Core07/Chile
From WP Wiki
CORE Fall 2007 in Chile: “Tentative” Schedule of Events
Check out the CORE trip to Chile on their blog.
August 27-Sept 16: will be on-course in the US preparing for our Expedition to Chile: You will depart for Santiago, Chile on September 17, 2007 and return November 19, 2007 to Gunnison. You are permitted to stay in Chile longer, as the course will officially end in Santiago, Chile on November 19, 2007
Week #4: Chile's Lake District, Pucon, Chile: visit Mapuche Indian reservations, river kayaking school, trekking through Chile's spectacular native forests multiday horse back excursions into the Andes Climbs and Volcano traverse up to 12,000' language school at base Hostel in Pucon.
Week #5: Puerto Montt: Sea kayaking with support vessel in remote fjords
with hot springs and spectacular views. Fly Fishing Treks into Alerce forests
(Chile's sequoias). Visits to productive farms operating within the park.
Week #6: Futaleufu: Rafting and kayaking in some of the world's best
white water kayaking school with Chris Spelius, former US Olympian kayaker
Sea kayaking fly fishing, horse back multiday trips and stays with
local homesteaders.
Saturday October 27th: Today the group met up with Expediciones Chile, their kayaking guides. They met them at the hot springs to have an introduction to kayaking and to practice rolling. It was really nice to be able to practice rolling a kayak in the warm water. For the most part everyone in the group got down some kind of roll, some people of course are more confident than others but all in all it was a very successful day. When they were done they got in the vans and drove about four hours to the Futaleufu. The group was scheduled to stay at Ex Chiles eco camp, but because of the weather and the fact that it really early in the season the group got to stay in their hostel! No more dealing with the rain! And lets just say that this hostel is very comparable to the hostel at Punta de Lobos… can you say spoiled? However, it was a great relief to the group because now they have a nice dry place to sleep and dry out all of their wet clothes.
Sunday October 28th: Today was the first day that the group would get wet in some real water, cold river water! In the morning after breakfast they outfitted all of their kayaking gear to get ready to go out on the river after lunch. They went to a spot called the Secret Lagoon, which is an inlet right off the Espolon River, which is the river that the group would be learning on. There they learned all of the essential kayaking skills such as; t-rescuing (t-rescuing is a technique where, when unable to roll on your own, another kayak comes to the side of your boat so you can get leverage off of it to flip over with out getting out of your boat), front paddle, back paddle, front sweep, back sweep, and ferrying (ferrying is a technique used when trying to cross currents or enter eddy’s). After they had learned all of those skills and were sufficiently chilled to the bone they got out and headed back to the hostel for a delicious dinner.
Monday October 29th: After breakfast the group got ready to hop in their kayaks once again. They went to the Secret Lagoon again for some fine tuning of their kayaking skills. After their guides, Julian, Juan Pablo, and Andres were satisfied with their skills they got ready to take them down a short stretch of the river. The only problem with this was, it was a little hard to actually get on the river because of a very strong confluence current. While the majority of the group made it across with out much problems, there were a few that didn’t quite make it, Joe and Erik O. And not only did Joe flip once, after he got back in his boat he decided to try it one more time and then flipped again! Once everyone got safely back in their boats they continued down the river. On the way down they continued to practice their ferry angles into and out of eddy’s. However, there was one particular eddy that was strong and it caught Casey off guard and flipped him over. But fortunately, he did a successful t-rescue and was able to stay in his boat. Joe, once again, managed to find and eddy line that didn’t agree with him and flipped over, and once again he swam. At the very end of their run they were able to hit one cool rapid that was pretty small, but still a fun little wave train. They went back to the hostel for lunch and then some of the group went back out on the water for some more practice on a little bit longer stretch of river. They started a little higher up in the river but ended at the same spot. They all ended their day on a good note and had lots of fun. I would like to give a shout out to Joe for swimming the most in one run, 3 times in fact, and overcoming mild hypothermia… Joe you’re a trooper!!!
Tuesday October 30th: Today the group prepared themselves for a long day on the river. They started up higher on the river and ended further down. With that they got to hit three cool rapids instead of just one. At one point there was a small hole where some of the people who felt comfortable could try surfing it. Drew, Casey, Albee, Eric D., and of course Josh were the only brave ones. Drew and Casey rocked it, Albee tried but flipped and then did a successful t-rescue, and Eric D. swam. The whole group had a great time and was satisfied with their last day on the river. Once the group got all warmed up some of the group had a telephone conference with the owner of Expediciones Chile and pro kayaker, Chris Spelius. After they ate dinner and then prepared themselves for a Halloween party! Everyone got dressed up and they had a good celebration.
Wednesday Nivember 31st: Today was the group day off! While most stayed at the hostel and just kind of bummed around town some went on an adventure across country lines… L.B., Walker, Erik O., and Esther went to Argentina. Josh and Julian went on an adventure as well, they went to kayak the Rio Azul which is a class 3,4 river. All together, it was a nice relaxing day off.
Thursday November 1st: This morning the group prepared to go hiking. Their destination was an old farmer’s house name Bene. It would be the first time that they had to carry their own gear. They walked for six hours until they reached his farm. When they got there it was like a little self-sustaining paradise in the hills. It was amazing to see that they pretty much had everything they needed to live on their farm. There were many animals there; cows for milk, milk products, and eating, chickens for eggs and eating, ducks for eggs and eating, turkeys for eating, sheep for wool for hand crafts and eating, pigs for sale and eating, a baby goat for milk, rabbits for sale and eating, oxen for transportation to and from the town and the farm, dogs for protection and keeping control of the animals, and a cat for a friend. It was a lot of fun seeing all of the animals and well… trying to catch them. They even witnessed the sale of about 5 little piglets. It was interesting to see how they did it. Two farmers came and they put all the pigs into two bags, threw the bags over their shoulders and then took off walking down the trail. Dinner was a traditional Chilean soup made with products grown on their farm. It was a fun day.
Friday November 2nd: Today the group woke up and prepared themselves for another day of hiking. They left Bene’s house and hiked for about five hours along the Futaleufu. Halfway through their hike they stopped for lunch at a rapid called the Throne Room, it was a really big, strong rapid. When they were finished they hopped on the bus and came back to the hostel for dinner. During dinner the mayor of Futaleufu came to talk to them about tourism and economic and environmental issues within the city.
Week #7: Patagonia Park: Service project with the Patagonia land Trust Foundation helping with the formation of the new Patagonia national park (140,000 acres) Meet with park's founders Kris McDivitt(former CEO of Patagonia Inc.) and Doug Tompkins (former CEO of the North face and Esprit), together they have set aside over 2 million acres of wilderness for protection in Argentina and Chile.
- Trail maintenance
- Habitat Restoration
- Fences
- Cultural exchanges with local gauchos
- Experience remote Patagonia
Saturday November 3rd: Today the group awoke bright and early to hop on a bus that would take them to the town of Santa Lucia. There they would get on a different bus, for eight hours, which would take them to Coihaique for the night. When they got to Santa Lucia, however, they encountered their first real problem of the trip. Their transportation to Coihaique was well, not what they had expected. They were told that there would be a bus, a private bus, waiting for them in Santa Lucia. But, when they pulled into town they saw a small seventeen passenger van, with no luggage rack, waiting for them. And not only was there no luggage rack or trailer, the driver of the van had sold the two remaining seats to some local travelers. The bottom line was; there was absolutely no way that they could get to Coihaique in that vehicle. So, the group waited… and waited… and waited… as Mark tried to get a hold of Daniel to try and sort out this whole mess. Finally, about four hours later Mark, with the help of Daniel and our guides from Futaleufu, had rounded someone in the town with a pickup truck to drive the stuff to Coihaique. So, twelve of them piled in the van along with the two random people and Mark and Eric D. got in the truck with the guy driving the bags. Finally, they got on the road and it wasn’t more than 20 minutes in the van that they passed a broken down truck with two people standing on the side of the road holding their thumbs out! And if there is one thing that stood out to me most during my travels in Chile, it is that everyone on the road is very friendly… it doesn’t matter who you are or where you are going there will be someone around to help you out. So, what did the van driver do… he stopped and picked them up. And once again the van was at maximum capacity. They found out that their new friends were from Oregon and down here on vacation. Fortunately, this would be the last of their troubles for the day. When they arrived in Coihaique they said goodbye to their new friends and went to the hostel and prepared themselves for tomorrow, which would involve another eight hour bus ride to Patagonia.
Sunday November 4th: This morning the group awoke the same as they did the day before and hoped on a public bus to take them the eight hours to the Baker River crossing. From there the people from Patagonia Park would meet them and take them to their camp. When they arrived at the river crossing the group was happy to discover that their days of being transported by tractor had not yet come to an end! There was a tractor waiting to take them to their base camp. When they arrived at the main camp they were treated to yet another lamb roast, which was delicious. They socialized with some volunteers from Patagonia Clothing Company, participated in a riveting game of soccer, and listened to a presentation about what the point of Patagonia Park is all about.
Monday November 5th: Today the group prepared themselves for yet another tractor ride! They loaded their things and hoped in. The tractor took them about an hour into the Patagonian wilderness. When they arrived at their destination there was a small cabin with a wood burning stove and their guide Rene. Rene is native to the Patagonia area and usually is in charge of tracking huemules (a type of deer native to Chile) and pumas. They discussed what kind of work they would be doing. The work involved taking down about four miles of fence. They decided that they would work for four days then have three days off and then work until the fence was complete.
At this point I will not detail every day because the majority of the work days were the same…. The work that the group did on the fence was not necessarily hard but it was very time consuming. The job consisted of coiling the row of barb wire, taking every staple out of the stays and support posts, coiling the other six rows of regular wire, filling the holes that were left from the support posts, and packing out everything except the wood. In four days they completed about ¾ of their work. For their days off the group split up and did several different things. Walker, LB, Casey, and Joe wanted to go on a mountain climb. So, with the help of Rene they did a first ascent of a 6,000+/- ft peak. According to Rene these guys were the first ever to summit this peak, so they named it Gringo Guanaco. Tommy, Jen, and Esther went to the lake on a fishing expedition, which was unsuccessful. However, they did get the chance to see a lot of different kinds of wildlife. They saw guanacos, many different kinds of birds, and they even found an armadillo (but it had been eaten by a fox so only its shell survived). Mark, Albee, and Eric D. went on a fishing expedition as well, only they left a day later. They came back a lot more successful though, they caught eight trout, and all of them were about 20”. Izzi and Josh went on an expedition back to the main base camp where all of the employees stay. They went there on an ipod charging mission and were very successful! Drew and Erik O. stayed at the group’s base camp and hung around there for the three days off. After their days off they went back to work and quickly finished taking down the fence in just two more days. When they finished they had two more days to just hang around camp until the tractor came to pick them up and take them back to the main base camp. They spent their time playing cards and baseball. They made a bat out of a log and made a ball out of some bones, a bandana, and lots of tape. Finally their time in Patagonia had come to an end. On the 18th they were off to Coihaique again, which meant another eight hour bus ride. They stayed in Coihaique for one night and in the morning they had a one hour bus ride to Balmaseda. When they arrived they hoped on an airplane and flew to Santiago. There the trip was officially over. They all went their separate ways. It can easily be said that everyone had an amazing experience, while some had a different experience than other it is truly something that they will never be able to forget!
Week #8: Torres del paine National Park -Trek some of the most extreme landscapes at the end of the world, one week of trekking through stunning geography dominated by the PaineTowers.
An Overview
Over the summer they waited... and waited... and waited.... They waited for some kind of information about this journey to Chile. Only a few of the members knew what to expect of the upcoming trip.
They had been sent an e-mail, sometime around the middle of the summer saying that there would be an information meeting on Monday, August 27th. It would be at 9am and the location, TBA.
When they arrived no one really knew what to expect... so they waited patiently for the arrival of their beloved instructor Mark Gibson. And they waited... and waited... and waited...
When he came everyone was still a little apprehensive about what to expect. They went over some basics: gear, answering questions, and a little bit more of what the trip would entail. Then they went to lunch and on the way back from Blue Iguana (the best Mexican food in town) it sounded like Mark was making plans for us to go on an adventure some where deep in the Taylor Canyon.
Later they found out that this adventure would take place 2 days later. Our instructions were this: Be at the middle school at 6:00am ready to be support for a bunch of 8th graders on a beginning of school retreat kind of thing...
C.O.R.E.
