Puzzles in the Mist – Curacautín & Conguillío National Park

The Andes were calling. Volcanoes, lakes, and bizarre trees were just up the hill from us in Curacautín. Without a car, we enlisted a local eco-tourism outfit for lodging and transportation, but first we had to prepare for a night out in the mountains.

9 January 2023

Maggie and I had wanted to go to Conguillío (con-GWEE-yee-o) National Park on this day, but as fate would have it, most of Chile’s national parks are closed on Mondays. We slept in and made oatmeal for breakfast in the cabaña. I was feeling a little sick, sinus pressure and congestion, which Maggie had experienced about a week before. We were fairly certain it was not covid, given that we had recently recovered from the disease and gotten a booster shot before this trip.

Since check in was so quick when we arrived at 9:30 pm, I stepped out to find our hosts so I could pay for the lodging. I found the owner, Rodrigo, working in the yard, where he seemed to have an endless supply of projects. He spoke spanish slowly and clearly for me. The two of us were able to communicate, if a bit slower than normal as I typed into my translator app. We firmed up our plans for a ride into Conguillío National Park the following morning, where we would camp for the night, then get picked up the day after. Rodrigo was enthusiastic by nature, and he seemed excited for us.

While we had wanted to get into the park sooner, it wasn’t the worst thing to have an extra day to prepare. We ventured out into Curacautín, which is a nice little mid-sized town at the base of the mountains. We went grocery shopping again to ensure we had all that we needed. Maggie and I were having difficulty finding some backpacker food we are accustomed to, like jerky, peanut butter, and tuna packets. We had to get a little creative with the Chilean offerings, but found plenty to hold us over for an overnight trip.

Maggie and I had hoped to walk down to a river hang out spot 4.5 miles out of town, but by the time we had lunch, it was too late for that adventure. Maggie found another river spot that was also sort of a public pool just 1.5 miles away. We went for it, walking along the road most of the way.

We paid the 500CLP (~50 cents) entrance fee and found the large pool with a wonderful shady picnic area. There was a decent crowd around the pool, so we walked towards the back and found a little black sand river beach devoid of other humans. The river was about 30 feet wide with a small cascade next to us and a slim 20 foot waterfall pouring down on the opposite bank. Our little sand bar was sunny, but the river was otherwise shaded by sprawling trees. Another awesome secluded find!

We took a dip in the cool water, probably snowmelt from the local volcanoes. A family of three from Argentina, parents and their son, joined us briefly, followed by a group of youths smoking cigarettes and cackling in Spanish. We otherwise felt fairly isolated, just the way we like it.

Sadly, we had to leave and prepare for our little camping trip. Shortly after we started walking back along the road, a little brown truck slowed down and waved at us. The driver stopped and let us hop in for a ride back to town. Neither of us could understand a word he was saying, perhaps rural Chilean, perhaps he was a little drunk… Either way, he stopped near the corner of town and we decided to get out. He was gesturing to stay in the truck and take us to the center of town, but we were in fact pretty close to cabaña at EcoSur. I got the sense he didn’t believe us, since it was an odd part of town, but we were out and thankful for the ride. We made dinner back at the cabaña, then prepared for camping. The hard part was separating out the stuff we didn’t need, like city clothes and some extra food we had bought. All of the extra stuff fit in our day packs, and we were ready for adventure the next day.

10 January 2023

I woke up feeling miserable. The head cold was definitely in full force now. Add to that, it was a chilly, foggy morning. It’s kind of hilarious how you make plans to visit a place months, or a year in advance, then the day you go, you’re sick and the weather is shit. Which brings me to an important point – why Conguillío National Park? If you know me, or read the PCT blog posts, you probably know that I’m into conifers, an interest that was sparked after moving to Santa Fe, NM. Ever since I was a young boy, I would often latch onto a subject and try to learn as much as possible. Well this is what my conifer obsession had come to, here in the middle of Chile on the hunt for Araucaria araucana, or the monkey puzzle tree. An icon of Chile, we had already seen a number of monkey puzzles planted around cities, but the old growth trees in their natural environment would surely be a step above cultivated specimens.

I was feeling a little better after breakfast, and we weren’t bailing now that we were so close. Maggie and I were ready to go at the agreed upon time of 8 am. Our ride was ready too, so we loaded up and headed for the hills. Visibility was about 200 feet through the mist, so we had no idea what the landscape looked like around us. The pavement gave way to dirt road, which was clearly volcanic rock and sand. We passed through the entrance station, and soon after, the distinct shapes of the monkey puzzle trees were appearing through the fog.

Maggie and I got dropped off at Laguna Captrén, and we double checked with our ride that we would meet here tomorrow at 10 am. Trusting their word, we set off into the mist on the Sendero Carpintero (Woodpecker Trail). We were immediately greeted by some massive trees, not just araucarias but also Nothofagus, southern beech. It felt like we had stepped back in time, or rather, we had found a place untouched by the hand of time.

Between the enormous trees, slender bamboo grew about 5-6 feet tall. Bright yellow lilies, fuchsia, and bizarre purple asters poked up here and there. Around every little bend we would see a tree worthy of saying, “Whoa! Look at THIS one!” We plodded on slowly, taking in the sights. While each tree was respectable, they were all humbled by Araucaria Madre, an 1,800 year old, 7 foot wide tree. It seems we unwittingly stumbled upon one of the crown jewels of the park, and all I can say is, “WOW”.

The whole locale around Araucaria Madre was packed with honking trees, as dense as they were big. It seems this little nook of the forest has been undisturbed for millenia. We didn’t see a soul for over an hour, and the stoke was high for finally getting out on a proper outdoor adventure in Chile.

More Araucaria Splendor

Southern Beech Splendor

We started seeing people as we got closer to the visitor center, exchanging a friendly “Hola” with each passerby. We checked out the visitor center for a little bit, then found the camping reservation office. We booked a “mochilero” (backpacker) site for the night, then made lunch on the deck, overlooking Lago Conguillío. The sun had come out and people were filing in to the campground office.

We were eager to explore some more, so we went and found our campsite to drop some gear. Oddly, there were already two tents there, but we learned that the backpacker sites were shared. All good, it felt like the PCT again. We pitched our tent, lightened our packs, and continued our walk in the park.

We started off near the shores of Lago Conguillío, crossing over coarse black sand with intermittent vegetation. Over and up to the Sierra Nevada trail, which took us up a ridge on the east side of the lake. More gargantuan Nothofagus lined the trail down low. This was definitely an unexpected treat of the park. I had never seen so many enormous deciduous trees.

Upwards, we started getting some views of the lake, but the clouds were rolling back in, obscuring the mountains. I was content to gawk at the Araucarias all around. A pale yellow lichen, much like old man’s beard, typically drapes the bark of the Araucarias. From a distance, you can see these pale yellow tree trunks sticking up between the greenery, showing you where the big, old trees are. The bark is especially interesting, often forming these irregular polygons that bulge out from the edges, reminiscent of some mythical dinosaur skin.

Bark, cones, and forest

We took the trail to a point where it lead to much steeper terrain. Across the valley, snow melt fed multiple waterfalls were pouring down off the volcanic cliffs, which funneled into a great basin of small whitewater creeks. This park delivered well beyond my expectations. To put it plainly, I was elated, and I felt that the trip down here was entirely worth it.

We started making our way back down the ridge, chilled by the wind and mist. However, it didn’t take too long for the clouds to clear up again, and we finally got a view of Volcan Llaíma (ya-EE-ma). A classic black and red pyramid, 6,000 feet above the lake and dotted with snow, Llaíma’s power was revealed. We had hoped to hike at least part way up the volcano, but would need another day here, which wasn’t in the cards this time.

We dropped back to Lago Conguillío, and with the sun up, we felt compelled to jump in the water. It was cool and windy, but we were getting in. Maggie just went in to her knees to cool her feet. I took the plunge, and the water wasn’t nearly as cold as I expected. I swam for a minute, then we soaked in the view on the beach for a few more. We were happy and at ease to be chilling in the outdoors.

It was a short walk back to camp, making for 16 miles on the day, a respectable distance which felt surprisingly easy for us despite being more sedentary lately. We briefly met our neighbors at the campsite, but they made themselves scarce after we arrived. The sun was still high as we got dinner going at 7 pm. We sipped on the beers we packed out and we feasted on our ramen.

Everything felt like it was in its right place, including us. Maggie and I were the first to bed, as Chilean chatter in the campground picked up around sunset. We would’ve perhaps tried to be social if we didn’t have to wake up early the next day. The unintelligible conversation lulled us to sleep…

11 January 2023

Camp was quiet at 6 am. Seems we are out of sync with “Chile time”. The sky had cleared up overnight, and the temperature had dropped, to the point of freezing the condensation inside the rain fly. What season was it again? We made our oatmeal next to the tent, seated in our sleeping bags and bundled up as we did for months on the PCT. The sun was peeking through the cracks between the trees. I still felt congested, but it felt like the sinus infection was subsiding. We were packed up a little after 8 am, and we began the hike out to meet our ride back at Laguna Captrén.

We opted to hike the park road, which would be a little more direct, but we did encounter a few vehicles carrying long clouds of dust. The road at one point was cut 8-10 feet below the forest floor. Tree roots squirmed out of the layers of volcanic sediment, and some trees leaned precariously on the edge of the cut.

We saw several more Araucarias of great size, but all felt quite small compared Araucaria Madre. The 3 miles out went by fast, and we made it to the lake before our 10 am pick up time. I turned on a walkie talkie Rodrigo had given me before we left Curacautín. Only 2 minutes later I heard his voice come through the speaker. I spoke back to him, and Rodrigo told us he was close. This was a huge relief, that even through our language barrier, this man we had met only one day before was coming to pick us up from the woods. Rodrigo pulled up not 5 minutes later, not even enough time to change out of hiking shoes into sandals. Packs in the car and we were on our way back down to town. We shared a few pleasantries with Rodrigo, but it was hard to carry a conversation, so we mostly drove in silence. Maggie and I were still awestruck by the scenery, since it had been fogged in the day before. Back in Curacautín, Rodrigo graciously let us use the cabaña for half an hour to change clothes and repack our gear. He even drove us to the bus terminal on the other end of town. I made sure to tip him and write a good review as a thank you. Maggie and I walked up to the ticket counter at the bus terminal and found an unmanned window with a hand written bus schedule. We were hoping to catch a 12:30 pm bus towards our next stop, Pucón. The “official” schedule on the window listed no such option, the earliest departure being 2:30 pm. There seems to be a perpetual disconnect between the bus schedules online and the schedule in real life. Welp, at least we had time to get lunch.

We walked a few blocks down the main drag, laden with our huge packs, and stepped into a restaurant. Calm jazz music played and only one other patron was eating. We were directed to order at the bar. “Solo desayunos, almuerzo a la mediodia…” [Only breakfast, lunch is at noon]. It was 11:30, and the man at the counter would not accept an order for lunch (eye roll…). We considered our options and finally just decided to get second breakfast here. The food came out at typical Chilean pace, but we were happy to have some hot eggs and fries. With more time to kill, we posted up on a park bench in the city plaza, researching the next stops along our trip. Locals were milling around, enjoying the sun and the breeze with us on this Tuesday afternoon. The time came and we caught our bus to Temuco, where we had to transfer. Temuco has several individual bus terminals for each company, so we had to briskly walk a few blocks through town to another bus terminal for the ride to Pucón. We caught our connection without a hitch and proceeded back into volcano country. Villarrica stands 10,000 feet above sea level, 8,000 feet above the surrounding landscape, which grabs your attention whenever it is within sight. Add to that small puffs of smoke emanating from the summit of the volcano, and awe came with shades of fear (what if it blows tonight..?). Maggie and I walked through Pucón to our next hostel, and it was instantly obvious that this was a tourist town. The volcanoes, lake side beaches, and rafting bring visitors from all over the world. The finish on most buildings was very new and modern. The number of properties with fences and spikes was far fewer than we had seen in other cities thus far. Loads of people were out and walking around the main drag. The town immediately felt welcoming and comfortable. We got into our room around 7:30 pm. Dinner was on our minds, so we went out to a little Thai restaurant. Up to this point, we’ve found typical Chilean food to be fairly uninspiring, lacking spices and vegetables, lots of greasy sandwiches and fries. The Thai food was delicious and we were happy with our choice. We sauntered back to our room as the sun was setting. It had been a long day, considering we woken up in Conguillío National Park. We rested well into the next morning…