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Centred around the picturesque, but somehow soulless tourist town of Pucon. This region is dominated by the active Volcano of Villarrica. It towers over the town and and must be constantly in the minds of its inhabitants, where a warning system is in place to warn of any impending eruptions.
Parque Nacional Villarrica
The oldest National Park in Chile, Villarrica is a mere 30km south of Pucon. It is a volcanic National Park, situated on a large plateau, which was formed several thousand years ago. The park boundary runs all the way up to the border with Argentina at another volcano, Volcan Lanin. The landscape is one of stark desolation, with isolated alpine lakes found among old lava flows and miles of pumice. The volcano itself is glaciated and crevassed on it's upper slope, the fumes from the volcano lending dark streaks to the otherwise pristine snow. Only in the lower altitudes of the park is any significant bush and forest to be found. The giant Araucania Trees dominant this vegetation zone and provide an interesting change from the ever present beech.
Huerquehue Lakes
Parque Nacional Huerquehue is 35km to the north east of Pucon. In complete contrast to its southern neighbour, it is a gentle lush landscape. Within this small National Park, the most accessible feature is the sub alpine basin, directly above Lago Tinquilco, which hides a number of delightful small tarns, amongst forested slopes amid Araucaria Trees. The nuts from this tree can be picked from the ground and eaten, they taste delicious. The forest under storey is surprisingly open and wondering amongst the huge trees almost has an English country garden feel.
Photographs from one visit.
In March and April 2008 we spent one week trekking the length of the Villarrica National Park. We started from the Ski Area, south of Pucon, which saved a lot of climbing, before traversing around the west and south of the Volcano. From there we headed east across the ridge of Cerro Los Pinos before crossing the desert like landscape to Laguna Blanc. We finally dropped down in to the bush again at Laguna Avutardas before finishing the walk at Puesco, near the Chilean border. There are no huts on this route. Camping areas are suggested on the park maps, but have been left very dirty. Water is a problem on this route and many of the streams and lakes are full of glacial till and make filtering water impossible.
We did a day hike to the Huerquehue Lakes after finishing the Villerica Traverse, by taking the bus from Pucon. The subalpine basin is easily visited in a relaxing day, but there is scope to extend this trek in to an overnight trip. Camping in this National Park is strictly controlled.
