El Chalten Campamento Poincenot Full-Day Trek from the Village
Introduction
The trek to camping Poincenot is one of the classic full-day treks from El Chalten Village offering wonderful views on the way and at the destination.
- Start: El Chalten - Northern Sector of El Chalten, at the end of San Martin Avenue; beginning of Route 41.
- End: Poincenot
Details
- Grade of difficulty: Medium Difficulty.
- Distance: 16.8 km, return.
- Trek Time: 7hrs, return.
- If camping you need to bring your own gear.
- Experience Required: You need to be reasonably fit. No trekking experience required, but you should be accustomed to long walks, and trekking poles are recommended.
- Season: All year round, but in the winter, it depends on conditions.
Description
Two trails lead to the base camp Poincenot, but here we will explain the path that starts from El Chalten village and then you take the same route to get to Laguna Capri (see Laguna Capri trek info), but at the trail fork, you take the path sign-posted to Poincenot.
This trek offers a great viewpoint to the Fitzroy range. It is an easy but long trek. This walk allows you to enjoy the mountains, glaciers, glacial valleys, Patagonian forests, and lagoons.
The trail head start is located at the end of the main San Martin Avenue. This is also the current northern urban limit of El Chalten village.
During the first thirty minutes the trail is quite steep until you reach the natural viewpoint of the De las Vueltas valley.
Shortly after the viewpoint, you will enter the Del Salto river valley heading towards Mount Fitz Roy. The path winds its way up the glacially-formed valley side, affording a lovely view. After about one and a half hours more trekking you will notice the beginning of the Patagonia forest of Ñires and Lenga trees until you reach a signposted fork that indicates the footpath to Laguna Capri is to the left and to the right is to the viewpoint of the Mount Fitz Roy and Laguna de Los Tres, you must take the trail from the right.
From here you will walk a further 2hrs through a forest of Lenga and Ñires trees, the trail continues going up the Del Salto stream to the drainage area of the Madre and Hija lagoons and after that you arrive to Rio Blanco where the camp site is located. Poincenot campsite is a good spot to take pictures of Fitz Roy during sunrise.
Click on map for larger image