The Carretera Austral - Part One - Los Lagos
Updated: Feb 14, 2022
After spending two nights indoors we had mapped out the next three weeks in Chile and were quite confident in our plan, our constitutions bolstered by refrigerated goods and freshly laundered clothes.
This post covers the first half of our adventure on the Carretera Austral (the Southern Highway, Chile Ruta 7), in the region of Los Lagos.
We drove to the Correntoso Sector of the Alerce Andino National Park in the morning, the first park on la Ruta de los Parques (a total of 17), and the Carretera Austral. We pulled in to the empty lot and walked up the steps to the guardaparque, which appeared empty and closed, even though the website said today they were open. There was however, a loudly meowing cat, who seemed to be trying to impress upon us important information. Unfortunately, we aren't fluent in gato.
We walked around the building to the trailhead of the Mirador Huillifotem, a short loop trail through beautiful forest.
The trail started out very unusually through a perfectly planted grid of hundred year old evergreens, and then up several flights of wooden stairs. This was our first encounter with steps, stairs, and ladders on trails in Chile. Little did we know that they would feature in almost every hike immediately thereafter...
Once gaining a bit of elevation, the trail continued through very serene forest and even passed by a Cueva del Puma, a hollow in a large tree.
A short while later we were back at the trailhead which was starting to get busy. We found el gato meowing piteously in the parking lot so we called him over and opened up a can of tuna, which he proceeded to inhale. It was all gone in five minutes.
We decided to continue down the dirt road to the Sargazo sector to ask a park ranger if the Chaicas sector would be open the next day – the website stated that the Laguna Triangulo trail would only be open if the weather permitted, and only between 9am-9:30am. It had been rainy the past few days but tomorrow was meant to be partly cloudy and dry.
We found a ranger and asked, and he said yes it would be open. I also asked him if park tickets were valid for more than one day -- to which he replied no. We found the parks to be pretty expensive for extranjeros (the Correntoso Sector was free, but this and the other were both about $14 each for two people). We didn't hike in this sector because of the extra cost and the trails didn't look that exciting.
We packed up and drove back out towards Ruta 7, stopping at a small campground quietly nestled along the banks of the Rio Chico that ended up being empty. The sun had come out for the first time in what seemed like weeks and we were basking in it.
The next day we headed over to the Chaicas sector, got in line, and requested access to Laguna Triangulo. The ranger went wild stamping our tickets in triplicate -- and with a big fat "Laguna Triangulo". They had strict entry times so hikers would be back before the park closed at 5:30.
We noticed there was a sign showing a new Pasaporte de la Ruta de los Parques, which intrigued us greatly, as its the same concept as the US National Parks Passport, a stamp to be had in every park. There was a QR code that we scanned for later.
Like many others, this trail began quite innocently. Through verdant forest, over boardwalks, and beneath furry trees. Muy tranquilo.
The trail followed a river and then came upon the Saltos del rio Chaicas, featuring a stout waterfall that was quite beautiful.
After that was a series of steps and ladders, and then the Alerce Milenario, a thousand year old alerce. There were newly constructed viewing platforms here that were quite nice.
We left the platform and looked for the continuation of the trail -- hmmm.... there was still construction debris floating about but we finally spied it -- a sign that said "Ruta de Montaña". Nowhere did we see this verbiage before in reference to the trail we were looking for but it was our only option. After watching the gps closely we ascertained it was the correct route. After a few minutes I realized I had forgotten my trekking poles! Oops. Vitali went back for them for me and shortly we continued.
The trail gained elevation next to a small creek and then passed a portion of the trail that was paved with whole logs. That was different.
Then we crossed the stream we had seen from above, which had a few tiny cascades of its own.
After a few kilometes we reached the Laguna Chaiquenes, a pretty lake that was quite still.
As we walked along its edge the trail changed from enjoyable to muddy and rooty. The unpleasant part didn't last too long though and before we knew it we were back in the forest, even crossing a creek over a fallen tree!
After shuffling across 4 kilometers more, we arrived at the Laguna Triangulo, a sheer rock face rising dramatically from the blue-green water.
We set our packs down to have a snack. We started munching and admiring the lake and then quickly noticed we were attracting the giant stinging flies that had been plaguing us for weeks. We swung our limbs wildly in an effort to beat them back but for every one we deflected, two more came to take its place. The three others at the lake were presently engaged in a dance with the flies as well.
Here is a picture of the little fuckers. There were black and orange ones like this but also plain black ones elsewhere that had the same swarming technique.
We admired as quickly as we could and then departed, eager to get away from the flies. Five short minutes later I realized Vitali left my tripod at the lake… Today was the trail of forgotten items. Vitali retrieved it, swearing along the way, and then we were headed back.
The trail began to get quite busy, and we passed multitudes asking us, once again, how much longer? As we approached the Alerce Milenario we started to run into folks who were on their way back, and we noticed that trail etiquette was a little bit different here. Besides standing and walking very close to us, instead of moving to the side when people heard us approaching from behind they simply continued plodding along at their own pace, seemingly oblivious that someone might want to go around. A few perdons seemed to do the trick.
Eventually we made it back to the trailhead, where we saw three little foxes looking at the park rangers for a free handout.
We checked off our first park on la Ruta, and continued down the road 30 minutes to the La Arena – Puelche ferry, which only cost 13,600 pesos (for the van, passengers free!). We got in line and I headed to an empanada stand on the side of the road to order some snacks. I ordered two queso and camaron empanadas for Vitali and some salmon ceviche for me. Not bad! Considering we had just hiked 11 miles, it was delicious.
Before long we rolled on to the ferry and waited for the departure. It was a quick crossing, taking only 30 minutes.
We disembarked and headed towards Hornopiren, where we would await the passage we had booked on another ferry two days later. While waiting we would visit PN Hornopiren.
We rolled into a camp we found on iOverlander, and saw that it was pretty full – but the owner said sure we could camp, he just didn’t have any tables for us.
We pulled into a grassy area and got out, and noticed that our rear wheel was sunk about 4” in the grass. Hmmm. We decided to reposition the van and quickly realized we were stuck. Also, it's worth nothing here that Tiny is rear-wheel drive... I got out and started pushing the car while a crowd gathered. A few failed attempts later someone came over to volunteer to pull us out. He brought his car around and eagerly hooked up his tow cable (albeit one very thin) and started pulling.
The cable stretched -- and strained -- and suddenly Tiny was free! And then the cable snapped. We handed the broken cable back to the owner and thanked him for the assistance. I also apologized to the owner about the tracks in the grass -- he didn't mind. We repositioned elsewhere drier and went on with our afternoon. We noted two more Wicked campervans while we were here -- a white van with colorful birds, and a yellow submarine.
The next morning we decided to check out the Saltos Rio Blanco, a waterfall that seemed more interesting than the only other trail with easy access in Hornopiren NP, and shorter too.
We arrived at the trailhead to find a gate, and a sign saying to ask for access in the house behind. Another car pulled up just as we arrived wanting to do the same trail and thankfully they took over communications in español, hollering at the house and then calling the number on a nearby sign. Unfortunately, we learned that the trail was closed due to heavy rain that had made the hike dangerous. Oh well.
So we headed over to the other trail instead, which was long – 10 miles, but was the only other way to experience the park. This was not completely unexpected -- the CONAF parks have been wildly inconsistent in about every respect -- operating hours, days open, prices online versus in person, whether or not a reservation or online payment is required, whether there is a map, whether there is infrastructure, a little, or none at all. The guardaparque here and several hikes beyond require hiking in, crossing private land in the process, before several additional miles of hiking. Apparently the park is popular for overnight trips but we were not prepared to leave the van.
And so it went. We parked and began walking, passing through a farm and some sheep who were happily grazing in the morning sun. They knew what awaited us.
Eventually the trail entered thick brush and things took a turn. The first mile ended up traversing a low lying area that was full of literally, boot sucking mud. If you landed in the wrong place you'd sink 6" inches and have to torque your leg out while the mud tried to keep your boot.
It seemed to be a long-standing problem because there were logs intermittently placed along the trail for fording the muck. These logs were very slick.
So we struggled for the first mile, taking almost an hour to traverse the awful boggy terrain, hopping and slipping from log to log.
Just as we were about to give up and turn around, the trail changed – it gained a little bit of elevation and the muck became merely intermittent. After a hope kindling quarter mile or so, it deteriorated and became very muddy again, along with a new feature -- steep mud!
We continued for another mile without any improvement before we called it. The trail appeared to follow in an area between two rivers for at least another mile or two -- we were miserable and taking too much time and energy for what I think was probably not a very exciting destination. The pictures of the lake at the top weren't very impressive so we didn't feel too bad for missing this one.
We headed back to camp defeated and prepared for our ferry ride the next morning, a 5 hour crossing from Hornopiren to Caleta Gonzalo. It was actually two ferry rides split by a 10km drive. I tried to book the direct trip (the more expensive, unsubsidized route) but they were already sold out.
We got up early to go to the ferry ramp to make sure we were on the boat at the front -- to be first off and to get a good campsite in the next National Park. We found a lot of people had spent the night in their cars there.
The boat came and we loaded up. The first 3.5 hours were uneventful, passing through a narrow channel and by several islands. The ocean was thankfully calm, being sheltered by land masses. Unlike the ferries I had been on before -- we were allowed to stay in our vehicle, where we passed the time watching some episodes of television.
We did venture out to take pictures of the mountains around and for a coffee and empanada though. It was perfect cruising weather.
We passed by some pretty mountains, and a giant waterfall.
After 3.5 hours we disembarked, drove in single file across the impeding spit of land, then got on the second ferry. By that time it was quite warm outside; this ferry was open over most of the vehicle area, and we were baking in the sun.
A quick 30 minutes later and we were landing at Caleta Gonzalo, incredibly in the first line of vehicles allowed out.
We got off the ferry and were surprised to see that the paved road had ceased -- and only a dirt track remained. So much for Highway. The road was deeply washboarded in places, had giant potholes in others, and was covered with loose gravel, that Tiny enjoyed slipping around on. Vitali grumbled mightily. If only we knew this was merely a teaser for lay ahead.
I was a little worried about getting a campsite in PN Pumalin with all of the cars coming off the ferry at once, so we stopped at the first campsite available – Lago Negro, which was not much more than a gravel lot with toilets, showers, and a trailhead to the lake. Remembering the competition of national parks in the US, we were happy to get one at all. The restroom building looked quite new and was well crafted and designed in a contemporary manner.
As was the tradition of national parks in Chile -- we were surprised by how this one was different than the others -- PN Pumalin seemed to be more like a national park in the US -- it was the first park we visited open 24 hours and people were free to move about inside as they pleased.
We made lunch then walked to the lake, which had a small shelter built at the end of the trail. The shelter had many floorboards missing and a railing about to fall off...
On the walk back we saw two eggs on the ground, with an insect crawling out of a hole inside one... We wondered what had went wrong.
We also encountered prolific plants with giant leaves -- some six feet across, which we later learned was wild rhubarb, and quite edible!
By the evening a bunch of cars had pulled in and tents had sprouted up out of the ground all over. We supposed these people were on the late ferry.
The next day we hung up our clothesline to claim our spot so we'd have a campsite to come back to, and then headed over to the trailhead of Volcan Chaiten, a short and steep hike up a volcano that last erupted in 2008 and destroyed the nearby town of Chaiten. We started at 8am, with no one else at the trailhead, but surprisingly, a really nice new baño.
Immediately, steps. These were mostly logs set in the ground but the entirety of the 1.65 miles up and 2,000' feet of gain, were steps.
After an interminable number of steps, near the top we turned around to enjoy the view over the river.
We were very glad to be doing this in the early morning when it was cool -- because we were sweating profusely. Fortunately the trail is short and before long we were presented with a stunning view of the still smoldering volcano, and a bastion of the giant stinging flies. Yikes.
We could see the rim of the crater and the mound of granite, pumice, and rhyolite in the center. Neat stuff.
There was one other person up at the viewpoint and the flies were harassing us both. We looked for as long as we could and then headed back down, grabbing some branches to swat the flies away.
We were back down by 10am and there was a park worker constructing a small shelter at the trailhead, who chastised us and told us we couldn’t camp there. It seemed to me like he assumed since we were there before he started work, and since no one wakes up early to hike... we must have spent the night. Wrong! We politely told him no, we had camped over at Lago Negro.
Since we would be passing two other campgrounds on the way back, we decided to stop by to see if there were any sites available. We stopped at Camping El Volcan, and sure enough, we spotted a group of backpackers leaving and signaling we could have their site. There was only one other available so we were thankful.
Vitali dropped me off to claim it, and I realized that the site had an incredible view of the Volcan Michinmahuida. Vitali went to retrieve our clothesline and returned 45 minutes later and we set it back up here. The campground was incredible -- sites extremely far apart, a quincho (shelter) with table, and nice new bathrooms nearby. The only downside was that the showers had cold water.
We headed over to fit in one more hike for the day -- the Sendero Cascadas Escondidas, more waterfalls.
We thought this would be a relatively short and easy hike: Ahahaha.
So many stairs and ladders. Our calves and quads were fatigued from this morning... but we dug deep and powered through.
The lower falls were a steep ladder down, and quite pretty. Not only were there steps, stairs, and ladders, but the treads were now halves of large branches -- rounded, and very slick if you stepped the wrong way.
We continued to the upper falls and crossed many more steps, stairs, and ladders of increasing difficulty. We arrived at a Mirador and was disappointed by a small waterfall... but also saw that the trail continued. I convinced Vitali to proceed and after 10 more minutes we were at the upper falls. I'm glad we persevered.
The stinging flies were back with a vengeance though and I was dancing around the tripod trying to keep them from biting me. However, today was the first time I got bitten. I got three small bites, which started out as only a flat red dot about 2mm across. The dot lingered for two days in that state, and then exploded into a large mosquito-like bite, and became itchy. Ten days later and I still have marks.
Back at camp we visited the guardaparque, a very cute building which I absolutely adored, and registered our visit. We were told that the campsites were currently FREE! Normally 16,000/night, some sort of administrative issue was preventing the rangers from collecting the fees.
Wonderful. I noticed that there were sodas and snacks for sale so I asked about them – and the ranger rather mysteriously said to come back at 6. Vitali is a secret soda fiend and I don't drink them but MAN that sucralose they put in the soda here is addictive and very satisfying after a long hike.
So after dinner we began our quest for the liquid gold, walking to the guardaparque from our campsite about a half kilometer away, and the ranger tells us that in 20 minutes the guy will be here. Hmmm, okay. So we decide to wait outside but then the stinging flies start coming around… so I asked the ranger for a guide to the interpretative trail that begins here so we could do something productive with our time. I then realized I didn’t have my camera and we hesitated on whether to hike the 3km trail…
We sat outside killing bugs for 15 minutes before deciding to walk back to get my camera… and by the time we had gotten the camera and come back the ranger told us the guy was just here but he had already left and was in the campground. We were confused about what this guy was doing, so we walked back, totally defeated and without soda, and saw the guy. He appeared to be delivering snacks out of his vehicle! We asked for sodas and he said sure he’ll bring them by after.
So we waited, and eventually he came over but told us he had sold out of sodas. Womp womp womppppp.
The sun set but the light still reflected on the glacier on top of the volcano for some very interesting lighting.
That night we woke up at 1:30 am to photograph the milky way. Miraculously there was zero wind, and perfectly clear conditions.
The next day we drove back towards Caleta Gonzalo to look for a roadside waterfall we had seen on the way in, stopping at the ferry area first because we missed it again looking for it. The ferry was parked off shore.
We headed back towards camp and eventually spied it up a deep ravine angled towards the direction we were coming when we originally saw it -- which is why we missed it on the way back up. It was a 5 minute walk up the Sendero Tronador, to a pedestrian bridge overlooking the falls. For all the goose chase, it ended up being not very satisfying to photograph.
Although we did see some pretty scenery.
We also stopped by the Sendero de Alerces, an interpretative trail through a grove of 3,000 year old trees. These Alerces, Fitzroya Cupressoides, are thought to be a relative of the giant sequoia, my favorite, although they look more like coastal redwoods.
The trail was quite busy, with several tour busses stopping and unloading people when we were there. We quickly lost the crowd though after crossing over a suspension bridge.
The trail was nice, and the trees impressed us. Even after seeing the redwoods and sequoias.
After the trail we headed into Chaiten to utilize the internet and to check on the CONAF ticket website for our next park. For the first time we found that there were no tickets available for the next four days! Previously, each park had allowed me to make a reservation or buy a ticket up to the day before. Apparently this one was actually using the ticket system and they were sold out. So I made a reservation for the 4th, and we decided to continue south past the park when we were done here and to come back after.
It started to rain later that evening and rained all night and into the morning, and we got some rainbow action.
And some very imposing cloud formations.
We waited for the weather to start to clear before heading out on our final full day in the park. We drove past Chaiten to the El Amarillo sector of the park, where we saw the little brochure on the Pasaporte de los Parques again, which reminded us to try and pick one up -- the sign said they were available in the park administration building on Monday - Friday at certain hours. It was Sunday, so we'd stop by on the way out tomorrow.
The El Amarillo sector is at the base of Volcan Michinmahuida too, but on nearly the opposite side of the campground. The volcano is quite large, and it was completely clouded over and drizzling when we arrived at the guardaparque. The ranger let us know we could do the Ranita de Darwin (Darwin's Frog) trail or the Mirador Ventisquero (hanging glacier) Michinmahuida, so, naturally, we decided to do both.
The forecast said it should be clearing up in an hour or so, so we walked the Ranita de Darwin trail first, to try and wait out the rain for the Mirador trail. It started to rain while we walked...
Disappointingly, we didn't see any ranitas.
Further along the trail the sun started to peek out, just in time to photograph some waterfalls.
By the time we got back to the car the sun was shining and we headed up the road to where we'd have to park and continue on a 4x4 road on foot.
We made it to the trailhead after a few miles and realized quite sadly that the road was perfectly fine for 2WD.
We started up the trail and encountered more STAIRS! And we did not feel good about it. We had been hiking recently such that we’d get back around 2 or 3… and we’d shower then eat, filling up at a late afternoon hour, not leaving really enough time for lunch and dinner, and would regrettably end up short on calories. Today it caught up, and we both felt tired going up. We eventually made it to the top where there was a nice view of the glacier.
The call of food carried our tired bodies back down and we headed back to the entrance of the sector.
Once we were back at the entrance we saw that the sky had cleared up quite a bit and gave us a beautiful view to rocky peaks beyond. Below, another airfield!
The first few kms of the park had these beautifully manicured lawns that ran right to the edge of the forest, with wild rhubarb and other plants spilling out on to the grass.
And back behind us the Volcan began to peek out.
We made it back to camp, scarfed down as much food as we could, and took a not only cold, but frigid shower. The showers at the Volcan campground were cold the past couple of days but for whatever reason they were extremely cold today. Despite that, we had stayed there three nights because the site was so incredible, and best of all, free.
The next morning we packed up and headed south; we would stop at Corcovado National Park today. The park is giant -- 2,904 square kilometers, and has only a single trail enabled for public access within the park. This information wasn't on the CONAF website though -- the website says the park is closed to the public -- only an entry on iOverlander alerted us to the trail's existence.
But first, we stopped by the Pumalin administrative office to try and get a passport – but they told us we had to register online first in order to receive it. And of course there’s no internet so we left empty handed.
As we travelled south the landscape began to change and become more dramatic. And at some point after Chaiten, the highway became paved again!
We started to see hitchhikers, and the first of several suspension bridges along the Carretera Austral.
We drove past the entrance to the trailhead in PN Corcovado, which was merely an unmarked shoulder, doubled back, and found a park ranger and log book, which we happily signed.
The trail was recently upgraded with over 200m of boardwalk and fantastic signage.
The trail largely followed a minty green river, with peeks of the hanging glacier occasionally making an appearance.
We made it to the final mirador where there were germans flying a drone and hogging the whole viewing platform. On the way back, we passed the first Americans we had seen the entire trip. We didn't say hello because they came up behind me and awkwardly stood while I was taking a long exposure photograph.
On the walk back the trail started to get very busy -- we had beat the crowd again. We got back to Tiny and headed south, several hundred more kilometers to our next stop -- Parque Nacional Queulat.
We passed another suspension bridge, this one orange.
And some cows and dogs on the road. The further south we went, the more livestock we found outside of their pastures!
We stopped at three campgrounds near PN Queulat and found them all empty and devoid of humans -- nobody was home. So we found a wild camp behind a rock on the side of the highway and stayed there for the night.
The wild camp had a beautiful view but it was cold, windy, and rainy.
In the morning we drove to town to check the weather and found that the next few days were rain. We stopped by the park but there was a huge line and it was raining (probably couldn't see the hanging glacier from the trail) so we left, and headed towards Parque Nacional Cerro Castillo, about 300km to the south. We'd come back to visit later.
In the next post, Part Two, we complete our journey along the Carretera Austral!
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