We finally had the opportunity to do some overnight treks deep in the remote jungles of Chiloe. This is an island in the south of Chile in the lake district. What was supposed to be a nice 3 hr. hike, turned into a 9 hour adreneline-rush adventure. The hike started with a 3-4 hour walk along a very remote beach, rarly seeing other hikers. Thinking that the hike was supposed to be only 6 hours return, we really took our time, with little concern of nightfall. Our ´detailed´ map would ensure we reached the overnight refugio supposedly only 3 hours away.
Finally the rain had lifted and the sun was burning down on us as we walked through the desolate desert which crawled up towards the rainforest in the mountains. We stuck to the beach because it was easier to walk and could cover more ground.. The mountains and forest had very little in the way of a path. A couple times we had to take off our shoes and socks to cross a river. One of the last rivers seemed quite deep, but it seemed like there was no other option. If we didn´t cross we would have to sleep on the beach without a tent or shelter. Just as we started across the river we saw a Chillian man coming towards us and waving his hands. Pausing to interpret what he was saying, we noticed him trugging though the river up to his waist, and we could see he was wearing hip-wadders and boots. As he approached we could see him shaking his head [no]. From what we understood based on his actions our feet would have been cut up badly by the mussels in the river if we had made any attempt to cross. He led us up the river to a foot bridge and drew us another ´detailed´ map in the sand to show us the way to Cole Cole (where the refugio was). We were confident that we would be there soon enough.
So, now we were up in the hills hiking though an amazing area that looked like a rubarb patch, but with the biggest plants I have ever seen. As it started to head up into the hills, the foliage started to block out the light of dawn. It was about 8:30pm we figured that we had approx. 40 min. of light left, but the canopy of the forest made it seem much darker. Up away from the beach we go, through the dense forest up a washed out river bed. The path was not really what we would call a path at home. Up to a foot deep, the mud and water definately slowed us down. Knowing that the light would soon be gone it made it more of a race against the light of day. Thank god we packed our head lamps. The worry of loosing your shoe in the mud made it somewhat stressful, as well as the thought of getting wet which would be bad if we had no shelter during the night. The temperatures here could get down to 0 degrees on a cold night. Being pretty sure that we were not to far from the refugio our spirits were still up. Now coming up to 9:30 the sun had been down for 20 min. The head lamps were all we had to direct us. Finally we came around a dark corner and saw a big gate..... with horses poking there heads out. This was clearly not the refugio. And it didn¨t seem like the best idea to open the gate. Now completly dark and coming to the dead end, our spirits and hopes of finding shelter seems to dwindle just at the light had. Our only option is to turn around and backtracking in hopes to find another way down. Sleeping in the mud and the forest was not an option we considered, not knowing what kind of wildlife we may encounter.
Now the worry of hungry night creaters became a reality. We started to sing the 12 days of Christmas the only song that we could think of to keep our spirits up, and to scare away any hungry wildlife. 30 min. later now 10:30 we see occasional glimpses of the full moon to light up the night, and we come to a fork in the path that gives us a hope that this so called refugio might actually be might exist. Singing as loud as we can, it is the only thing that is keeping us going and distracting us from the possibility that we may have to sleep in the mud with the forest creatures. The path is starting to go down again and the sound of the waves is getting closer which gives us hope that the end is near. We come to a small opening in the trees where we have a wooden bench to lie down and the light of the moon giving us light. This seems like the only option for sleep, but we decide that we will continue for 10 min. and otherwise comeback if we havnt found anything. After 10-15 min. down we come upon a stray horse that nearly freaks out as he is startled by the ray of our lights, and we are equally startled but yet excited that we see other life. We sneak past the horse and now close to 11pm we finally come out to an opening, a pasture, an open field that we see as a great option to finally get sleep.
I think the lights on our head and the loud singing might have exposed us, as two men soon came wondering across the praire to give us some help. What a releif, they guided us to the refugio only another 15 min. away. That was enough excitment for one day. Its funny how it turns out to be a great story, but in the moment it was very scary. I am glad it happened but, I wouldn´t recommend the map to anyone else as it really gave us no help at all.
