Patagonia National Park was announced January 2018 as part of the fantastic new Route of Parks (Ruta de los Parques) chain of 17 national parks in Chile.
Three conservation areas were combined to create it. Cows and other grazing animals removed. Native wildlife such as guanacos, ñandús, pumas, Andean condors, and huemuls reintroduced.
Patagonia National Park will soon be the best hiking destination on the Carretera Austral after nearby Cerro Castillo. You should hike both on the same trip.
There are already a number of high quality day hikes out of 3 established campgrounds in Patagonia National Park including:
- La Confluencia 3 km (2 miles)
- La Vega Trail 7 km (4.5 miles)
- Lago Chico Loop 12 km (7.5 miles)
- Avilés Loop Trail 16 km (10 miles)
- Lagunas Altas Trail 23 km (14 miles) climbing Mt. Tamanguito
- Furioso Trail 23 km (14 miles)
I’m MORE excited about future long hikes traversing the park.
The Park has one overnight hike called the Aviles to Jeinimeni trail 50 km (31 miles) one way.
As of February 2019 there is no hiker shuttle to and from the trailheads. You have to organize that on your own. ☹️ It’s a hassle.
Even better is the route put together by (Adventure) Alan Dixon and Alison Simon they called the Patagonia National Park trek.
- October 1 through April. January and February are high season.
- 4-6 days
They saw condors, flamingos, armadillos and even had a puma walk through their camp at night.
Their very detailed trip report includes a map set of the trek in geospatial PDF, GPS files, hiking distances & times; detailed, day-by-day route descriptions, camping locations, elevation profiles and more.
Read every word of their trip report.
Cochrane town is a few hours easy access south of Coyhaique. The closest public transport access to the National Park.
besthike.com 