Skip to main content

Parque Pumalin

The Hornopiren to Caleta Gonzalo ferry crossing is a great way to get a scenic fjord cruise for the cost of a commuter ferry.  For nearly 5 hours the ferry takes you south around a break in the Carretera Austral, bypassing a stretch of rugged coastline so far adjudged too difficult to build a road around (or through). 



Located on the northern part of the Carretera Austral just after the ferry terminus at Caleta Gonzalo is Parque Pumalin.  Although we were back on the gravel road it was a small inconvenience traded off against the very pretty forest, rivers and mountains.

We too a few short walks, discovering the hard way that in Chile, the distance of bushwalks (like orienteering courses) appears to be measured as the crow flies. Add in the nearly vertical forest and it's easy to see how a supposed 1.8km return bushwalk (easy moderate rating), took us the best part of 90 minutes. No problem however as the scenery made it all worthwhile.




Moving on to Chaiten we found another impossibly beautiful campsite to set up for the night.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inca Trail day 4

This was the day we would arrive at Macchu Picchu so we awoke with a keen sense of anticipation.   To celebrate the last day on the trail, somehow the chef had whipped up an enormous cake which was served after breakfast.  After a discussion with Marco about the likely weather over the next two days we agreed that it would be best to tour Macchu Picchu as soon as we arrived in mid afternoon rather than wait until tomorrow. Marco assured us that this would mean less crowds and better weather (he was right). We could see the backside of the mountain above Macchu Picchu in front of us as we started out.  Unlike the last two days, today was mainly downhill.  We would have to descend about 1,000 meters and judging by the first part of the morning walk, most of this would be on steep and slippery rocky steps. After alternating descents and traversing along steep hillsides through cloud forest and bamboo groves we reached the ruins of Intipata. Intipata was a very...
2 comments
Read more

Vatnajökull National Park

Vatnajökull National Park is a must visit destination for any tourist to Iceland.  It's also one of the most inaccessable.  The main reason for this inaccessability is that much of the National Park is taken up by the enormous Vatnajökull glacier.  So you can't just drive in and walk around.  To see the interior of the park (the glacier) you need to make special arrangements - like taking a tour in a Superjeep. We booked a Superjeep tour for our first day at the park which was cancelled due to the inclement weather... However the next day we were definitely ready to see as much as we could and fortunately the tour was back on. Our tour guide was Hungarian but very well informed and we learned a lot about Icelandic culture as well as glaciers and volcanoes. The Jeep we were in had been made by the driver (and some friends) and consisted of part of a Chrysler with another van's back end bolted on and modified engine and gears.  It had 54 inch wheels w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Iceland's wild east coast

The east coast of Iceland attracts a fraction of the tourists and has a fraction of the population of the western side.  It really is the place for a remote getaway.  The hosts of our farmstay near Egilsstadir moved from Reykjavik to get away from the system and the hectic Reykjavik scene 😊.  Their farm certainly epitomised the word remote.  Samuel loved the farm, especially playing with the two very friendly and intelligent farm dogs. As with much of Iceland, one of the best ways to spend the time is just driving with plenty of stops for photography - in fact it's hard to make much progress in some scenic areas as the urge to park the car and whip out the camera every few kilometers is overwhelming.  This was especially the case on the one long day we spent driving from Egilsstadir to Hofn.  We started our journey on yet another overcast morning and almost immediately headed down a rough back road off the ring road in search of a waterfall.  We...
Post a Comment
Read more