4-24 Took a bus from Pucon to Los Angeles. I was on one of those double decker buses and because I booked early, I had the best seat of on top and in the front right over the driver. Nice view of the road and feels a bit like your riding a rollercoaster when going down hills. After arriving in Los Angeles, I had to walk across the city to get to the rural bus station. Along the way I got walk through a cool market. From there I took the bus to El Abanico, a small town near Parque Nacional Laguna de Laja. I always like going to places off the tourist trail and off the beaten path. You seem to always have cool experiences when you work hard to get somewhere not many people go. I took a chance going here bc I didn´t know if there was any accommodation, or at least budget accommodation up there. But this is why I am carrying a tent and stove so that if need be, I can just camp off the side of the road. When I got to the tiny, one street town, I was just kind of wondering around to see if I could ask someone about a place to stay. As I walked by this one house, a dog barked at me, and a man came out asking if I needed a place to stay. I later learned he had trained the dog to bark when the few tourists went by. He invited me in and hosted me like a fancy Hawaiian resort would with coconut biscuits, pineapple juice, and tea. The only difference was the nice and warm fire. He had a couple rooms in the back that he rented out for 20 bucks including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In Chile, foreigners have to register at guest houses and I saw that I was only the 11 person to register here this year. 5 of the other 10 being two different groups from Colorado. I had a nice dinner with their family (all only spoke spanish), but we had a lot of fun laughing and talking. He is a miner specializing in dynamite. That afternoon I got a pretty decent view of Volcan Antuco and the Sierra Velludas mountains with their glaciers surrounding the volcano. It would prove to be my only view...
4-25 I hitched a ride the 11km to the entrance of the national park with 2 guys working on building a bridge on the 4wd pass that goes to Argentina. At the ranger station, the ranger asked me what I was planning on doing. I told him the circuit around Antuco Volcano. He told me I couldn´t do it bc the weather was going to be bad that night. He said it was going to rain. I listened to him and said okay, but in my mind I knew I was still going to do the circuit. One of the things you deal with, with guidebooks, tour operators, and rangers is that they always underestimate you or make things sound way worse bc they have to expect that every person doesn´t really know what they are doing. I mean they really talk about how crazy difficult torres del paine is, but of course there, a lot of the people had never even set up a tent. So I have learned to kind of ignore these warnings, knowing that I am very experienced in the outdoors. Plus, my guidebook had said that for this hike, December and May were actually the best months to trek it because it wasn´t so hot. I had been rushing to get through all the other treks bc most of them were supposed to be good from January to April, and so I had actually been pushing past the time when they were suggested to hike them bc of the winter coming. But this one I hadn´t been worried about bc it was further north and the book said it was best in May. So of course I was thinking the end of April would be fine. And I was of course well prepared with a good tent, sleeping bag, waterproof shells, two fleeces, and waterproof bags for all my gear and warm sleeping clothes.
I started out on the trek which climbed out of the valley and eventually crossed a large river of solidified lava that was pretty recent. You had to follow bamboo sticks as there was no way for a trail here. I also took my bearings for the low part of the pass between the volcano and the Velluda mountains since due to the lava environment, there was no trail. After an hour the weather came in and it started to rain pretty good. But I continued on. Eventually, the rain turned to heavy and wet snow as I began climbing up the pass. It didn´t bother me, bc those that know me, know that I LOVE walking and being out in the snow, especially the big flakes. In the snowstorm, the mountains and even the pass were completely hidden behind clouds, but I had taken my bearings and knew which way up and over the pass. The snow intensified as I approached the top of the pass, and by the time I got to the top it was probably 6 inches deep and visability was near zero. I didn´t linger long on top of the pass (2054meters, about 6780feet) and started to head down. Curiously, and it probably has something to do with the air cooling off as it goes over the pass, but the same elevations that were rain on the other side were still heavy snow on this side. I got to the campsite, Los Barros, around 4pm, which was marked by a lone Auracaria (monkey puzzle) tree. The only tree along the ENTIRE circuit. Most people do the circuit in 3 days, but bc it was only 45 or so kilometers (not including the 11 there and back from Abanico to the park entrance if you can´t hitch a ride), I was doing it in 2 days. Because of the heavy snow, the cold, and the early hour, I decided to keep walking and get closer Abanico so that I could be sure, in case I couldn´t hitch a ride, that I could get to Abanico in time to catch the last bus back to LA so that I could catch the late night bus I had already booked to Santiago and buy a ticket onward to La Serena. After the campsite, the trail, or the non trail, turned to a dirt road. The road that was part of the park and that went on to the Chile/Argentine frontier. So from there it was basically 27km´s on the road along the giant Laguna de Laja (which my book said was perfect for swimming this time of year!) back to the park entrance. I couldn´t see the lake at all bc of the heavy snow, but I trusted it was there and left the lone tree as I walked along the road. Before long, I heard a bus coming behind me, which I thought was really strange. The bus stopped and a guy jumped out and basically made me get on the bus. It turns out it was a bus full of military guys who were getting the heck out of dodge with the snowstorm. They wouldn´t let me off the bus, or not until 17 or so km´s down the road where there was a small ski hill and a small ski base. The bus ride was fairly comical bc all these soldiers were looking at the crazy gringo, my outer layers dripping with melting snow and my pack cover still holding several inches of snow on top. Along the way, the guy in charge who had made me get on the bus was telling me about the Viento Blanco (or blizzard, I assumed) that had happened before, killing 45 soldiers. This explained their fear and quick retreat and their fear for me. At the ski resort, I thanked them for the ride and they continued down the hill. There was a small refugio that is open during ski season (mid july through september, here), but there was a guy working on repairs there. He had a fire going and invited me to join him by it. I could have easily survived in the snow outside, where the soldiers had picked me up, or even here, but it was a super wet snow and it was cold, so I wasn´t necessarily disappointed to have this warm area. He also let me set up my tent out of the snow under a shelter, which mainly made cooking life easy. I am just carrying a small tent I bought here that doesn´t really have a vestibule. My 4 season mountaineering tent back home has a vestibule for cooking in the case of bad weather, and bc the only tree in the whole park was that lone auracania way back there, I was kind of wondering how my stove would hold up in the heavy snow and how fun it was going to be cooking in it.
I was a bit bummed to have the bad weather in terms of not being able to see the volcano that I had trekked around, and still hadn´t seen the lake bc the snowstorm created such poor visibility, nor the Sierra Velludas which are non volcanic, jagged mountains with hanging glaciers. But at the same time, it was quite an experience to be out there all alone in an Andean blizzard and have all this excitement happen with the soldiers and all. Laguna de Laja was actually created when a lava flow dammed the Rio de Laja (I think Laja means smooth rock). Now the lake has been altered by a human dam as well. And even in the bad weather I still got an appreciation for the completely volcanic and solidified lava landscape.
4-27 It snowed all night, but only stuck here and there at the ski base. In the morning, I still wanted to see the lake and it was snowing less, and I had plenty of time to get back to Abanico, so I retraced the road that I would have walked had I not been on the bus. Plus, as I mentioned, I just love walking in the snow. Today, I could see part of the lake. I also walked by the huge memorial to the 45 soliders (44 of them born in 1986 and one, the commanding officer born in 1960) who died in the Viento Blanco (white wind)...Google Tragedy of Antuco (the biggest small village near the park) if you want to read more about the tragedy. It happened May 18, 2005. It of course happened in May, during what my trekking guide book said was the best season to do this trek. Of course my book was published in 2003, so it was before then. But when I get a chance I will definitely be writing the lonely planet to give them an update about what happened there and to let them know that they should give more of a warning that in April and May big snowstorms can happen. I was fine and prepared, but a lot of trekkers I have met in other areas would have been in more trouble and the book made it seem like snow was not an issue until June. Along the way, I also walked past the 45 individual memorials and crosses put up for each soldier. Definitely a sobering walk. I walked as far as Gringo Point where the lake was at it´s narrowest and where it also happened was the edge of the lake at the moment bc the water was lower than normal. It snowed the entire walk and was rather beautiful in the stark, tree-less landscape. It was still snowing hard enough I couldn´t see the volcano or other mountains, but I could see the lake and some of the other white landscape. On the way back, I soon got picked up by some other bridge builders who dropped me off at my family house in Abanico where I was greeted with a warm fire, hot tea, and a steaming plate of spaghetti! After drying off and eating, I took the little bus down to LA and then boarded a night bus for Santiago.
In the end, it was definitely worth going off the beaten path. Got to hang out with a nice family and then got quite the Andean mountain blizzard experience, which was amplified by the previous tragedy in a previous viento blanco. I never felt in danger b-c I was prepared with a tent and all that in case the blizzard had picked up so bad that I couldn´t see anything, but I could definitely see how one could get very disoriented out there since the land was stark and with no trees. The other thing I had going for me with navigation was that I knew the road went between the volcano and first the mountains and then the lake. So if at any point I was going up too much, it meant I was climbing the volcano which was wrong and if I hit the lake, well, that was also the wrong way, so it was easy to navigate myself. It was funny bc back in the little town I was the talk of the town, the crazy gringo out there hiking and camping in all the snow after the border patrol and gotten off the mountain as quick as possible, but reported that I was okay and smiling and actually trying to get off the bus to get back to the hiking.
4-25 I hitched a ride the 11km to the entrance of the national park with 2 guys working on building a bridge on the 4wd pass that goes to Argentina. At the ranger station, the ranger asked me what I was planning on doing. I told him the circuit around Antuco Volcano. He told me I couldn´t do it bc the weather was going to be bad that night. He said it was going to rain. I listened to him and said okay, but in my mind I knew I was still going to do the circuit. One of the things you deal with, with guidebooks, tour operators, and rangers is that they always underestimate you or make things sound way worse bc they have to expect that every person doesn´t really know what they are doing. I mean they really talk about how crazy difficult torres del paine is, but of course there, a lot of the people had never even set up a tent. So I have learned to kind of ignore these warnings, knowing that I am very experienced in the outdoors. Plus, my guidebook had said that for this hike, December and May were actually the best months to trek it because it wasn´t so hot. I had been rushing to get through all the other treks bc most of them were supposed to be good from January to April, and so I had actually been pushing past the time when they were suggested to hike them bc of the winter coming. But this one I hadn´t been worried about bc it was further north and the book said it was best in May. So of course I was thinking the end of April would be fine. And I was of course well prepared with a good tent, sleeping bag, waterproof shells, two fleeces, and waterproof bags for all my gear and warm sleeping clothes.
I started out on the trek which climbed out of the valley and eventually crossed a large river of solidified lava that was pretty recent. You had to follow bamboo sticks as there was no way for a trail here. I also took my bearings for the low part of the pass between the volcano and the Velluda mountains since due to the lava environment, there was no trail. After an hour the weather came in and it started to rain pretty good. But I continued on. Eventually, the rain turned to heavy and wet snow as I began climbing up the pass. It didn´t bother me, bc those that know me, know that I LOVE walking and being out in the snow, especially the big flakes. In the snowstorm, the mountains and even the pass were completely hidden behind clouds, but I had taken my bearings and knew which way up and over the pass. The snow intensified as I approached the top of the pass, and by the time I got to the top it was probably 6 inches deep and visability was near zero. I didn´t linger long on top of the pass (2054meters, about 6780feet) and started to head down. Curiously, and it probably has something to do with the air cooling off as it goes over the pass, but the same elevations that were rain on the other side were still heavy snow on this side. I got to the campsite, Los Barros, around 4pm, which was marked by a lone Auracaria (monkey puzzle) tree. The only tree along the ENTIRE circuit. Most people do the circuit in 3 days, but bc it was only 45 or so kilometers (not including the 11 there and back from Abanico to the park entrance if you can´t hitch a ride), I was doing it in 2 days. Because of the heavy snow, the cold, and the early hour, I decided to keep walking and get closer Abanico so that I could be sure, in case I couldn´t hitch a ride, that I could get to Abanico in time to catch the last bus back to LA so that I could catch the late night bus I had already booked to Santiago and buy a ticket onward to La Serena. After the campsite, the trail, or the non trail, turned to a dirt road. The road that was part of the park and that went on to the Chile/Argentine frontier. So from there it was basically 27km´s on the road along the giant Laguna de Laja (which my book said was perfect for swimming this time of year!) back to the park entrance. I couldn´t see the lake at all bc of the heavy snow, but I trusted it was there and left the lone tree as I walked along the road. Before long, I heard a bus coming behind me, which I thought was really strange. The bus stopped and a guy jumped out and basically made me get on the bus. It turns out it was a bus full of military guys who were getting the heck out of dodge with the snowstorm. They wouldn´t let me off the bus, or not until 17 or so km´s down the road where there was a small ski hill and a small ski base. The bus ride was fairly comical bc all these soldiers were looking at the crazy gringo, my outer layers dripping with melting snow and my pack cover still holding several inches of snow on top. Along the way, the guy in charge who had made me get on the bus was telling me about the Viento Blanco (or blizzard, I assumed) that had happened before, killing 45 soldiers. This explained their fear and quick retreat and their fear for me. At the ski resort, I thanked them for the ride and they continued down the hill. There was a small refugio that is open during ski season (mid july through september, here), but there was a guy working on repairs there. He had a fire going and invited me to join him by it. I could have easily survived in the snow outside, where the soldiers had picked me up, or even here, but it was a super wet snow and it was cold, so I wasn´t necessarily disappointed to have this warm area. He also let me set up my tent out of the snow under a shelter, which mainly made cooking life easy. I am just carrying a small tent I bought here that doesn´t really have a vestibule. My 4 season mountaineering tent back home has a vestibule for cooking in the case of bad weather, and bc the only tree in the whole park was that lone auracania way back there, I was kind of wondering how my stove would hold up in the heavy snow and how fun it was going to be cooking in it.
I was a bit bummed to have the bad weather in terms of not being able to see the volcano that I had trekked around, and still hadn´t seen the lake bc the snowstorm created such poor visibility, nor the Sierra Velludas which are non volcanic, jagged mountains with hanging glaciers. But at the same time, it was quite an experience to be out there all alone in an Andean blizzard and have all this excitement happen with the soldiers and all. Laguna de Laja was actually created when a lava flow dammed the Rio de Laja (I think Laja means smooth rock). Now the lake has been altered by a human dam as well. And even in the bad weather I still got an appreciation for the completely volcanic and solidified lava landscape.
4-27 It snowed all night, but only stuck here and there at the ski base. In the morning, I still wanted to see the lake and it was snowing less, and I had plenty of time to get back to Abanico, so I retraced the road that I would have walked had I not been on the bus. Plus, as I mentioned, I just love walking in the snow. Today, I could see part of the lake. I also walked by the huge memorial to the 45 soliders (44 of them born in 1986 and one, the commanding officer born in 1960) who died in the Viento Blanco (white wind)...Google Tragedy of Antuco (the biggest small village near the park) if you want to read more about the tragedy. It happened May 18, 2005. It of course happened in May, during what my trekking guide book said was the best season to do this trek. Of course my book was published in 2003, so it was before then. But when I get a chance I will definitely be writing the lonely planet to give them an update about what happened there and to let them know that they should give more of a warning that in April and May big snowstorms can happen. I was fine and prepared, but a lot of trekkers I have met in other areas would have been in more trouble and the book made it seem like snow was not an issue until June. Along the way, I also walked past the 45 individual memorials and crosses put up for each soldier. Definitely a sobering walk. I walked as far as Gringo Point where the lake was at it´s narrowest and where it also happened was the edge of the lake at the moment bc the water was lower than normal. It snowed the entire walk and was rather beautiful in the stark, tree-less landscape. It was still snowing hard enough I couldn´t see the volcano or other mountains, but I could see the lake and some of the other white landscape. On the way back, I soon got picked up by some other bridge builders who dropped me off at my family house in Abanico where I was greeted with a warm fire, hot tea, and a steaming plate of spaghetti! After drying off and eating, I took the little bus down to LA and then boarded a night bus for Santiago.
In the end, it was definitely worth going off the beaten path. Got to hang out with a nice family and then got quite the Andean mountain blizzard experience, which was amplified by the previous tragedy in a previous viento blanco. I never felt in danger b-c I was prepared with a tent and all that in case the blizzard had picked up so bad that I couldn´t see anything, but I could definitely see how one could get very disoriented out there since the land was stark and with no trees. The other thing I had going for me with navigation was that I knew the road went between the volcano and first the mountains and then the lake. So if at any point I was going up too much, it meant I was climbing the volcano which was wrong and if I hit the lake, well, that was also the wrong way, so it was easy to navigate myself. It was funny bc back in the little town I was the talk of the town, the crazy gringo out there hiking and camping in all the snow after the border patrol and gotten off the mountain as quick as possible, but reported that I was okay and smiling and actually trying to get off the bus to get back to the hiking.
1 comment:
Nice article.
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