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Nahuel Huapi National Park Big Traverse

Bariloche, Argentina

 

This is a page with tips for those who want to do the Nahuel Huapi Traverse, being a complement to the book The Most Beautiful Trails of Patagonia. In this page you can see some photos and the list of trails that are part of the book. To purchase your book, send your zip code and country to livros@ricardoferes.com or WhatsApp +55 11 99314-3211 and I will send you the total cost, including shipping.

Days: 8
Distance: 105 km / 65 mi
Total ascent: 7,835 m / 25,705 ft
Download tracklog at Wikiloc

Best season
From January to March the weather is not so rainy and the trail is usually clear of snow.

How to get there
The base city for this crossing is Bariloche, which has good tourist infrastructure, including airport. From Bariloche to the ski center parking lot, where the trail starts, you can go by bus or take a taxi / remis.

The crossing ends in Pampa Linda and there you will find vans that make the transfer back to Bariloche. You can book your place in advance or look for a van on the same day, if you don’t know exactly how many days you will be in the mountains.

 

Cost
Entrance to Nahuel Huapi National Park is free but, of the 7 nights, in some it is necessary to pay, see below those that are not free:
Refugio San Martín: free camping but you need to pay AR$ 80 to use the bathroom;
Refugio Ilón: AR$ 300 for camping;
Refugio Otto Meilling: AR$ 500 for camping.

If you are entering the national park at Pampa Linda, there is a charge, but for this crossing this is not the case.

 

Where to eat, sleep and trail marking
In the closed forest sections, only one section is poorly marked, just before reaching Laguna CAB. In the sections where you walk on rocks, you need to pay attention to find the marks, I saw several people taking the wrong path for not paying enough attention or not having a good map / GPS.

Of the 7 nights, in 5 you will be able to sleep in the shelter, but in 2 places you will have to do wild camping, so you will have to take a tent, anyway. However, you can save a lot of weight if you eat in the shelters.

 

Day by day

Below is a brief description with tips of the route that I like best for this traverse. However, it can be adapted to your hiking style, available time and physical conditioning. The Nahuel Huapi National Park has many other trails, the link to the official map you find at the end of this article, in the section “Useful links”.

The traverse described below is the combination of Travesía 4 Refugios and Travesía 5 Lagunas (Pampa Linda-Colonia Suiza), the two most beautiful traverses of the national park. As the two cross at Laguna Negra, I decided to join them to create a longer and more beautiful route, also adding the trails to Refugio Otto Meiling, in Cerro Tronador, and to Glaciar Castaño Overa waterfalls.

Day 1
Cerro Catedral parking lot – Laguna Toncek (Refugio Frey)
Distance: 10 km / 6.2 mi (+ 2.5 km / 1.5 mi of the side trip to Torre Frey)
Total ascent: 780 m / 2,559 ft (+ 240 m / 787 ft of the side trip to Torre Frey)

There are 3 trails that lead to Laguna Toncek:
1. The most used is the one that leaves the parking lot of the Cerro Catedral ski center and follows on a well marked path with view to the big Gutiérrez Lake. After 5 km the trail enters the forest and the ascent becomes steeper, but it is not that hard;
2. The second option also starts at Cerro Catedral, but instead of following the trail, the mountaineer takes the cable cars that lead to the top of the mountain range and, from there, goes down to the shelter. The path is beautiful but, the next day, you will have to walk again for part of this path, which is most used by those who will visit Laguna Toncek doing the one-day circuit, joining trails 1 and 2;
3. Another option is to start the trail bordering Gutiérrez Lake, which is also a beautiful path but I prefer to have a view of the lake from above. In addition, starting at the lake, the climb will be much longer.

It is important to say that this is the only overnight stop in which it is mandatory to book a few days in advance, even for the camping area, which is free. The link is at the end of this article, in the “Useful links” section.

Arriving at Refugio Frey, leave your backpack to do the side trip around the lake and to climb Torre Frey, from where you will have an even more impressive view than from the area by the lake.

Day 2
Laguna Toncek (Refugio Frey) – Laguna Jakob (Refugio San Martín)
Distance: 9.5 km / 5.9 mi (+ 3.1 km / 1.9 mi of the side trip to Laguna Témpanos)
Total ascent: 762 m / 2,500 ft (+ 284 m / 932 ft of the side trip to Laguna Témpanos)

On the second day, be sure to wake up before the sunrise to see the sun giving an orange hue to Cerro Catedral, as this is one of the most beautiful views of the entire traverse.

Despite the distance and total ascent not being big, the two ascents and descents are quite steep, so it is harder than the numbers tell.

In addition to the beautiful rugged mountains that we cross on the first ascent, the view from Paso Brecha Negra (second ascent) is also breathtaking, with the view to Laguna Jakob and, in the background, the most difficult climb of the traverse.

Leave your backpack at Refugio San Martín and head to Laguna Témpanos, which at the beginning of summer has the icebergs that give it its name (témpanos = icebergs).

Day 3
Laguna Jakob (Refugio San Martín) – Laguna Negra (Refugio Italia)
Distance: 9.6 km / 5.9 mi
Total ascent: 1,068 m / 3,503 ft

Officially, it is only allowed to hike between Laguna Jakob and Negra with a guide accredited by the national park. This is because on the beginning of the trail there is a section that they consider to be a grade IV climbing and, in addition to the guide, they also require the use of safety equipment, such as a helmet, harness etc. In my opinion, it’s more like a scrambling place, but if the mountaineer falls, he will suffer serious injuries or death, since the fall is not small and the rocks below are very sharp. Anyway, my opinion does not matter, the national park rules and, besides the danger of falling, it is not a well marked path, I met people who lost the trail and had to return to Laguna Jakob.

The red lines show the ascent after Laguna Jakob. The space between them is the scrambling section.

If you have no training to make this ascent really safe, return to Bariloche by the valley trail, sleep in the city and, the next day, take the trail from Pampa Linda to Laguna Negra, doing 5 Lagunas Traverse (Pampa Linda-Colonia Suiza).

Whoever decides to follow the path to Laguna Negra, will not walk a long distance but with have hard climbs and descents, being this the most exhausting day.

The most beautiful view of the day is the one from Pico Refugio and, almost at the end of the long descent after Paso Cerro Navidad, there is a waterfall about 3 meters (10 ft) high that is great to cool down.

Day 4
Laguna Negra (Refugio Italia/Manfredo Segre) – Laguna CAB
Distance: 8.3 km / 5.1 mi
Total ascent: 700 m / 2,296 ft

After the tiring third day, this is much easier and the distance shown above already includes a side trip to have a more beautiful view of Cerro Tronador. After walking on rocky terrain, you will enter the forest area and the trail will be well marked until the second river crossing, when you need to cross it and walk some meters / feet to the left to find the trail again.

There are campsites well protected from the wind as soon as you arrive at Laguna CAB, but if the weather is good, go the other side as it is more pleasant to camp on the beach and you will see the sunset with the lagoon in the foreground. It is possible that the water is high and you will have to walk inside the lagoon, so go by its left side because on the right side it is deeper.

If you arrive too early and want to move on, Mallín de las Vueltas has some good places to pitch the tent, but the view at Laguna CAB is much more pleasant.

Day 5
Laguna CAB – Laguna Azul
Distance: 11.8 km / 7.3 mi
Total ascent: 1,200 m / 3,937 ft

When you finish Paso Cristal ascent, the second of the day, there are two options to reach Laguna Cretón: one is to following the usual trail, going down the Paso; another is to follow the crest until you are facing the lagoon, going straight down to it. This second option is shorter but you need to pay close attention to the path, which is poorly marked.

Upon reaching Cretón, resist the temptation to go around it on the left side to shorten the path to Laguna Azul camping area, as this way you will lose the most beautiful lookout to the lagoon. It is true that the next day you will pass this lookout again, but you never know how the weather will be on the next day, so it is better not to miss an opportunity. Even more because Laguna Azul, of all the lakes I have seen in Patagonia, it is probably the one with the most striking blue, whoever sees the photos usually asks if they were edited, since it is really hard to believe that the color is real.

Day 6
Laguna Azul – Laguna Ilón
Distance: 9.3 km / 5.8 mi (+ 8.1 km / 5 mi of the side trip to Laguna Témpanos)
Total ascent: 737 m / 2,418 ft (+ 354 m / 1,161 ft of the side trip to Laguna Témpanos)

The sixth day is easier and, as you must arrive early at Laguna Ilón, leave your backpack and do the hike to Mirada del Doctor, a spectacular lookout overlooking Frey and Nahuel Huapi Lakes.

Day 7
Laguna Ilón – Refugio Otto Meiling
Distance: 18.1 km / 11.2 mi
Total ascent: 1,160 m / 3,805 ft

This day you will walk almost all the time in the woods, but fortunately there are some lookouts on the descent to Pampa Linda that show Cerro Tronador and the waterfalls of the Castaño Overa Glacier.

When you arrive in Pampa Linda you can return to Bariloche to rest for some days or to go straight to Refugio Otto Meiling. This shelter is the only one of the traverse that is not in front of a lake, but has one of the most impressive views, with the huge Cerro Tronador on one side and the vastness of the Andean mountain range on the other side.

The shelter is between two glaciers and, just above it, there is snow even in the summer. As the camping area is not very protected from the winds, leave your tent very well pitched to avoid problems.

Day 8
Refugio Otto Meiling – Pampa Linda
Distance: 14.6 km / 9 mi
Total ascent: 123 m / 403 ft

The last day is the easiest and, as the shuttle vans don’t leave Pampa Linda before 16:00 (from 10:30 to 14:00 you can go to Pampa Linda, from 16:00 to 18:00 you can leave Pampa Linda. From 19:30 to 09:00 it is a two-way road), don’t be in a hurry to return. In fact, be sure to do the trail to Castaño Overa Glacier, which will leave you facing spectacular waterfalls.

Useful links