Pucón

Hey everyone,
So Pucón was awesome, I'm just going to say it. It is a fun outdoor playground of hiking, rafting, hot springs and scenery. The main attraction there for us was climbing the Volcân Villarica (2847 m), which is also the most active volcano in Chilé. It last erupted in 2015, and we had to sign wavers saying we wouldn't try to sue them if we were dead, etc. The morning we climbed it started early, at 7:30 we set out with packs on. We took a chairlift up the first little bit, as this is a ski hill in the winter





























The ski lodge, with Volcán Villarica in the background





























Let's go!





























Beautiful early morning views





























Standing by the previous chairlift that was destroyed by an eruption in the 70s.




























The first part of the hike we were just walking up in hiking boots, then when we got to the snow part we strapped on crampons, which are a great way to make you feel like a total bad-ass.



























Jared the mountaineer


























Getting closer.....


























Me in crampons, 'grampones' en Español

The very last 10 minutes we took off the crampons and also left our bags before making the final ascent.


























After 3 hrs, we made it to the top! And that is lava, which we could see spluttering and spraying when we peered down into the crater. So amazing! This was the first time Jared or I had ever seen lava, and it's something I will never forget. We camped in the parking lot the night before, and the volcano would occasionally glow! With the stars above, it was like nothing else.








































The wind was raging in this picture, but here we are, on top of a volcano!


















The view over the landscape was also fantastic! We could see other volcanoes like Quetrupillan, Cerro Palguin, Cerro Redondo, Cerro Huelemolle.











































































There were actually a ton of people up there, the volcano was a happening place
























They gave us these blue plastic mini-sleds to slide down the snow on the way down, which was major fun. They would tell us 'sin plastico' (without the sled) or 'con plastico' (with the plastic) depending on the slope of each run. Jared and I were always trying to go faster and be crazy, and the guides kept telling us 'con control!'














































Walking and sometimes running down the volcano







































































Hey, we were on top of that!















This was on a little day hike we did the day after the volcano hike. We saw lots of 'monkey puzzle trees,' or 'pehuén' a very iconic tree specific to Chilé.
They are incredibly long-lived trees, potentially more than 1000 years! The leaves alone each live an average of 24 years.






















A baby tree, check out the spiky leaves.




















































































The bark on the trees



















































































A crazy goat trail we took through the national park. The first of many.......
And of course, with all that hiking you need to soak your sore muscles. We went to two different termas, the one in the picture below was the better of the two, there were 5 different pools of different temperatures, built along the river.















Until Next Time!