Huge trees, exploding things and no such thing as a ferry schedule.

We woke up to a cool crisp morning with some drizzle, but after the days of pouring rain, the excitement was real. We had re-worked our schedule in hopes that this break in the weather would happen so that we could get some hiking in. We took a couple of hours in the drizzle to explore the trails right near the lodge and on our walk we met up with a young woman from the Bristol UK who is biking from north to south on her mountain bike. She was wet and cold from her night of camping, but still had a great smile. I was impressed she was completely comfortable taking this adventure solo. Raffaele explained that Chile has a very low crime rate and it is not unusual to see young women traveling solo.

I enjoyed our morning walk as we came upon a planting of blueberries which reminded me of my late friend Bernadine who was OSU’s blueberry expert and was world renowned on her work in blueberries. She visited Chile just months before she passed. I swear the bee on the blueberry was Bernadine!

We then drove a short distance to our next stop the Los Alerces trail where we stood in awe at the base of Redwoods that were 3000 years old. We became kids again as we tried to catch raindrops from the tops of the trees in our mouths as we hiked along.

A few more kilometers down the road we arrived at the Volcán Chaitén where the group divided up for those wanting to make the 4.4 km (1.5 mile) 2400’ climb to the top and those that preferred to hike part way – you know which group Ron and I opted for! We took off with Carlo and headed up the mountain passing many different nationalities along the way – not a hike for the faint of heart. If you’ve ever been hiking with our friend Kelly, imagine her idea of a “fun” hike times 10 – it made this year’s hike in the Enchantments seem easy (Just kidding). The issue for me was for some reason Chilean’s seem to think that a step up is fine at a meter and then cover it with some mud to just make it a wee bit more fun! We made it to the top and were rewarded with a clear view of the crater and numerous fumaroles.

A challenging hike but we did it…my knee not so happy about the downhill though.

Ah but did I say ferry schedules? On our drive home from the hike we came upon a long line of trucks, buses, camper vans, autos and bikers all waiting for the ferry. We were told that the ferry had been cancelled for two days due to weather so all the vehicles had lined up in hopes of catching the ferry now that the weather had cleared. When we saw the size of the ferry and the size of the line we asked what happens if you don’t get a spot on this ferry? You spend the night in line in hopes of catching the next one….when and if it shows up!

Tomorrow we depart Pumalin Park and head south again towards the Patagonian Steppe where we should see less rain….and we are flying and not sitting in a ferry line!