El Bolsón and Lago Puelo: A Slow Guide to Parallel 42

• Why Parallel 42 feels different
• The road south is half the plan
• El Bolsón: plan your day around the feria
• Piltriquitrón and the Bosque Tallado
• Río Azul and the Cajón del Azul
• Lago Puelo, the low corner of the Andes
• El Hoyo, Epuyén and Cholila
• Eat and drink like a local
• Want more adrenaline? The Manso
• When to go, how to get there, what to pack

Most people land in Bariloche and never leave the big lake. I get it. But if you have a free day (or three), point the car south. About 120 km down RN 40 you drop into El Bolsón, a green valley town under Cerro Piltriquitrón, and a few minutes later you reach the turquoise water of Lago Puelo. This is the Comarca Andina del Paralelo 42, and it runs on its own clock. Here is what I wish I had known before my first trip.

§Why Parallel 42 feels different

The Comarca is a cluster of mountain towns that share one valley system and one way of living. On the Río Negro side you have El Bolsón, El Manso, El Foyel and Los Repollos. Cross the 42nd parallel into Chubut and you find Lago Puelo, El Hoyo, Epuyén, Cholila and El Maitén. Locals treat it as one place.

El Bolsón sits in a glacial valley carved by the Río Quemquemtreu, and valleys like this one are called “bolsones”, which is the most likely origin of the name. The town counts 28 January 1926 as its founding day, when its first Comisión de Fomento met. Then, from the late 1960s and into the 1970s, young people from the big cities came looking for a quieter life. They built farms and workshops, planted berries and started selling crafts. That hippie wave still shapes the town’s personality.

In 1984 El Bolsón became the first municipality in Argentina to declare itself a non-nuclear zone, and its municipal charter still says so.

The national tourism account sums up the region nicely here:

None of it feels staged. People really do live off their gardens, looms and breweries.

§The road south is half the plan

The drive from Bariloche is one of my favorite stretches in Patagonia. RN 40 runs past Lago Gutiérrez, Lago Mascardi and Lago Guillelmo, all inside Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, before the valley opens toward El Foyel and El Bolsón. The road is paved the whole way, and if you are not driving, buses connect Bariloche and El Bolsón many times a day.

Take it slow and pull over at the lake viewpoints.

§El Bolsón: plan your day around the feria

The Feria Regional started in the 1970s, when growers and artisans met spontaneously in the center of town to sell fruit and then crafts. The municipality made it official in 1979, and in the 1980s it moved to Plaza Pagano, a garden square designed back in 1937. Today the tourism office counts around 200 permanent stalls, up to 400 in summer: ceramics, wool, leather, wood, silver, candles, natural cosmetics, instruments, plus beer, cheese and fruit from the farms around town.

Feria days are Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays. On any other day the plaza is just a plaza.

Bring a mate, grab a bench and walk it slowly. Look up from the plaza and you will see the mountain that frames everything here.

§Piltriquitrón and the Bosque Tallado

Piltriquitrón means “hanging from the clouds” in Mapudungun, and at over 2,200 m it really does disappear into them. On its slope sits one of the strangest and most beautiful places in Patagonia. A lenga forest burned in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and in 1998 a group of sculptors started carving the dead trunks instead of leaving them as scars. Several editions later there are around 60 sculptures in the woods, and the province protects them as artistic heritage.

The forest that burned became a gallery. Walk it slowly and you will notice faces everywhere.

Getting there: about 13 km from town (the last 10 km on gravel) climb to a parking area, and from there it is roughly an hour’s walk uphill through the forest. Río Negro’s tourism team shared the trail a while back:

On the other side of the valley, the Cabeza del Indio is a shorter classic. It is a giant rock face shaped over centuries by wind and water, inside the Loma del Medio forest reserve, and it holds deep spiritual meaning for Mapuche descendants. From the viewpoints you look straight down onto the emerald Río Azul.

§Río Azul and the Cajón del Azul

That river is the soul of El Bolsón’s backcountry. The Río Azul runs glacier green through a valley dotted with mountain refugios, one of the biggest networks of its kind in South America. The star hike is the Cajón del Azul, a narrow canyon where the river squeezes between rock walls into impossibly clear pools.

The trail starts near Wharton, about 15 km from town, and the round trip is around 16 km. It is a proper full day, and many people sleep at the refugio, so check availability before you go.

Register your trek online before you go. It is mandatory in the Río Azul protected area, and it is how they know to look for you.

The season runs roughly October to April. Here is the river doing its thing:

Short on time? The Cabeza del Indio route passes the Mirador del Azul, all the color with less mileage.

§Lago Puelo, the low corner of the Andes

Cross into Chubut and follow RP 16 to Parque Nacional Lago Puelo, about 4 km past the town of Lago Puelo. It started as an annex of Los Alerces in 1937 and became a national park on its own in 1971. The lake sits at only about 200 m above sea level, one of the lowest points of the cordillera, and that mild pocket lets Valdivian rainforest species grow on the Argentine side.

Easy ways to meet it:

• Sendero y Mirador del Lago: a short climb to a rock with the whole basin in front of you.
• Pitranto Grande and El Chucao: gentle forest loops, great for birds.
• Bosque de las Sombras: a boardwalk through pitra forest, partly open while it is being rebuilt.

You are on the Argentine side of the Andes, looking at a lake that drains through Chile into the Pacific.

My favorite move is the boat. Trips cross the lake to the Los Hitos dock, where you walk to the border marker with Chile and see where the Río Puelo is born. Pack a layer, because the stream that comes down from the glacier there is seriously cold. Chubut’s official account calls this one of the few places in Argentina with Valdivian forest, and they are right:

Longer trails like El Faldeo and Los Hitos ask you to check in at the ranger post first, and kayakers register with Prefectura.

§El Hoyo, Epuyén and Cholila

Keep going south on RN 40 and the Comarca gets even quieter. El Hoyo is the National Capital of Fine Fruit, with a festival every January since 1986. Raspberries, strawberries, cherries, gooseberries and cassis everywhere. From there a side road leads to Puerto Patriada on Lago Epuyén, a calm beach in the forest.

Epuyén is a small village next to one of the warmest lakes in the area, great for a swim in January. Further on, Cholila has a wild bit of history: Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and Etta Place lived there as ranchers between 1901 and 1905, and their cabin still stands as provincial heritage.

§Eat and drink like a local

This is farm country, and it shows on the table.

• Craft beer. The valley grows hops. Río Negro is Latin America’s top hop province, and El Bolsón produces about 80% of it. The harvest starts in late February.
• Fruta fina. Raspberries are the star, with cherries, currants and cassis. Out of season you find them in jams and pastries.
• Trout. From the cold rivers and lakes, often smoked.

My rule: one pint and one jar of raspberry jam per visit. Minimum.

§Want more adrenaline? The Manso

From October to April there is a wilder way into this corner. The lower Río Manso runs toward the Chilean border, and the rafting day we list is Class III and IV, ending right at the frontier. It is a full day, minimum age 14, and it runs in the rain.

There is also a combo that pairs the raft with a horseback ride through the Manso valley, a slow way to see the forest after the white water.

Keep it on its own day, separate from El Bolsón.

§When to go, how to get there, what to pack

• When to go. Summer (December to March) is long days, berries, the feria at full size and swimming in Epuyén. Late summer brings the hop harvest and autumn the red forests. Spring is green and quiet. In winter the Cerro Perito Moreno ski area opens nearby.
• How to get there. About 120 km on RN 40 from Bariloche, fully paved. Frequent buses run between both towns, or join an organized day.
• How long. El Bolsón plus Lago Puelo is a full day from Bariloche. Stay a night if you can and give the Cajón del Azul its own day.
• Layers. The weather changes several times a day.
• Good shoes and a refillable bottle for the trails.
• Swimsuit and a towel for the lakes, plus a full change of clothes for the Manso.
• DNI or passport. The rafting day asks for it.
• Cash for the feria stalls, and a Lightning wallet for settling up with your guide in sats.

Planning a Bariloche trip and want the Comarca in it? Ask in DM.

Photos: idobi, Gastón Cuello, Jaqura1, Ivana nadal, watsilchum and TitiNicola via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 and 4.0), and Lauke Tours (Manso). Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).