Parque Nacional Huerquehue

Parque Nacional Huerquehue is a smallish national park not far from Pucón (see previous entry). There are three buses a day -- 8, 1, 4. Courtesy of problems in acquiring a tent, I missed the 8 bus, and ended up on the 1, which reached the park about 2:15. There is a campground in the center of the park, a five-plus hour hike from the gate. While I had originally planned to spend two nights there, I opted for discretion and stayed at the campground near the gate.

This turned out to be a Good Thing, for reasons that shall become clear. This campground had wooded sites, and was located near Lago Tinquilco, a smallish lake partly within park boundaries. I had the entire grounds to myself, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the lake.

The next day I hiked up into the higher grounds of the park, where there are more small lakes and waterfalls. This was an absolutely beautiful area -- wooded, with native trees abounding. There are several types of trees here that have trunk diameters in excess of 10 feet. I think it makes doing trail work here exciting...

The highlight of the day (and the next day too) was Lago Toro, which is a picture postcard waiting to be sold.
Someone else's picture

Late in the afternoon I arrived at the other campground, at which point I really appreciated my decision to stay in the other one. This one was essentially a hunk of pasture (complete with cow pies, but this has been experienced before...), with little redeeming character. They claim there is a "refugio" here, but all I saw was a very low leanto that on a good night might allow 3 people under it. They also claim to have an outhouse. The sad excuse of an outhouse was in a sad state of neglect, being full of trash, and generally unusable. Fortunately, there was a shovel-head in the camp leavings nearby, which I was able to use for dealing with things normally done in an outhouse.

I spent the evening in conversation with an Italian woman who was spending several days at this godforsaken campground, whose only benefit is its central location, so that she could fully explore the park.

The next day (which would be today!) I made a brief early-morning excursion to a small lake nearby, and then hightailed it back the way I came, more-or-less, to eventually return to Pucón.

Tomorrow I climb a volcano.

Hasta luego!