A cozy cabin in the middle of nowhere with a fire burning in the woodstove, exceptional hosts, and dolphins patrolling the nearby beach – Christmas has been good. Reluctantly, we return the keys to our cabaña and load our car. To be fair, having a rental car AND accommodation for several nights is a luxury we only allowed us to over Christmas. Now we are back to camping mode and off to the legendary Carretera Austral. What the Route 66 is to the USA, the Ruta 7 or Carretera Austral is to Chile: steeped in legend and a dream destination for many, it starts in Puerto Montt and ends 1240 kilometres further south where mountains, glaciers, fjords, and the Pacific Ocean make passage on land impossible. In our current setup with a five-year old and camping equipment designed for summer temperatures, we were not going all the way south. Also, we decided not to fly across the Southern Patagonian ice field to see Torres del Paine or Fitz Roy for the same reason. Instead, we chose to take it slow and explore the lesser-known gems in northern Patagonia. And this idea turned out to be no less of an adventure.
Our journey took us to the Alerce Andino National Park with its picturesque waterfalls and abundant wildlife, to the Hornopiren NP with volcanos and lakes, and to Pumalin NP. I need to add that even though all these parks are located along the Carretera Austral, it is not exactly easy to get there. Due to the rugged topography, there is no continuous road, but you need to take several ferries along the way. In high season, however, some of the ferries must be booked in advance. We learned this the hard way and spent more time in Hornopiren than we had planned. On the flip side, though, this allowed us to get our laundry done. The trip south to Chaitén was quite an adventure: Two ferry rides, crossing a completely uninhabited stretch of primeval forest on unpaved road, and roadworks with steep inclines on loose gravel. Most regular cars (without 4WD) severely struggled to make it over the hills. Our little SUV was not designed to do any real offroad challenges, but luckily, we managed fine.
On 30 December, we stayed at Chaitén Eco Camping, our base camp for climbing Chaitén volcano the next day. We met a couple of nice backpackers there and shared stories and wine until late. At midnight, we sang Happy Birthday for Anna in English, German, French, Dutch, and Chinese. Our ascent to the volcano the next morning was quite challenging – partly due to the sparkling wine we had a few hours earlier, and partly because the steepest part of the trek was to the treeless caldera of the volcano. We could look down the crater and see some smoke rise from the opposite rockface – an impressive vista. We completed our hike – the longest and toughest ever for our son – and went further south to Lago Yelcho – a favourite spot of mine. On the camping at the beach of the lake, we concluded Anna’s birthday as well as the year 2023 with a swig of Pisco.
The new year started without Neujahrskonzert, but with a hike to a glacier and a swim in the lake. In a charming café in the middle of nowhere, we had delicious kuchen and coffee. From there, we started moving back north. We spent a night at a camping where a fox was the only other guest. In the morning, Anna asked me, if I had finished the last bread with honey she had left on the breakfast table. I had not. Apparently, the fox had snatched it. The law of the jungle. We continued our journey to Ensenada on the shore of Lago Llanquihue. Going up volcan Osorno – by car and chairlift – and then climbing a little further up until we were able to touch the snow was one of the highlights of our entire trip.
