Cochamo

Valle de Cochamó is called "the Yosemite of Chile".

==Get in==

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. 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.

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 quickly becoming a famous rock climbing destination with many walls and domes ranging around 1000 meters. There are many new routes every year and thousands of new long lines waiting to be done. Check out http://www.Cochamo.com - treking and climbing site and http://www.StoneDance.com - rock climbing in Argentina and Chile.

• Natural waterslide. The best natural water slides I´ve ever seen.
• Cave Great cave to go through. Must have a lantern. 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.

There are also several fishing lodges and cabins in the Cochamó Valley. On the Isla Bandurrias in Las Rocas Lake, near the pueblo of Segundo Corral, there is a cabin where guests can stay. There is another hotel and spa on the same lake, called Amilik http://www.amilik.com. This lake, though located in Chile, can also be reached via the Puelo Lake in Argentina. There are two immigration checkpoints to go through along the route, which can be navigated by boat or by a hiking trail, which departs from the Puelo National Park.

Sleep

Where the River La Junta meets the Cochamo River exists a refugio and a beautiful place to camp. The views are incredible and makes the best base camp since its centered and closest to many different hikes and things to see.

Lodging

Amilik Patagonia Retreat and Spa, [=> Amilik is located on 586 acres between two lakes and a river in the Chilean Patagonia.

The authors of this document are Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel, Evan Prodromou, Josh and the following WikiTravel users: Nzpcmad, Pablo.cl. The original version of this article can be seen at http://wikitravel.org/en/Cochamo.