Summer Trip South: Pumalín Douglas Tompkins National Park and Chaiten

After we got off the ferry, we drove a ways down Highway 7, the Carretera Austral until we got to a small campground called Lago Rio Negro. It had a nice 30 min walk through the woods down to a lovely lake, which we did before our dinner of Choripan and BLTs. It was still a rainy evening, but luckily we had a little covered pavilion at this campsite. 

The next morning, we drove on to reach our activity for the day, hiking up to see the Chaiten Volcano. On the way, we passed lots of pretty river crossings. 

While the morning was overcast, in the afternoon it cleared up, and the hike turned out to be a major success. We had a great view back across the valley we just drove down. 

The boys made it all the way to the top, which included 2,000 ft of elevation gain in about 2 miles, mostly through through these giant steps that the boys had to scramble up. They did so well; I was really proud of them. Behind us, you can see the side of the volcano cone. The crater itself is on the other side of that cone. 

This is an arial view of the volcano and the town itself alongside the inlet. This volcano erupted in 2008, after being dormant for more than 9,000 years. This lead to the town of Chaiten being completely destroyed. 

It actually wasn't destroyed because of lava, but from ash blocking the following rainfall from seeping into the ground, and instead immediately overwhelming the Chaiten River which then flooded the town. Before the eruption, the river flowed along the backside of town and then flowed into the inlet on the southern edge. But after, the river even changed its course and flowed right through the middle of town, cutting it in half. This is a picture of the town of Chaiten after the eruption, flooded, with the water a grey color from all of the ash. We actually camped a night in Chaiten alongside a park next to the inlet, and it was really nice. The entire town has been rebuilt at this point, so you'd never know what happened. We met some fellow travelers camping there as well, a lovely British couple with a sweet Land Rover named Gwenda. Hopefully we'll run into them again on our journeys!