Will and I woke up on our penultimate day in Cochamó to rain pattering on the forest floor as we snuggled cozily in our sleeping bags under a rock. Honestly it felt like we had finally figured out how to exist in Cochamó. We had a great climbing day yesterday, timed the hike up on the previous day very well, didn’t get wet overnight, and now have a leisurely hike down in the sprinkling rain which I daresay may be pleasant. Good thing we’re finally figuring out all of the timing just as we’re planning to leave.

The trail was a bit slippery on the 3 hour hike down from Trinidad Valley to base camp, especially the rocky areas, but still relatively enjoyable. Will lost his phone at some point while we were hiking and had to go back up the trail looking for it (does the jetboil lid saga ring a bell?!), but at least this time it was a 5-minute error and not an hour and a half like last time.

The most exciting part of the day was running into jungle cow (not literally). When we were about forty-five minutes from base camp, we turned a corner on the trail and stopped suddenly because a cow was taking up the entire width of the path, facing away from us and munching heartily on some plants. It would be hard to overstate how surprised we were. This wasn’t a flat, wide, open forest trail. The trees were dense, the trail was muddy and slippery, and most shockingly, very steep. We ended up following this cow down the trail for at least twenty minutes, unable to pass because the path wasn’t wide enough and we didn’t want to get kicked in the face. (As a side note, it’s very possible this was actually a bull, I can’t tell from the video, but the story sounds better when I say “cow” so that’s what I’m going with.)

At one point on a particularly steep section of the trail, the cow literally stepped over a giant log, which was bigger in diameter than the distance from the cow’s belly to the ground, and slid sideways on the log with hooves flailing in the air about ten feet down to the next flatter part of the trail. How she even got up that part of the trail in the first place is honestly a mystery, but the down didn’t look all that fun. Or maybe that’s her idea of a good belly scratch, who knows.

During the twenty minutes that we were following the cow, I tried to get Will to take more photos and videos besides the one we have (posted below), but he was reluctant because he was genuinely worried about the wellbeing of the cow, and also on high alert for any potential passing opportunities. I suppose I could have gotten my own phone out but it was buried in a zippered pocket of my backpack and I was preoccupied with watching this giant lumbering bovine pick its way nimbly over roots and through the mud. Definitely the most impressive cow antics that I’ve witnessed to date.

Eventually the trail got a little flatter and more open, and I swear the cow pulled over to the side intentionally in order to let us to pass. Either that, or the tastier plants were over on that side. Either way, we scurried past as soon as we had space, gave the cow a nod, and continued on our merry way.

We made it back to camp just as the drizzle turned into a downpour, so pretty good timing. We immediately went over to cook lunch in the central hangout area of the campground, which is an actual building with picnic tables and a fire pit inside. We had some fresh onion, ginger, and garlic leftover from Pía and Nacho’s stash that they had left behind, so we fried those up with some black beans to add to our dehydrated pasta and tomato sauce Huel pouch. Definitely in the running for the tastiest meal of the trip. Plus we now know that we have enough food to make it through tomorrow and we’re no longer rationing ingredients. Bring out all the gummy bears!

After hanging out under the roof by the fire in our camp chairs reading kindles for a few hours, as is customary on rainy days, we decided we should get ourselves together for the hike out tomorrow. While I tracked down the arrieros (horse guys) to see if we could get a horse to carry our heaviest bags down the trail tomorrow, Will brought all of our stuff over to the covered porch area of the building so we could repack out of the rain. Everything had to be condensed back into the four bags it arrived in: two big packs for the horse and one smaller backpack for each of us. I really wish I had taken a photo of our stuff spread out all over this wooden porch, but alas, I never think of these things in the moment. Maybe next time.

I hadn’t reserved a horse ahead of time since we didn’t know which day exactly we’d be hiking out of the Cochamó Valley, but it wasn’t that hard to find someone and just add ourselves to their next trip down. Chileans are so chill about everything. Maybe one day I’ll learn to be that chill. It’s hard being an eager beaver all the time.

Day 15 Modified Perfect Ratio

49 pitches : 41 hours

The full list of Cochamó posts can be found here.