UPDATE from Mariano Rezk:
I walked it myself in January 2017. It is true that the government stopped the funding, but I must disagree about the fact that “a large proportion of the trails are closed”. Only about 5 out of 43 stages are closed (that’s less than 15%).
There’s a lot of room for improvement but Huella Andina is still one of the best ways to hike-thru and discover the argentinean side of the northern Patagonia.
The Huella Andina is a series of routes totalling about 600km. They are not all connected.
Some sections are signposted and marked. Some are not.
There are numerous resupply points along the way.
Jan Dudeck:
In 2017 the government of Argentina officially stopped funding the trail project Huella Andina. Some national parks maintain some routes with other funds but a large proportion of the trails are closed and becoming quickly overgrown. Several parts of the Huella Andina were not traversable since the season 2016/2017.
I checked in person with Club Andino Bariloche and the Nahuel Huapi National Park Office about their section of the Huella Andina. It exists. But is far less popular than the other hikes.
They gave me a free map of the Huella Andina showing about 27 hours of hiking over 4 sections. Difficulty of those sections was rated easy to severe. In fact, a parks officer recommended hiring a guide for the 10 hours between Refugio Jacob to Los Cesares.
In addition, there’s a section of road walking.
Click PLAY or watch 18 days of highlights on YouTube.
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Huella Andina connects to the Greater Patagonian Trail on the shore of Lago Puelo. Adventurers might try to loop sections of the two new long distance hikes.
If you want to know more check Wikiexplora – Huella Andina (Spanish)
In 2017 the government of Argentina officially stopped funding the trail project Huella Andina. Some national parks maintain some routes with other funds but a large proportion of the trails are closed and becoming quickly overgrown. Several parts of the Huella Andina were not traversable since the season 2016/2017.
Gracias Jan.
I wish some independent enthusiasts (like yourself) would volunteer to support the Huella Andina project.
Hi Rick, Huella Andina is still alive, I walked it myself in January 2017 (I am the author of the summary video you posted =) ). As Jan commented, it is true that the government stopped the funding, but I must disagree about the fact that “a large proportion of the trails are closed”. Only about 5 out of 43 stages are closed (that’s less than 15%).
There’s a lot of room for improvement but Huella Andina is still one of the best ways to hike-thru and discover the argentinean side of the northern Patagonia.
Cheers!
Mariano
Thanks Mariano.
I reposted including your comments. If the thru hike gets increasingly popular, perhaps local groups can provide the funding.
Hi Rick, thanks for the update! There are already some local groups supporting some stages by re-blazing them. As the government shut down the official website, I created https://lahuellaandina.com.ar to gather useful information about Huella Andina. It is still only in spanish, but I am going to translate and improve it for next season.
Fantastic. I’ll link to your site from our South America page.