Cochamo Trek with Students

Location:  Cochamo Valley, Chile

Rundown:  Brought 11 hormoned-up adolescents into the South American equivalent of Yosemite National Park for a week of trekking and kayaking.

My friend Brad and I loaded up eleven high school boys (the only girl supposed to come on our trip broke her leg!) and jetted off to southern Chile for our Week Without Walls trip in the beautiful Cochamo valley.

 








Spent our first day slogging through mud, across rivers, and over slippery rock faces under the shadow of great granite dome sentinels towards the refugio where we'd be basing.

The scenery was spectacular; the boys ate it up, mud and all.  We heard not a bit of grumbling from them throughout the whole trip. 

Although Brad and I were ultimately in charge of the kiddos, we had three great guides from Miralejos to help us out.  They were terrific with the kids, knowledgeable about the area, trekking and kayaking, and were a really good time as well.

Spent a few days trekking amongst the granite domes.  The area is known as the Yosemite of South America.  We saw only a few other people, making it, to our favor, not exactly like Yosemite.

Brad was a great hiker and partner in crime.  We didn't really worry too much about the group which let us enjoy the experience with them all the more.

Did a long day hike up to the Amphitheater, a bowl carved out of the mountain walls by glacial movements.  It was snowy and cold up there, a good lesson for the kids to pack for all situations.

Hiked through thick forest of Coigue and other old growth trees.  The kids asked good questions and seemed pretty interested in their preservation.

From the Cochamo Valley a van picked us up loaded with kayaks.  We drove for a few hours until the road turned into ruts, then transferred the 'yaks to a pair of ox carts.  The big man who drove the oxen looked as strong as his work associates.

The oxen pulled our boats to the shores of a huge, uninhabited Patagonian lake where we loaded drybags and paddled for the far shore.

A few hours away, we found our digs for the next couple of days!  A tree house dangling over the cold, clear water.  A shortwave radio the only communication (minus our sat phone!) and the only power a couple of solar cells.  The boys loved it!

For the next few days we based ourselves from the "Monito del Monte" refugio while the boys learned how to handle their crafts.

Of course we were already proficient, but it was fun to show off rolling to the boys despite the cold water.

Like I said, the guides were great.  The boys soaked up everything they had to say and paddled hard in ugly weather for them.




The extremely variable weather made everyone appreciate the sunny days hours as they came through and also shrug off the ugly weather.  You're in kayaks!  You're bound to get wet anyway!







Paddled back to civilization via another ox cart transfer and a long van ride.

 

Our last night was in an incredible Patagonian fishing lodge that was completely vacant except for us!  The guides tricked us into thinking we were camping, so we all hiked from the van a few kilometers and found ourselves at this place!

They even had a old wood fired hot tub started up!  The boys were in it 'til they were pruney!  The place had hot water, really nice beds, hydro-powered electricity, and hot chow!  We were set!

Came back with as many students as we left with, so Brad and I called it a success!