Lago Leones Trailhead | Tourist Attraction

November 14th, 2023 by Clementine

A new owner put some signs on the road, telling that tourists are not welcome on his land (see picture)

January 12th, 2023 by swissoverlander.ch

Beautiful hike! We did it in two days and pitched our tent next to the lake. There are spaces at the lake for tents. The 'No camping' sign seems to be for the private property only. We asked a local guide if it's ok to camp and he said yes.
The bridge looks a bit scary, but it was ok for our 3.2 tones VW T5. Right behind us was a 7 meter Mercedes Sprinter 515 2x4 (carries 15 people) crossing. The people got off before crossing the bridge though :-). It was dry, so no 4x4 needed. But I wouldn't drivr there in rainy conditions.

December 19th, 2021 by dhorne.celine

half day (20km return, mostly flat) trek from the trailhead, wonderful views at the end.
horseflies literally ate us alive on large parts of the trail so if in season, under no circumstances use dark clothing! we commited the error to be in dark blue and it was torture.

about access: arrived on a dry day after a dry couple of weeks. did not connect 4x4 in our 4runner but could have on sandy patches. We passed the bridge but this was silly - not fit for vehicles anymore, even from rural Chilean standards (we live in rural Chile ;) ). bridge is about 4km before trailhead so consider adding this to the walk.

January 21st, 2021 by fierydruid

Dont do this hike in heavy rain. The bridge to cross the fast flowing 10 m plus wide river will be submerged as we found out later when it started pouring. Part of the bridge is just a loose plank and it was moving all over when we tried to cross on the way back

At the 30-40% mark the trail for a few km is submerged, basically a river in mid Jan

Views are good, hike safe

January 31st, 2020 by Einmalrundum

We did the hike with a trip from „Tourismo Kalem“ in Puerto Guadal. Not a cheap option but you save your car the bumpy drive up to the trailhead and most important there is a boat waiting to bring you across the lake right up close to the three glaciers! For us even with the hike being beautiful we only would do it combined with the boat trip, otherwise the view of the glaciers are way in the distance only

January 30th, 2020 by sf.chile2019

road is not in good condition but I think not worst then the road to the last camping, or maybe even better. did it in a 24 year old, 2wh pick up.

December 22nd, 2019 by maureen_h

To get there, the road is not really good. We have a van and we started driving, but after 3kms we decides to stop (just before enter in the first private property). With a 4x4 it's fine, but I think you need high clearence and good tyres to go there. When it's rainning, it's more difficult. So we parked 2kms before the first camping on the road, did 7kms by

October 22nd, 2019 by flowersofsin

The road is not that bad. I personally wouldn't do it without high clearance, but I saw a regular car make it no problem. No big trucks, though. Not only is there a sketchy bride, but there are also low branches and some of the gates and not very wide. I had a lot of fun driving that road! Waaay more fun than driving that last stretch of the Carretera Austral!

As for the hike : Best one of the carretera austral, in my opinion! Amazing views, no one around, length is just right and best of all, it's free! After getting ripped off at those other hikes, this feels great!!

March 27th, 2019 by rncmarques

The hike and glacier views are well worth the time to eat here. Hiking trail is flat and easy.

The most suitable vehicles for access to the trailhead, based on the sketchy bridge and road conditions, in my opinion are SUVs or pickups/utility vehicles. We did it quite easily in a Toyota RAV4 (2 wheel drive) at roughly 25km/hr on average. Guys behind us had a Mitsubishi Duster.

March 8th, 2019 by Wyld Eagle Adventures

Amazing hike, worth the drive to me. In Toyota Tacoma 4x4 with FourWheelCamper took just over an hour. Wider vehicles (>2m) might not like the bridge though.

January 31st, 2018 by buymeford

This is the end of the road. Cant drive further than this point as the is a sign and a locked gate. You have to hike past this point. Great two track to the trailhead. Lots of fun on an adventure bike. Highly recommend, feels more like trail than road. Great for little 4x4 rigs also. Great views.

Jfman

January 30th, 2018 by instagram.com/slowcookingsalmon

Unfortunately we didn't make it all the way up to the trailhead, the road is very rough, there were some parts of deep sand and a lot of scratching from the branches going on. Once we got to a very suspiciously looking bridge, we stopped and continued waking for a bit.
Overall, it took us an hour to go 8km. The glacier looks very beautiful from the far, but you really should have a powerful car that is not too high to make it all the way to the trailhead.

January 28th, 2018 by Overland The Americas

Be very careful and make sure your vehicle is not too heavy to cross the wooden bridge. We inspected the bridge beams and one was seriously fractured and the other was bent like a hammock. It’s really wobbly and super sketchy. We ended up deciding not to cross it. We’re 3.5 tons. I had a really bad feeling the bridge could collapse under our weight. Not worth the risk.

December 3rd, 2017 by rainer.zufall

Very nice trail to the lake leones. The road has some sandy spots, be careful here. With a little better clearance then a VW Golf you can easily go there with 2wd. We had a Chevrolet n300 campervan. In total 6 gates but it's allowed to open them! There is a wooden bridge at the end which had seen her best days --> not passable by big rigs. Horseflies are annoying

November 3rd, 2017 by eemiel

We turned around after 3kms. We don't have 4x4, but it was mostly the height of the car that made us turn around. We were scraping the bottom a lot. We have a fiat Doblo maxi.

February 9th, 2017 by hana.grundmannova

We came to this spot around 3pm on partly sunny day, went to the lake and got back when it was almost dark. It took us 2 hours to walk to the viewpoint above the lake,then we spent ca. 2 hours waiting for the weather to get better and another 2 hours to get back to the car. The walk is easy with short technical part in the middle. We spent the night at the parking lot and stayed even half of the next day. Few cars passed in the morning, including the owners who went behind the gate, but since we were in the car with no equipment around, nobody cared at all. There is a camera behind the gate so we would recommend not to push forward as you would only help yourself one kilometer. You will pass around six or more private property gates on the way to this spot, but all of them you can open and they ask you to keep them closed. Our opinion is that if yiu come on rainy or cloudy day, it is not worth it, but if you can get a clear day, then this is a must-view.

December 21st, 2016 by ramblinglarder.com

We made it approximately 5km up the road to an abandoned hut. We turned around due to rainy weather. The road seems to be passable but there are some very large puddles. The valley is beautiful, we had a spectacular view of the 5 peaks of a nearby mountain.

April 1st, 2016 by La Vuelta al mundo en N días

A 9.2km trail start here to the edge of Campos de Hielo Norte. It looks like a private road but access is permitted, just leave gates closed. Very heavy and large trucks could have problems reaching this point, low branches, narrow path (my camper is 3.3 mts high and hit a few flexible ones without damage). Not 4WD needed but with rain this could change. Last 5km of the road, and all the trail are inside a private park with plenty of no camping signs but yesterday, I finished the trail at 7:30pm so just stayed parked at the parking area, didn't see anybody to ask if is permitted or not. Outside the private area there is plenty of better spots to camp.