley.
The route was also very easy to walk here and it was neither really steep uphill nor steeply downhill. So I ran pretty quickly through the forest and didn’t take any breaks.
After less than 2 hours I reached the lake with the associated refuge. Here I took my first break, where I made myself another coffee and enjoyed the beautiful view of the lake. Since it was clearly too early to pitch my tent here, I then left the lake and walked back along the path.
I ran back as quickly as I had run and since I knew the route, I only took a few breaks to take pictures.
Unfortunately the path was longer than expected and I didn’t arrive at one of the front campsites in the valley until around 3 p.m. From here I actually wanted to start the climb to one of the higher refuges and then spend the night at the top. However, when I asked in one of the huts, it said it would take about 5 hours of climbing and another hiker who overheard my question said it would take at least 5 hours up and it would be very strenuous.
Since that was too strenuous for me today, I decided to spend the night here and tackle the climb tomorrow. So I quickly set up my tent at the campsite and rested a bit.
In the evening I cooked myself dinner and bought a piece of cake for dessert at the Refugio. Then I read a book and later went back to sleep.
The ascent – Monday 29.01.2024
Today I got up again at 7:30 a.m. to start the long climb. After a quick breakfast I set off.
First I went briefly down to a river and then the announced climb started on the other side, which was already marked by a sign and showed me the times for the refuges.
After all, the path here quickly changed from the wide driveway to a small hiking trail and it also went straight uphill. For the first few minutes I ran up through the forest.
But soon the trees became fewer and I had to hike more and more often in the sun. Luckily it wasn’t that strenuous on the slope in the early morning hours and I was at least rewarded with a beautiful view.
I used my hiking poles most of the time on the steep slope and still walked up the mountain fairly quickly. In between, I also had to climb up the mountain on all fours in some places.
Despite the steep climb, I didn’t take any breaks until I reached the first plateau. Only when I reached a flatter section with forest again did I sit on a fallen tree for a few minutes and drink something.
Afterwards I continued walking through the forest for some time before going uphill again a little steeper. After a few more minutes I reached the refuge after less than 2.5 hours and was a little surprised how it could take 5-6 hours for this route. If I had known yesterday that it was only 2.5 hours, I might have climbed up at midday. But I reached the top that morning.
I sat down in the mountain hut, bought a coffee and a piece of tortas fritas. While I was eating my second breakfast, I started talking to two brothers from Argentina. They asked me what I was doing here and I told them about my trip. You yourself are from Buenos Aires and were vacationing in the south of Argentina for the first time. So far they seem to like the landscape as much as I do and they want to go further south in the future.
When the dining room was closed for cleaning after a while, I made my way back downstairs.
The descent was via a less steep path on another side of the mountain. Here we first went slightly downhill through the forest and then later down the mountain along a gravel road.
After the forest, I always had a beautiful view of the surrounding area, which looked really impressive in the beautiful weather.
Since I was quite exposed to the sun here, I even sweated on the descent, even though it wasn’t particularly strenuous. I kept coming across people who looked strained and almost all of them asked me how long it would take to go up the mountain. Given the high temperatures on this section of the trail, I was quite happy that I only had to walk downhill and had already left the climb behind me.
After the long descent, I returned further down to the route of the first day. Here I had to cross the river again with the two suspension bridges and then there was a last small climb to the park entrance. When I reached it, I had been on the road for less than 5 hours in total, even though I had taken a half-hour break at the hut. So, despite the break, I completed the ascent, the descent and the way back to the park entrance faster than is normally stated for the ascent. In addition, instead of the supposedly 4 overnight stays, I finished the hike on the 3rd day. Maybe I should look for more challenging tours in the future.
At the park entrance I sat down at a bar to wait for the next bus into the city. I bought a piece of cake and rested in the cool shade.
After almost 2 hours the next bus finally came back to El Bolson. Once there, I set up my tent again at a campsite. Afterwards I quickly bought something for dinner at the supermarket and then ate it next to my tent.
Refugio del Piltruquiton – Thuesday 30.01.2024
Last night I picked out one last tour here that would take me to a hut on the mountain behind me. Since there was a long climb ahead of me, I set off early in the morning with little luggage.
I quickly left the last houses behind me and walked straight up a smaller slope. Unfortunately, after a few kilometers of climbing, I found myself in front of a closed gate with a sign that, although it was a bit crooked, allowed me to quickly turn back.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to the top this way, so I had to take an alternative route. So I was able to descend the mountain almost all the way back down and walk along the slope through residential areas for a while.
After about 5 kilometers and already over 200 meters in altitude, I found myself back at the start of the tour. After all, it was pretty clearly uphill on a gravel road. Unfortunately, the path wasn’t very varied and wasn’t particularly beautiful either. As I quickly realized, it was apparently possible to get to a higher point by car and so cars now and then drove past me on the difficult road up the mountain.
I, on the other hand, walked a few more kilometers up before I passed the parking lot. From here only a small path led further up and I again overtook some of the people who had previously driven past me in their car.
At least after a few hours of climbing I finally reached the refuge. Up to this point I had already climbed over 1,400 meters in altitude and was even more pleased with the beautiful view of El Bolson and the surrounding area. I treated myself to an ice-cold Pepsi and enjoyed the view of the landscape for a long time.
From here I could theoretically have walked further to the top of the mountain. Since this would have meant another 600 meters in altitude and almost 2 hours each way, I decided to turn around and start the long descent, which was quite sweaty in the hot midday sun.
After a few more hours of walking uphill, I arrived back at the campsite. Broken, I lay down in the shade for 10 minutes. Afterwards I treated myself to a cold shower and quickly washed out my clothes. Afterwards I walked into the city center, sat in a brewery and treated myself to an ice-cold beer and a juicy burger.
After eating, I returned to my tent exhausted and since I was so exhausted from all the running, I went straight to sleep.
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