South America : Chile : Cochamó
Cochamo
Getting there
There are four buses a day from Puerto Montt to the town of Cochamó. From there, pay for someone to drop you off at the end of the road going up the Río Cochamó, and into Valle Cochamó. Walking the road is long, boring and hard on the knees. Once at the end of the road, the trail is obvious, and it's difficult to get lost. It can be very muddy when it rains. The hike takes about 4 to 5 hours.
Geography
Many 1000-meter granite walls, dense Valdivian forests and waterfalls that feed the clear turqoise Cochamó River.
Climate
The season begins in November and ends in April. The months that usually have the best weather are from late January through March. The weather outside of these months is generally too rainy and cold.
The weather in Patagonia is difficult to predict, but locals have followed one general rule that helps forecast stormy weather. Clouds moving north to south generally bring rain.
See
Huge granite walls, waterfalls, rivers, granite arches, Alerce forests, caves, pools - basically some of Patagonia´s most amazing mountain valley.
Do
This is a famous rock climbing destination with many granite walls and domes ranging around 1000 meters. There are many new routes every year and thousands of new long lines waiting to be done.
- Natural waterslide. The best natural water slides I´ve ever seen.
- Cave Great cave to go through. Must have a light. Ask how to get there at the refugio at La Junta river.
- Climbing Besides walls that rise more than 1,000 meters, there is sport climbing at Paredes Secas. It stays dry when it rains. There several steep overhanging caves.
This page was last edited at 17:45, on 25 September 2008 by Wikitravel user Episteme. Based on work by Nick Roux, Daniel, Tim Sandell, Josh and Evan Prodromou, Wikitravel user(s) Nzpcmad and Pablo.cl and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel.