Villarrica Traverse

I´m back from a 50 mile (80 km) hike through Villarrica National Park. The park is named for Volcan Villarrica, which is contantly puffing out smoke, just like I pictured volcanos as a kid. The hike does a half circuit around Villarrica, then opens up to amazing views of 4 other big volcanos in the area. If you like hiking along exposed volcanic rock and old lava fields, this is for you. About 2/3 of the hike is out in the open, so there were plenty of views, but the sunsreen was essential.

I started on Thursday, March 3rd and got lucky with a ride up to the national park. Tours to climb the volcano start at the same place the hike starts, so I woke up early in the morning and just went around to tour agencies and asked if anybody had an empty seat for the tour. After a few tries I found one. I´d like to plan things like this in advance, but this is Latin America- all part of the adventure. A French/American backpacker who had been denied access to climb because he didn´t have a guide set off with me and provided good company through the first few hours before he turned back. Later in the day I saw a French couple, but that was all as far as people on the trail. It was easy and good hiking with constant views of Villarrica. The trail occasionally dipped into a forest of monkey puzzle trees for some much needed shade. The only problem was water. There was a lot of glacial melt, but it looks like dirty dish water and I´m too good for that, so I pushed on until about 4pm before finally finding a stream that was clear. I felt betrayed at my planned camping spot, at the Rio Pichillancahue, which was again full of glacial melt water. So I hiked on and used my special water finding skills to find fresh water only 15 minutes away, then went back and camped for the night. Amazingly, the next morning, the river was running clear.

Day 2 was mostly exposed and very hot for elevations above 1500m. I met an Isreali man early in the day and hiked on and off with him through the amazing volcanic, moon-like landscapes. We met another French couple coming the opposite direction, so we all stopped and ate lunch together looking back at Volan Villarrica. The last hour of the hike was the most scenic as I approached my campsite at Laguna Azul. This is a lake which was created because lavaflow blocked off a stream. I went swimming to clean up after the hot, dusty day, but the snowmelt water was barely above freezing, so the swim didn´t last long. Another Isreali couple camped with us and I convinced them to travel to America and gave them a plan to visit national parks and do some hiking.

I finished the hike on the 3rd day. The day started like day 2, with lots of volcanic rock and very little vegetation. Finally, after crossing the highest pass of the trail with views of all 5 volcanos, the hike got greener and shady. I also got my first good view of Andean Condors, which constantly soared above me and was a bit unnerving. On the descent, I went through hundreds of thousands possibly millions of lillies. I walked for about 30 minutes and the entire forest floor was covered. It was a bit like the poppies in the Wiz of Oz, only in a forest. I´ve never seen anything like it- pretty incredible, but impossible to capture in a picuture. At the very end of the hike I met another group of Israelis. They were a bit different than most Israelis travellers because they were a little older. I found out they were all older because they were all officiers in the army, so they serve longer than usual, and start their world trip a little later. They´ve been travelling in Patagonia for 6 months and gave me boatloads of info on hikes further south. I really liked hiking with them at the end of the day. I ended up campng alone again at the end of the hike in Puesco. CONAF (Chilean Natl Park Service) has a free campsite there, so I took a bath in the river and fed the chickens that wandered around my tent.

This morning was an eay hitch back into Pucon. A British man living in Patagonia for 35 years picked me up after 5 minutes wait on the roadside. I think I could fill as much time as I had in Patagonia. Along the ride, he pointed out local restaurants and little points of interest along the road to Pucon. So now I´m back in familiar Pucon for one last day. Tomorrow- Argentina!!

Photos here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/100432648916992390276/20110303001?authkey=Gv1sRgCJv62sqBq8nkdg#

https://picasaweb.google.com/100432648916992390276/20110304001?authkey=Gv1sRgCPfi1PWKyaeATw#

https://picasaweb.google.com/100432648916992390276/20110305001?authkey=Gv1sRgCJW75p-35amPOQ#

https://picasaweb.google.com/100432648916992390276/20110302001?authkey=Gv1sRgCMif5a-st8T87gE#