Category: Bushwalking

The Carretera Austral was the least structured part of the trip with around 3 weeks to see how far south we could get, and which way we might get back. Despite being the least structured it probably had the most research put into it before we left.

The Carretera Austral is the name given to Chile’s Highway (Ruta) 7. It is a 1,240km stretch of road passing through some incredibly scenic landscape. The southern end of it at Villa O’Higgins is a dead-end for vehicles, though cyclists and pedestrians can go cross-country, with some logistical challenges, to El Chaltén in Argentina. Due to the terrain – glaciers, mountains, fjords – some sections require ferry travel to access them. The highway is mainly sealed to Villa Cerro Castillo. There are whole guidebooks dedicated to it, and while it might have still been ‘off the radar’ 15 years ago it is definitely well travelled now days.

The main decisions to be made in advance are how are you going to travel it:

• Will you hire a car?
  • If so what sort? 4WD? Camper trailer?
  • One way hire or loop?
  • Are you going into Argentina?
• Where are you starting from?
• What sections are you doing?
• If not a car then what? Hitch-hike? Bus? Cycle?
• Camping or not?

You need to work through the various options, as they all have their own difficulties. Eventually we settled on doing a loop trip out of Puerto Montt. We concluded that one way hire, for at least the options we were considering, was expensive, difficult and added a whole lot of boring driving on the Argentinian side. We decided to go with an SUV rather than a 4WD – since all the information we could find suggested that a 4WD was a nice to have rather than a necessity if just doing the main route (and it saved a significant amount of money). With the variability of the weather we decided not to rely on camping (despite my use of the tent icon on the map!).

Even with the broad brush decisions made there were lots of decisions which were going to happen on the road – we expected these to be largely based on the weather.

The plan already had 3 nights in Puerto Varas at the start, as we were expecting to be tired after the involved travel days from Cusco to San Pedro de Atacama. However, we arrived in Puerto Varas sick as well as tired, and at that stage the whole trip just seemed so overwhelming we were contemplating just heading north to Pucón and hiring a house on a lake for a week.

Fortunately after a couple of days in our lovely AirBnB we were feeling slightly more inspired and with a less aggressive start managed to get on our way.

I’ve split the trip up into 4 sections:

• Days 0-4: Puerto Varas – Chaitén
• Days 5-7: Chaitén – Puerto Gaudal
• Days 8-11: Patagonia National Park
• Days 12-19: Cochrane – Puerto Varas

There were a couple of things we’d read before we went that didn’t match our experience:

• “You need to carry lots of cash” – we only used cash in 2 places during our time on the Carretera Austral: for accom in Villa Cerro Castillo & for the Marble Caves boat tour. Everywhere else we were able to use credit card. We could have got more expensive accom in Villa Cerro Castillo using credit card.
• “Fill up the car with petrol every opportunity” – we were driving a relatively fuel efficient vehicle, so maybe our range was a bit better than driving a camper trailer? We didn’t feel any anxiety about this and had no issues getting fuel.

Bear in mind that we were travelling in shoulder season (November), and only went as far south as Cochrane. Otherwise the only other thing which tripped us up was our hire car only had USB-C outlets, so we had no way to charge anything in the car. Bring a USB-A to USB-C adaptor!

Our wonderful weather was looking like it was going to come to an end, and I was keen to get through the dirt road and back to Villa Cerro Castillo (where the seal starts/ends) ahead of it. From Cochrane we made it into Puerto Rio Tranquilo mid-morning and instantly had touts pimping their tours to Marble Caves. We ended up just going with the guy who had helped direct us to a car park – which in the end made no real difference. With the poor weather due that afternoon, and it being shoulder season, there were barely enough passengers to justify a boat going out at 11am (which was good as there was lots of space!). Subsequently, everyone who was signed up, regardless of who with, ended up on the same consolidated boat.

The weather wasn’t too bad when we set out, and at the caves themselves it was sunny and still. I was more impressed than I expected – but I’d had very low expectations. Condors nest on the cliffs near the caves so we saw them flying around above us which was an added highlight. The boat trip back was a bit exciting as the wind had picked up creating quite large waves – the boat went airborne several times as we cut across the waves.

Marble Caves tour

Marble Caves

Marble Caves tour

The section of road between Puerto Rio Tranquilo and Villa Cerro Castillo was the worst we encountered on the whole trip. There were lots of potholes – which we hadn’t really encountered on any of the other gravel roads. And by this stage it was raining and some sections of the road did not have much traction. There was also more oncoming traffic than we’d had elsewhere – despite all that we only took half an hour longer than the Google estimate.

We stopped at a lookout just out of Villa Cerro Castillo. It was so windy we could barely get in/out of the car, and Tom wasn’t able to hold his camera still enough to take a photo!

On approach to Villa Cerro Castillo – Tom can’t hold the camera still enough to take a photo due to the wind

When we arrived at our accommodation in Villa Cerro Castillo our host said the wind was at 100km/h – and that was down in the village – I can’t imagine how windy it was on the peaks. Needless to say we didn’t try and secure a guide to go walking this time! I didn’t sleep well as I was waiting for the roof to blow off, or for something to smash into the car. Fortunately neither happened! Given the weather there was little incentive to get moving, indeed there was more reason to stay put, so we checked out as late as possible.

The first half of the drive to Coyhaique was relatively protected but the second half was on open roads and there was a lot of buffeting of the car. Given the forecast for the next couple of days wasn’t great, and we’d largely done what we wanted on the way south, we decided to have two nights in Coyhaique to see off the weather. It was good to have a bit more selection on the dinner front and enjoyed two nice meals (not pizza or burgers) while we were there.

Our main exercise over the time there was a walk along Ruta 7 to Mirador Rio Simpson. I would have liked to climb Cerro Mackay, the prominent peak, but with wind forecasts of up to 70km/h it didn’t seem like the best idea.

Exercise while in Coyhaique (Cerro Mackay looms over the town)

Now that is a distinct colour change at a river confluence! Mirador Rio Simpson

There’d been a lot of options on how we could get back to Puerto Varas: back the way we came or ferries from about 3 different places. In the end we’d opted to take the ferry from Puerto Cisnes to Quellón. The reasons for choosing this option were – it limited the repeat driving we had to do, we would get the opportunity to see all of Chiloe Island, and (less importantly) it was an overnight ferry so we’d save a night’s accommodation/didn’t spend all day travelling.

We hadn’t factored in it being a Sunday and many restaurants/cafes being closed en route and in Puerto Cisnes (though it could have been November rather Sunday that was the problem). We were pleasantly surprised to stumble on a cafe which did a decent coffee and excellent mini croissants. Dinner however ended up being hot dogs (completos) from a food truck. As it turned out most of the traffic on the ferry was trucks, and they had to back on, which was quite complex. Unsurprisingly the (few) cars were loaded last and we were allowed to turn around on board making life a lot easier. There weren’t many passengers on board so we happily commandeered a row of three seats each and got a reasonable sleep.

Lookout over Puerto Cisnes

I was quite happy when I woke up and it was light – that meant we should be docking soon, as it was a 12 hour ferry (8pm-8am). Unfortunately Tom then told me we hadn’t moved for some hours…. Checking our position using the GPS/map app we were some 10km south of Melinka (the only stop on the route). We got a free coffee and a packet of biscuits each for breakfast, but no information. And then spaghetti bolognaise got given out for lunch, but still no information. Eventually about 1:30pm we started moving, and got into Melinka at 2pm.

View for about 11 hours…

Our stuck spot for 11 hours

There were a lot of passengers waiting to board, and the ferry was pretty packed by the time we left Melinka around 2:30pm. We finally got into Quellón just after 7pm – 24 hours on the ferry instead of 12! We had a mad dash to the supermarket and then hit the road for our AirBnB which was half way up the island. So much for our leisurely day of sight-seeing. Fortunately we got there just on dark as it would have been tricky to spot the driveway in the dark.

So happy to get to our lovely AirBnB – complete with fresh flowers

The next day we headed to the sculpture Muelle de las Almas (Pier of the Souls). By complete coincidence our AirBnB host was the artist who created it. Like many things it’s become an instagram favourite, and in peak times gets crazy – as evidenced by the sign advising 2 minutes per person. There was one other couple visiting that morning, so we had as much time as we wanted. It’s a 2km walk each way from the car park, and we had surprisingly good weather.

Fortunately the 2 minutes maximum doesn’t really apply when you’re the only ones there!

Muelle de las Almas

We then had to toss up whether to go to the newer sculpture which was a much longer walk, or whether to visit Chiloe National Park. We opted for the national park, which was somewhat underwhelming (especially given the entry fees!). Of course, several of the walks were closed. We did everything that was open, I enjoyed Sendero Dunas de Cucao the best.

Chiloe National Park

Chiloe National Park

So many flowers on one bush

Sendero Playa doesn’t actually get you to the beach unless you wade through Rio Puchanqui

Reminiscent of Sydney Red Gums

The next day was (sort of) our final day of the road trip as we were to get back to Puerto Varas that night. It was also the worst weather day – in that it rained on and off the entire day. We had our final ferry to get back onto mainland Chile and then back to the AirBnB we’d stayed in when we arrived.

That night (Wednesday) we discovered that tragically several people had died on the “O Circuit” in a massive storm on Monday. We were due to start the O Circuit on Saturday so we were unsure what that meant for us. So on Thursday we panic-bought some microspikes (given the likely conditions in Torres del Paine), and I got a new pair of boots as the ones I’d started the trip with were unlikely to survive an 8 day hike, particularly if we were walking in snow.

With our shopping behind us, we headed around Lago Llanquihue to Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park. Of course we paid a squillion dollars for 1.5 hours of walking tracks. The waterfalls through the old lava flows at least had some wow factor, so we didn’t feel quite as gouged as Chiloe National Park.

Tom being Tom

Petrohué Waterfalls and Volcan Osorno

Views of Volcan Osorno

Views of Volcan Osorno from our AirBnB

Friday morning we had an early start to fly from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales. I failed to pack my pocket knife in my checked luggage, but fortunately they let me go back and check another bag so I didn’t lose it altogether!

Thus ended our Northern Patagonian adventures.

From Puerto Gaudal it should have been a short drive to the Chacabuco Sector of Patagonia National Park. We had been warned there were roadworks and sections of the road were closed for large parts of the middle of the day so we were off early to try and avoid getting stuck in those. However I decided we had enough time for the 1km round trip walk to the confluence of Rio Baker and Rio Neff – famous for the colour differences as the grey glacial Neff merges with the blue Baker.

We didn’t hit any complete road closures but there was still some pretty slow sections where only one side of the road was operating so we were a bit later than anticipated getting to the Visitors’ Centre of Patagonia National Park.

Confluence of Rio Baker (front) & Rio Neff (back). Note the colour difference.

Much of Patagonia National Park was created via donation of land purchased by a US Foundation led by Kristine Tompkins (nee McDivitt). Kristine was also the CEO of the company Patagonia (of apparel fame) for 20 years. It’s quite an interesting history of rewilding cattle ranches to what it is today. Kristine’s husband Doug (an original North Face apparel founder) was involved in a similar process for the creation of Pumalin National Park.

We spent 2 nights/3 days camping & hiking in the Chacabuco sector and then visited the Tamango sector from Cochrane. Our original plan had been to hire a tent & mats at the start of the road trip but that didn’t end up happening, and there’s very little option for doing so once you leave Puerto Montt. So to avoid a 40 min drive to/from Cochrane each day to visit Chacabuco, we ended up buying a cheap tent and air mats from the Chilean equivalent of Bunnings in Coyhaique. The tent proudly declared its use scenario – one season only! If the forecast hadn’t been good we never would have considered this but the weather was still on our side.

Arriving at the Park we had hoped to camp at the Casa de Piedra Campground, but (surprise, surprise!) it wasn’t yet open for the season so that meant our only option was the West Winds Campground. With that decision made for us we did the relatively flat La Vega Trail (7km?) before lunch. This took us past the graveyard, including Doug Tompkins grave.

Graveyard at Patagonia NP

La Vega Trail

On theme, of course, the loop trail we’d intended to do before arrival was no longer in operation, and so instead we did the 10km out-and-back Cañadón Chacabuco Trail in the afternoon. We saw quite a few Guanacos on this walk. The walk went out to a suspension bridge over a short canyon section of the Rio Chacabuco. The bridge was a pretty impressive piece of infrastructure but it was unclear what its purpose was. It didn’t appear to take you anywhere useful!

Mum & baby Guanaco

Bridge to nowhere?? over Rio Chacabuco

Rio Chacabuco

Sentinel Guanaco

It was a pretty warm day and both the walks had little shade, so we were toasted by the time we finished. All I wanted at this point was to get to camp and relax. Unfortunately the road to the campsite wasn’t compatible with our car. There was one small rise that our 2WD vehicle wouldn’t get up. I then made the mistake of mentioning to the campground host I’d parked on the side of the road below the rise. He then insisted that we could only park in designated car parks, and so I had to park 1.5km from the camping area. This meant we got in a few more walking kilometres than we’d bargained for. In retrospect we shouldn’t have bothered walking the La Vega trail since the route to our car meant we walked a section of it several times over the next two days…

West Winds Campground

Our next hike was the 23km Lagunas Altas Trail. I had hoped to get started quite early to avoid the heat, but with the need to walk an extra 3km to the car to get gear and back to the trail head at camp, it wasn’t an overly early start (8:30am). Fortunately it clouded over as there wasn’t much tree cover! The first 6km of the walk is pretty constant up – climbing 850m. From there it undulates around and alongside rocky tarns and mountain tarns on the plateau.

Views part way up the Lagunas Altas Trail

Lagunas Altas Trail

Lagunas Altas Trail

Lagunas Altas Trail

By the time we got back to camp we’d clocked up 25km and were pretty tired! The campground had cleared out from the day before and there were only 2 cars in the car park (not ours of course). We enjoyed the hot showers (solar heated) and the picnic tables. A guided walking tour from the (very expensive) lodge, the only accommodation besides the campsite in the park, had a late afternoon tea in the picnic shelter next to us. The guide gave us their leftover teabags and energy bars – I was very happy about this because I’d left my teabags in the car and there was no way I was walking an extra 3km to go and get them!

Fancy freebies

Crested Caracara ruling the roost at the campground

We might have stayed a third night at the West Winds Campground if it hadn’t been for our inability to drive there. I was adamant I wasn’t doing that 3km round trip for another day. So we packed up and headed further into the park to the Casa de Piedra Campground (where we’d hoped to stay) – the trailhead for the 16km Las Avilés Trail. As we were getting ready to leave the car a large bus pulled up and about 15 trail runners hopped out – they were looking very cold in their skimpy trail running outfits (it was an overcast morning). They were on a trail running holiday – running every day for a week through the area.

Las Avilés Trail

Las Avilés Trail

We did the trail in the direction it had been described to us at the Visitors’ Centre – which was the opposite direction to the trail distance markers. Just as we’d got 7km in (so the 9km marker) we got to a side creek crossing that was flowing pretty strongly. We headed upstream a fair way to try and find a dry feet crossing but no luck. Back at the original crossing point I was the guinea pig to see how the crossing would go – it was quite ‘pushy’ and would have been very difficult without walking poles. From there it was about 700m to the main river crossing where we hoped the bridge still existed!!

Unexpected deep crossing!

The trailrunners were crossing the bridge (along with much filming/photography) as we arrived. It was a one person at a time bridge, and far less substantial than the bridge we’d visited two days earlier. The section of canyon below it was quite impressive, though hard to get a good view of.

Furthest point on the Las Avilés Trail

We got a bit of light rain and the wind picked up. Unfortunately the wind meant a couple of nice lunch spots were out of the question and we ended up at sheltering behind the ruins of an old hut. It was a surprisingly undulating last 6km, and from an interest point of view we were happy with the direction we’d chosen to walk the trail.

Flowers

Back at the car mid-afternoon we headed out of the Chacabuco Sector and further south on Ruta 7 to the small town of Cochrane. Despite various claims on Google of restaurant opening hours, pizza ended up being the only dinner option.

The following day we decided we’d earned a lazy morning! We were under the impression that the Los Carpinteros Trail was a relatively easy track, so headed out to do it in the afternoon. Sadly, given how tired we were from the three previous days, it ended up being a lot harder than we were expecting. The first two-thirds of the trail felt like there was no flat – constant undulations – some of which were 100m+. That meant it was a much more interesting walk but I could have done with a “boring” track! It ended up being 3.5 hours for 9.5km, including a 20 minute break at the far end, and a few side trails on the way back.

Los Carpinteros Trail

Los Carpinteros Trail – the amazingly clear Rio Cochrane

Los Carpinteros Trail – views over a small part of Lago Cochrane

Los Carpinteros Trail

Los Carpinteros Trail – Chilean Firebush (Embothrium coccineum)

Cochrane was our turn-around point on the Carretera Austral, and now it was time for us to start heading back north towards Puerto Varas. We never could have imagined the amazing run of good weather we ended up with on our way south!

Wanting to miss the road works closures we headed off early the next morning, hoping to make it to Puerto Rio Tranquilo and the Marble Caves before the bad weather set in.

Having exhausted all our hiking options in Pumalin National Park we continued south along the Carraterra Austral. Our first stop for the day was a short walk (6km) to the Yelcho Glacier viewpoint in Parque Nacional Corcovado. Unfortunately the glacier was only just visible below the cloud, which lifted about 20 minutes after we left! We did get a reasonable view of it from one of the lookouts near the car park on our way back. This walk was free at the time we did it, but definitely looked like they were gearing up for having an entry booth sometime soon…

Cloud ruining our view of Ventisquero Yelcho

Then we drove past our overnight stop in Puyuhuapi to Parque Nacional Queulat and did a series of short walks. At least for this park we already knew that the longer walk we wanted to do – to the Hanging Glacier – was closed, so we were not overly disappointed. Besides three of the five walks led to glacier viewpoints! The best of those was the “City of the Caesars” walk – which also had a big climb. This park was even worse than Pumalin – it closed at 4:30pm even though there was another 4 hours of daylight available. Given how crowded it gets it just boggles the mind that they don’t let the crowd spread out over the daylight hours. We helped some touring cyclists with the gate just as we were leaving, about closing time, we really hoped for their sakes they would be allowed in!

Ventisquero Colgante – the famous hanging glacier in Queulat NP

We really enjoyed our night in Puyuhuapi. We stayed in a very cosy cabin, though given how delightful the weather was we didn’t really need the fire which had been started in anticipation of our arrival. It was a lovely evening along the shoreline and we had a great meal, and first of many Chilean Carménère.

When in Queulat then drink Queulat

Puye in garlic – a variety of galaxia – same family as canyon fish 🙂

Beautiful sunset in Puyuhuapi

The next day we had a long drive to Villa Cerro Castillo via a short walk to a waterfall (Salto El Condor), and provisioning in Coyhaique, the major town in this part of Patagonia.

Salto El Condor on our way down from the very windy, dirt section of Ruta 7 – Cuesto Queulat

Roadside scenery

I had convinced Tom that we needed to get some camping gear as the next leg of the trip was going to have too much driving if we didn’t camp. So guiltily we bought the cheapest tent we have ever owned (a 1-season tent!) & a couple of air mattresses at the Chilean equivalent of Bunnings. By the time we’d done a grocery shop, got possibly the last gas cannister in the camping store, and got the camping equipment, we were running somewhat tight on time. The accommodation I’d booked in Villa Cerro Castillo had all been done via WhatsApp and was going to be held until 6pm, and we didn’t want to lose it.

Of course, as we were driving to Villa Cerro Castillo we spotted a few Huemuls on the side of the road. Apparently there are only about 1,500 of these left in the wild, so seeing them is not that common. After about 20 minutes I had to drag Tom away so that we could get to our accom!

Here’s looking at you Huemul

As we were coming down the windy road into the valley that Villa Cerro Castillo is in we got about 10 minutes of rain. We weren’t to know at this stage but it was the only rain we got in the first 11 days of this leg!

The only rain we got in the first 11 days was at this lookout

The views of Cerro Castillo from town were pretty spectacular. We were a bit disappointed we weren’t able to do the main day walk of the area (though only a bit since it is a 1,300m ascent/descent!). At that time of year, due to the low-lying snow, it was closed unless you went with a guide. We’d tried to arrange a guide but no one was available – possibly (or not) because Villa Cerro Castillo was celebrating its 59th anniversary the weekend we were there.

As the sign says…

Since we couldn’t do the hike, and the weather was still in this wonderful high pressure pattern, we did some quick decision making for the next day. It hadn’t been on our radar at all in our planning, but we decided to drive to Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez and take the ferry across Lago General Carrera to Chile Chico.

Once again I convinced Tom we should arrive 2 hours in advance for the ferry, since that is what the tickets said. This was even more unnecessary than the last ferry since no one else turned up until about half an hour before! So we enjoyed an empty port and did some stretching…

The ferry left exactly on time at 12pm and we disembarked around 2:15pm. We drove up to the lookout above town before hitting the X-265. It is a truly spectacular road. The conditions were better than I was expecting – the other dirt roads we’d been on up to this point at been quite rocky but this one was pretty smooth. We stopped a few times for photos – one of the most beautiful roads I’ve ever driven.

Tom aspiring to join the statues above Chile Chico

There were definitely a few sections of the road where I was very glad we didn’t meet anything coming in the other direction though! Just before Puerto Gaudal we stopped and visited a waterfall, which was quite impressive.

Top of Cascada El Maqui

Top of Cascada El Maqui

The stunning Lago General Carrera

We “splurged” on a more expensive AirBnB so we could get Wi-Fi for the night. It seemed a shame, a bit like Puyuhuapi, to only spend one night in Puerto Gaudal, but besides the beautiful scenery there wasn’t much to keep us there for longer. What we’d realised as we visited these small towns was two things; firstly they were still waking up for the season, and secondly that meant often a pizza restaurant was the only open dinner option. We were getting a bit sick of pizza or burgers so we’d hoped to visit the local pub, but it was closed when we first went past. We went back at bit later, since we had found that sometimes restaurants closed between lunch and dinner. It was still closed, so we were about to give up and go to the pizza place, when the proprietor came out and sort of invited us in. It was unclear if she actually wanted to feed us, but we had a delicious meal (Tom had a pork chop, I had a chicken leg with peas. It wasn’t what I thought I was ordering but it wasn’t pizza, so I was happy!)

Stunning sunset from Puerto Gaudal

From Puerto Gaudal it was only a short drive to rejoin Ruta 7 and continue south.

Our original plan had been to get to Pumalin National Park in one day, with a very early start from Puerto Varas. Instead we split the travel into two days. The first day we left Puerto Varas mid-morning, did some grocery shopping en route, took our first ferry from Caleta La Arena to Caleta Puelche, and arrived in Hornopirén mid-afternoon.

The (not so) mighty, almost brand new, Volkswagon T-Cross

Great weather to start the trip

100km down… how many hundreds more to go?

The next day I made Tom get in the queue for the ferry 2 hours in advance, which proved somewhat unnecessary. My understanding was that the ferry route from Hornopirén to Caleta Gonzalo usually runs as a bi-modal route, with two ferries split by a short drive in the middle. Information I’d read suggested that the second ferry was a smaller vessel compared to the first, so not everyone would get onto the first sailing. So I was trying to ensure we would be on the first sailing of the second ferry… except our ferry ended up just going all the way to Caleta Gonzalo!

Our ferry arriving in Hornopirén

Distances aren’t huge – but roads aren’t fast

We were quickly off the ferry and just had to find a park since our first trailhead was at the pier. Unfortunately the Cascadas trail had been shortened (now 3km?) in the previous couple of years, and the most interesting section no longer part of it. Most people probably have no idea – but if you look at old descriptions they say things like “Parts of the trail are made by going up and down wooden ladders and using ropes to get over the rocks along the way”. The powers that be clearly decided this was all too dodgy as now the trail is much shorter and doesn’t involve any sketchy river crossings but ends at a very civilised wooden platform.

The (new) end of the Cascadas trail

We felt quite at home here – the vegetation could have been NZ or Tassie – until you ran across the Nalcas!

Completely surrounded by green!

Our second walk was the Los Alerces Trail (1.4km) which leads you to some impressive big trees. Fortunately by doing the Cascadas trail we almost missed the bus loads of passengers that had been taken here straight from the ferry.

3000-year old Larches (well not sure if this one is but some of them were that old)

Our last walk for the day was the Lago Negro Trail (2.2km). I was pretty disappointed we didn’t have any camping equipment with us at this point. The trail starts from one of the camp grounds and it was a beautiful evening. We were going to have to drive back the next day to do some of the other walks, so it would have saved us a couple of hours of driving. But, with no tent, and a cabin booked in Chaitén, there wasn’t really any option.

End of the Lago Negro Trail

The next day we headed back up the road almost back to Caleta Gonzalo to walk the longer Laguna Tronador trail. As was to become a bit of a theme, it had some “peligro” (“danger”) tape across the trailhead. We were pretty annoyed since we’d driven an hour to get there, and there had been no indication on the official websites about any closures. There was no information besides the tape so we decided to start off on it, we figured we were experienced enough walkers that we would be able to assess whether the track was dangerous. It was a pretty steady ascent, sometimes up ladders, alongside a canyon at times, to get to the underwhelming Volcan Michinmahuida lookout.

I hadn’t appreciated when looking at the map that the route went up to the lookout and then down to the laguna. We continued down until we got to a nice lookout. I questioned whether there was value in continuing on down to the lake but Tom wanted to, so we went on. In retrospect it wasn’t worth it – once upon a time there was camping at the lake but I’m not sure how many years its been since it was maintained. The camping area was completely overgrown and we ended up heading back up to the half-way lookout for morning tea. That section definitely had some rotten stuff and you needed to be careful where you walked on some of the raised walkways.

Views of Laguna Tronador

From there we backtracked up the ladders to the high point, and then down the ladders back to the road. Surprisingly (or not) we encountered a few other hikers on our way down, who like us had decided they could assess the danger for themselves. I think the route would have been unpleasant/maybe a bit precarious in rain – which in November is common – however, it had been (unseasonably) dry for over a week. I tend to think it was more the park didn’t have the flexibility to adjust its opening schedule based on the actual weather.

Negotiating slightly dodgy ladders and low-hanging trees on the Laguna Tronador trail.

One of the couples we’d bumped into said they’d ended up there because the Cascadas Escondidas Trail (different from the Cascadas Trail) was closed for maintenance. We had hoped to do that trail next so we figured we’d go have a look. Unfortunately that had very official signage notifying of its closure and we didn’t feel we could justify ignoring that, so instead we had to settle for having lunch at a roadside lookout.

We’d also discovered that it was a good thing we hadn’t planned on camping because most of the campsites don’t open until mid-December – not that you’d be able to find that on any of the websites! (Though maybe my feedback was taken into account as I see they are now updated)

Lunch at this shabby lookout overlooking Lago Negro

After lunch we continued back towards Chaitén to the Volcan Chaitén Trail. The car park at the trail head was packed! Not content with having put +/-500m vertical in our legs in the morning, we did another +/-600m (+?) on the Volcan Chaitén Trail in the afternoon. The trail was brutal being pretty much straight-up (650m ascent in 2.2km), at times quite steep. The good news was that everyone was on their way down, and by the time we got to the top there were only 2 other people there. We enjoyed the glorious views and the solitude (and rested our aching quads!) before heading back down.

Tom nearing the end of the Volcan Chaitén trail

Views from the end of Volcan Chaitén trail

Volcan Chaitén steaming behind me & Tom

Our last stop for the day was Playa (Beach) Santa Barbara. We were hoping to see dolphins here but the water was so flat it probably wouldn’t have been enough fun for them. We did acquire a dog for a walk along the beach (of course).

Beautiful Playa Santa Barbara

Dogs of South America. This one just wanted company for a beach walk.

The next day we headed south to the El Amarillo Sector of the park. We were a bit confused when we got to the park entry and it was chained shut – with a sign saying it was closed “Opening hours 8:30am-5pm”* – given it was 8:50am. Eventually we worked out that there was an admin office a couple of hundred metres back down the road. The ranger there assured us the park was open (and hurriedly sent her offsider to go and unlock the chain!). Surprise, surprise, the trail we’d planned on doing (El Ventisquero) wasn’t open for the season yet, so we had to settle on two other shorter walks.

Another glorious day

A couple of German backpackers turned up at the office as we were getting our briefing, and it was clear they didn’t have a car. I offered them a lift into the park which they gratefully accepted (otherwise it was a 5km walk in to the trailhead). Though that meant we awkwardly kept overtaking each other as we both tackled the El Mirador trail first. We got views over the glacier we’d hoped to walk to as our consolation.

Views over Glacier Michinmahuida from the El Mirador Trail

Giant rhubarb – actually Nalca

After lunch, in one of the few picnic areas we’d encountered on the trip, we did the Darwin’s Frog Trail. No Darwin’s Frogs spotted. And to be honest the trail was quite boring. Back in Chaiten we tracked down an ice cream store – but I rolled the dice on the flavour (since it was in Spanish). I thought it looked like I was ordering something with chocolate chips in it – disappointingly turned out to be passionfruit pips 🙁

Our next challenge for the day was getting our first petrol. All petrol in Chile is pumped by attendants. We had no idea how to open the fuel cap – fortunately the attendant was able to eventually communicate to us we needed to unlock the doors and that would allow her to open it. We’d already had to google how to open the bonnet of the car (not that I can recall now why we needed to get into the engine) – turned out a nondescript lever was the answer. I thought Volkswagons were supposed to be user friendly!?

Unfortunately I got my first (likely) food poisoning of the trip that night. I’d had salmon & mash at a local restaurant and it all came back up again pretty quickly. Fortunately once it was out that was the end of it. I blame the salmon. Tom had gone for the local seafood stew and was fine.

Having done 7 of the 12 walks in Pumalin National Park (of which only 6 were open) it was time to head south. Pumalin is unique in the Chilean National Parks that it doesn’t have entry fees – we didn’t realise how good this was until we got nickel and dimed at every park (and attraction) after that. I assume this is something to do with the arrangements that were agreed when the land was donated to the Chilean government by Douglas Tompkins.

*Also, let’s mention how ridiculous it is to have a park closing at 5pm when it isn’t getting dark until 8pm or later…

After being collected from our overnight bus we were glad to get some make-shift breakfast in the form of tea and crackers at the tour company’s office. I had a bit of a nap on the couch in the reception and then after handing over the wad of US Dollars that had been burning a hole in my pocket for the previous few weeks we were off. We had chosen to do a private tour (rather than being squeezed in with some random backpackers) for 3 days/2 nights to the Bolivian Salt Flats and Altiplano ending up in San Pedro de Atacama.

We decided to roll the dice with just a Spanish-speaking driver – hoping with almost 7 weeks in South America under our belts we’d have got our Spanish to a point where we’d be ok. Well, I’m not sure we’d improved our Spanish at all as we’d not really been forced to use it up to this point (in fact it was probably worse than when we left Australia!). Willy, our driver, was great and with the help of google translate we muddled through.

Before we left the office we were presented with a snack bag each, which unfortunately I didn’t photograph. However, it was stuffed with snacks and they kept us going for the next 2.5 months! I think the final ones being eaten just before we got on the plane to go home.

The first day was packed with action, starting with a visit to the train cemetery. When the mining industry collapsed in the 1940s the need for these train lines went with it. Instead of removing the trains they were just left to erode in the desert.

Train cemetery

From there we headed to the Colchani community where a lot of the salt processing is done. This wasn’t really our scene since it was primarily an opportunity to buy souvenirs – they were quite unique – large sculptures of flamingos made out of salt etc. There’s many different tour operators and they largely follow the same stops so the whole main street was just packed with 4WDs leaving me dreading what was to come.

Piles of 4WDs en route to the salt flats

Fortunately it seemed once we got onto the salt flats then the 4WDs were less clustered. Maybe since we were doing a 3 day trip rather than a 1 day trip our itinerary left the day trippers behind? One of the more interesting places for me was a spot where the water bubbled up through the salt crust.

Water bubbling up to the surface

We had lunch in the middle of the salt flats – it was great to have a proper meal. With the two overnight buses and the travel over the previous 3 days we’d eaten pretty erratically. Sadly since we were back at altitude (and sick) we weren’t indulging in any of the drinks laid out for us.

Nothingness

Lunch – definitely want the sunnies!

Post lunch we drove to one of the ‘islands’ within the salt flats which was covered with millenary cactus. We climbed to the top of the hill for amazing views. Many of the cacti were in flower.

Cactus island

Tom’s favourite – valley cloud. Oh wait that’s not cloud

The final stop for the day was a museum and some mummies. We definitely missed a bit at the museum not having an English-speaking guide but it was still very interesting.

Statues and mountains

Alpaca & Tom

We were excited to get to our accommodation and find we had vistas over the salt flats, and llamas grazing outside the windows. But our adventuring wasn’t over for the day – we drove back out onto the salt flats for sunset – unfortunately it was pretty cold and windy so we didn’t linger too long out there.

Views from our accommodation on night 1

Sundowners

Sundowners

There were three couples staying at our hotel, and we each got a table with a different triple candlestick holder, and no other light in the dining room. Tom and I had a solid wood candlestick holder so we could have played battleships as we couldn’t see anything on the other side of the table!

Dinner with a vampire?

Unfortunately my sore throat/lurgy had settled into a persistent cough, which meant not much sleep. At least we weren’t really hiking! Day 2 of the tour had us at Isla Incahuasi when it opened – as we were so early we were the only ones there. It was amazingly quiet. It was similar to the island we’d visited the day before except this one has been commercialised so we had to cough up an entry fee.

Then it was time for the photos which the saltflats are famous for – perspective photos. Fortunately Willy was all over the props and how to take the photos (though as it turns out my fiddling the night before with the llama keyring had turned out ok).

Encounters with the wildlife

Down the rabbit hole (incidentally my legs were burning by the time we’d got this photo right as I had to stay in a deep squat for quite a long time!)

Squishing bugs

This time we had lunch at a restaurant on the far side of the salt flats. Unfortunately we’d driven half an hour from the restaurant when Tom realised he’d left his camera on the seat, so we had an hour round trip to go back and retrieve it. I assume that meant we missed out on a stop (Quinoa Museum??) but I’m not sure. Either way, we had a long drive for the rest of the afternoon climbing up to Laguna Hedionda and our hotel at 4,215m.

Cushion plant

We had more wonderful views from our room – which was great as it was not warm! Once we’d warmed up and soothed our throats with some tea, we rugged up and wandered along the lake shore to check out the flamingos. We were very happy to retreat to the common room with a blazing fire after that!

View from accommodation on night 2

Flamingo

We had an early start, and unfortunately I started the day by unexpectedly vomiting up my breakfast. My sense of smell had become hyper-sensitised to unpleasant smells over  the previous few weeks and often had me gagging but this was the first (and only) time it went beyond that.

With the unpleasantness behind me, we headed out past various lagoons and then stopped to photograph vischachas. Once we got out the car they swarmed us, so clearly they are used to getting fed!

Vischacha

They are used to getting fed at this spot!

We also had a stop at Arbol de Piedro (stone tree), and wandered amongst the other rock formations. Then it was onto the main entry to Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve and Laguna Colorada (Red Lagoon) with many flamingos. We were given 40 minutes to wander the lake shore but at 4,278m it was a struggle (and very cold)!

Flamingos at Laguna Colorada 4,278m

Our lunch spot was in a restaurant by the hot springs, which I would have liked to go in, but I was coughing so much it seemed that it would be a bit anti-social (and probably not great for my chest to be in my swimmers in the cold temperatures). Post lunch we drove through the desert de Salvador Dali (so called as the landscape is somewhat surrealist), Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanco.

Next minute we were at the Bolivian-Chilean border. Willy helped us through the Bolivian side – with no signs of any ‘shakedown’ which the internet warned of. We met up with our Chilean driver in no man’s land and transferred into his van. He assisted us through the very serious Chilean formalities – made sure I didn’t do anything dreadful like have my phone visible in the immigration office! We were pretty relieved that Tom got in with no issues – the requirement for Australians to have a visa had been removed only a few weeks before our arrival and until that happened the visa process had been causing us a bit of stress.

From there it was a straight and fast descent from 4,200m down to 2,400m and the town of San Pedro de Atacama. We’d only added this tour into the itinerary as there was no simple way to get from Cusco to San Pedro de Atacama, so pleasingly it ended up being something of a highlight (would have been better if we hadn’t sick of course).