Starting from the gate ,a few meters from Guardaparque’s house, begins the car track that after 3km takes you to Castaño Overo river, you cross it by the pedestrian bridge and follow the road that ascends a little. Approximately 800 meters after, you will find a sign that marks the detour to Paso de las Nubes, Refugio Agostino Rocca and Lago Frías. 

Take this detour that goes to the right and after 700 meters you will reach Alerce river. The road continues always bordering the river, sometimes next to its shores and sometimes a little further.  After 5km of walking, you will arrive to a bridge that cross the river. A few minutes later, and after skirting the mallín on the left, (you don’t wet your feet as before), the road begins little by little to climb with more slope, and without realizing you are already in the “snail” (rise with zigzag shape with steep slope).

 

After overcoming the “snail” the road ascends in a more gentle way with ascents and descents through a stone canyon and small mallines, until finally arriving at a large green grass mallín from where you can see the refuge that is already nearby.

Crossing the mallín and following the marks that go up to the left in 5 minutes you will be in the Refuge.

You have to get up early as the return boat sails from Lago Frías at 2:30 p.m. The most convenient thing is to have breakfast in the early hours and leave to enjoy the tour that is 12 km long. 

All the way is signposted and has signs that indicate the kilometers that you have already traveled: 00/12 – 01/12 – 02/12 – 03/12, etc. So you can go calculating times, enjoy the journey and get to the boat on time.

The road begins in the same refuge with a descent that crosses a beautiful lenga forest.

Arriving at the end of the descent you will go to some rocks from where you can see the front of the Frias glacier. Here begins a small stone path downhill and at the height of Km 4 you will reach the Frias River that drains from the glacier with an impressive view of it. 

 

The river is crossed by a wooden bridge and from this point the trail goes through the forest always on the right bank of the river but quite far from it. From this point you will be able to notice how the vegetation, thanks to the humid air coming from the Pacific Ocean (Chile is already close),  begins to transform into a Valdivian jungle full of flowers, vines that cover the trees and, if you pay attention, you will see some very large and ancient alerces.

At Km 9 you will find a suspension bridge that crosses the Frías River and from here you have the last three kilometers that border the river along the left margin until you reach Puerto Frías.