Hiking in the Lake District of Chile - A Photo Exploration of Los Lagos Trail in Huerquehue National Park

Chile is one of my favorite countries, and in all honesty it is partially because it reminds me so much of California with its diverse ecosystem and stunning national parks. Last year I took a journey down to the Lake District to check out the beauty that all of my friends had been raving about. The jumping off point in the Lake District for most tourists is Pucon. Victor, Tom, and I, however, tried to veer off the tourist path a bit. We decided to stay in a cute, classic Chilean town called Villarrica. We stayed in a hostel called Mapu Hostel, which was cozy and always had a woodstove burning (which was needed because it is COLD in Southern Chile in June!).

We wanted to go hiking somewhere close by, but out of town enough that it would be a hike and not a stroll. The hostel owner told us about the Los Lagos trail in Huerquehue National Park. There are two trail options. One is the small circuit, which is an 8 mile loop and 2400 feet in elevation gain. The other is the big circuit, which is a 10 mile loop and about 3500 feet in elevation gain. We figured out the buses and prepped for a big hike the next day (the bus companies and schedules are constantly changing in the Lake District and unpredictable, so make sure you triple check with your hostel/hotel owner and call the company and ask another local..).

The next morning we woke up at 5am, had breakfast, and took our first hour long bus from Villarrica to Pucon. From Pucon, we caught the 8:30am bus with the company Caburgua, right next to the JAC bus station. The bus ticket was around $7 roundtrip. We found out that the last return bus from the park to Pucon was at 5pm, and if we missed it we were out of luck (happy surprise camping in the forest!)

The bus took about an hour to arrive at the park. The entrance fee was around $8, and the ranger gave us a safety talk and another warning about not missing the last bus. We checked out the map, and headed on our way. The begining of the hike was a beautiful, fairly flat stroll next to a lake. It was a cold, foggy morning, and the environment reminded me of some Northern Californian hikes that I love.

The trees were huge and the vegetation was lush. We kept on walking, and began the uphill that wouldn't end for quite a while (remember, the small circuit was 2400 feet in elevation gain). I kept on thanking the hills of Valparaiso (where I was living at the time), for getting me used to constant stair climbing and sloped running. It was also nice to finally break a sweat after being cold for the past few days in the Southern Chilean winter climate.

Did I mention the trees were HUGE? We felt like ants among giants.

We were still unsure if we wanted to take the small circuit or the large circuit. The large circuit was only 2 miles longer but over 1000 feet more in elevation gain. It was just a loop off of the small circuit, so we didn't have to decide right away. A few hours later and 2400 feet higher, we reached the top of the small circuit and had lunch at Lago Toro. We were worried about making it back to the 5pm bus if we continued on the big circuit, so we started our trek back down.

On the trail back down, we stopped at a side shoot to see a beautiful waterfall. We then spent some more time at Lago Chico, and marveled at the perfect reflection that the lake made of the trees. I often feel like a majority of my life is spent exploring bodies of water, and this adventure was no different. My favorite places in the world are where bodies of water meet mountains and forest.

We made it back to the bus stop! Only a bit too early... The 30 minutes we waited for the bus were the longest 30 minutes of the whole day (elevation climbing included). This is because it was cold cold cold and we were no longer moving. I ended up just walking around in circles to keep myself warm. I welcomed the arrival of the bus with open arms, and waved goodbye to the beautiful lakes, trees, waterfalls, birds, and mountains behind me.