EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/nskrj.jpg)
Above is a map of the reserve showing some landmarks and camping spots, I'm going to use these spots as reference in the rest of the blog entry.
Some general information first, the park is located in the central-south part of Chile, South America, it covers an area of 12000 ha aproximately (around 50 sq miles), and the usual trekking course ranges in altitude from 1200 mt to 2200 mt. Temperatures are temperate to cold throughout the year with an average of around 14°C, but it varies a lot. The reserve is located in a mountain setting, in what we call "pre-cordillera", which could be translated to "right before the mountain range" or something in those lines. Also keep in mind this is June, and here it's fall season, it's not very usual for people to go to these areas in this time of the year because of rains and very cold weather, but it was the only point we could go on, we also got pretty lucky and got AWESOME days
.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RtuRa.jpg)
Here's us getting off the bus at Talca, the closest city to the reserve, our group was made by 4 guys and 3 girls
Alright so, the reserve actually starts on point 3 of the map, while point 4 serves as administration and park keeper's lodge. Now, like I said before, this is fall, and on mountain regions, which means the sunlight is over at around 6 pm or a bit earlier, and we wanted to walk with sunlight to avoid any problems when setting up camp etc, we usually got up at around 7 or 8 am every day and walked until we reached our objectives. Despite me being a slow ass motherfucker we managed to get to every camp on time :D.
First day we were running a bit late so we only made a short walk taking us about 2-3 hours to somewhere to the east of point 6 in the map, where we found a spot we could set our tents on. There isn't too much to talk about on the first day but you could see the colors on the landscape, so, so different from what I usually see (since all my previous trips were on summer)
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Picture showing the nice colors on the trees and the landscape
For day 2, we went away from the map for a bit, because we wanted to go to the valley below and see if we could make it past Rio Claro. The keeper warned us about the possibility of getting trapped on the other side of the river if there was a sudden rain and that this wasn't the correct time of the year to go to the valley but we wanted to see for ourselves. So, if you go to the map, going to the east of point 10 there's a way down the valley called "Sendero de Chile", it's a pretty steep way down, but it isn't such a long trail. Right before the descent begins there's a lookout with an amazing view.
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View from the lookout into the valley
Also of note from day 2, is the fact that the setting varied inmensely. From a forest type of weather, very wet, to a very stony mountain trail, to a frozen riverbed, there was an amazing variety of "micro-climates" formed here which made for nice changes in view, though it did get a bit cold from time to time.
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Pretty forests
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To frozen trails
That night, after the descent into the valley, we set up camp right beside the river, we bathed in the river water (fucking cold might I add), and, as soon as the sun went down, GOD IT GOT COLD!!!, luckily, our friend Vodka helped some of the team survive the cold night
. We made a small fire in a safe spot and sang drunk songs until late night, it was easily the funniest night of the trip.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dMjsd.jpg)
Frozen tents in the morning!
Day 3 was nice, but for me, a rather unfit person, it was pretty exhausting. It started nice, with us visiting a nearby waterfall, which had a very nice look with the water frozen around it. After that, since the night before had been so cold, we opted not to go beyond the river into the valley since that involved sleeping at the river one more night and a majority didn't want to, so the trip for the day involved going back up to the lookout and then going to point 10.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BvpzH.jpg)
So, the way up was pure pain, it took me a lot of effort to get my lazy ass up there! But it's obviously worth it. After that, the rest of the way was a walk in the park, we did it pretty fast and managed to get to the campsite on time despite how much time it took us to climb the other part of the path. Pretty standard night, it was cold and we saw some huge insects trying to crawl inside our tents but there was no alcohol or fire that night, just some funny stories.
Day 4 involved going from point 10, to point 9, all the way to point 8 and then back to point 6. The first part of the trip involved a short way up but it was generally nice. The rabbit you see signals a stone supposedly shaped like a rabbit (it actually looks nothing like a rabbit, or anything at all), right before getting to the Enladrillado, which is a rather strange plateau in which stones form a brick-like pattern which gives the place it's name. It's also one of the highest spots on the park and the view from there is absolutely stunning.
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Our group at Enladrillado, you can see the Descabezado grande volcano at the background
After a short lunch, we started walking to point 8, Laguna del Alto. We made it in a few hours but we thought we were behind schedule so we tried to make it quick, despite me being absolutely trashed. This is the actual highest point in the reserve and has a lagoon on top of the mountain, which is pretty cool
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Laguna del alto
From there to point 6 there was the most annoying descent ever, everyone was so tired and I'm not used to going down fast so I didn't want to try going down running, but despite all that we made it in time, we actually were a lot earlier than we thought we'd be. As it was the last night, we crowned it with some tequila, and the warm weather (also the fact I was sunstruck), made for a very pleasant night of conversation while looking at the starry sky. I live in Santiago so the clear sky is really awesome.
So that's what I wanted to share tonight! Just a very nice trip. If you ever visit Chile you might want to give this place a visit, it's a very nice trail, has some beautiful sights and it's apt for almost everyone. There's no danger of mugging or anything of that sort and there's not that many visitors so it's really quiet and clean. I'll finish this wall of text with one of my favorite pictures from the trip, hope you enjoyed this! Cheers!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/PzdXD.jpg)
View from above the clouds
PD: Sorry for the huge photos XD
