Villarrica - Ancud, Chiloe Island: 13° Rain/Clouds

Trekking To The Snow Line

The two days ago just clouds and coolness. Nothing visible.

Yesterday, a clear sky and warm sun!

And it’s this volcano that drew us here. The trekking is supposed to be quite good based on the guide books I previously reviewed, though at this time of year it’s difficult to trek beyond the snow line. 

As it turned out, finding the National Park entrance and the trails turned out to be pretty complicated. With a map of the area in our hands we set off from Villarrica after breakfast excited to find the trekking trails up to the Villarrica Volcano. However it wasn’t quite as easy as we thought it would be. We did eventually find a road into the park, but that’s as close as we got. We drove on winding gravel roads for 17 kms before arriving at a point where we could go no further without having a four wheel drive vehicle. We never even made it to the alleged gate house to pay our park fees and get directions to the walk we’d planned to do.

After a quick look at the road ahead, we reluctantly turned around and drove 17 kms back down the road.

Once again at the bottom we decided to find a circular walk with views to the volcano. Thinking we’d found the road that would finally take us to the trail head we set off at a point where a sign suggested the route lay a couple of kilometres ahead. We decided to park the car and walk from there as there were several large gates to pass through and the road deteriorated quickly after that. So finally, we set off!

Almost immediately we started to climb, and kept on climbing. The small road ran along for a while, and we met a few of the locals.

Some familiar signage from Spain!

We figured we were heading in the right direction.

Then the road began to break down.



We continued to climb and climb.

The trail changed to what I think was formerly a skidding trail for logging that happened a long time ago. And the trees were more and more interesting!



The trail was pretty basic often resembling an old stream bed. Complete with old tree snags.

Several streams to cross.

And we eventually started to get close to the snow zone.

The peak was getting closer, but our efforts to get close we often frustrated and we had to double back and try a different route.

Eventually we get pretty close.

We sit with a light snack and admire this active volcano. Chile has more active volcanoes than any other country...72.

We then started down spotting other volcanoes in the area as we went. 

 About 14 kms later we arrived back our car knowing that we never did find the trail we were looking for. However, we did enjoy our tramping and saw some very pretty country. We decided to head for one of the many thermals in the area and soak away the day’s efforts. From our thermal pool, the whole mountain.

Another volcano in the immediate area.

And a nice hawk.

After a long drive home we went out to find dinner and checked out four restaurants looking across at this. 

And this.

After just a snack on the mountain we were pretty hungry! Tired of pasta and middle weight places to eat, we settled on a really decent place.

And the food was simply outstanding! I had salmon, but it came with a very thick piece with prawns, scallops and real potatoes. Washed down with a couple of very good glasses of Chilean merlot and I was in heaven! Annemarie similarly enjoyed her meal.

They lit a candle that had been accumulating for over 6 years. Caitlin you’d like this one!

This morning we woke up, looked outside and seeing cloud decided that this was the day to get on the road and drive south. Had the sun been out we’d planned to trek again, but the heavy low cloud meant no views. So, we decided to drive 350 kms south to Chiloe Island and spend our last two days with wheels having a look here where there is a strong indigenous presence. After a short ferry ride we arrived in the rain and drove to a small hostel in Ancud. 

We are not too far south from Puerto Montt where we will pick up our 4 day cargo ferry trip south on Saturday. The weather is supposed to improve substantially in the coming week so fingers crossed. If not, the ferry ride might be quite rough. Now time to source dinner!