Herquehue Lakes y Termas Rio Blanco

We took a bus from Pucon to a nearby park called Herquehue National Forest for a four day backpacking trip.  This is the view back toward Pucon of Lago Tinquilco with Villerica in the background.  We began walking at this lake.

We passed two big waterfalls.

We hiked up to a high lakes basin.  This is Lago Chico, the first lake we saw.

View of surrounding mountains from Lago Toro.

We walked around Lago Toro to an open point where Bets spotted fish jumping.  Dan waded out into the reeds, saw a nice Rainbow cruising the edge, and caught it on his first cast of the trip!

First fish

After fishing for a while, Dan decided to go swimming with his fishy friends.

That afternoon, we walked on to a campground nestled between some mountains.

We were surprised to see that the steep grassy slopes were home to a few cows.  This big mama didn´t want to move off our trail, which resulted in a lengthy game of Chicken.

The second day was rainy so we didn´t see much of the surroundings.  We thought these burn areas were pretty cool with the grass growing on the steep slopes.

We caught a few views of typical Andean peaks and cliffs.  We really like the Araucaria forests here, the Monkey Puzzle trees are huge and always covered with a bright green moss.

We made it to Rio Blanco, a small community in the mountains.  We walked down the river in search of fishing holes.  We found this sheep farm and thought it might be a good place for Kevin and Carolyn to relocate.

Dan braved the glacially cold water with barefeet while Bets snapped some shots.

Tying on flies

That evening at the campground, we met three local boys who were fascinated with our gear.  They slobbered all over Betsy´s camelback tube, tried to buy Dan´s leatherman, and wanted lessons with the fishing pole.  Here Dan is teaching them to cast into the hot spring pools.

The campground is next to these hot springs where we relaxed our muscles.  At night, the locals gather here to soak and socialize.  We talked to some guys who had been fishing the river using handlines wrapped around aluminum cans.  No wonder the little boys were so interested in the fishing pole!

A view looking up toward the hot spring at the Rio Blanco campground.

We walked out from Rio Blanco along a logging road and later an extremely steep trail.  The contour interval on the map is 100 m... that gives you an idea of topography here.

There were good views all around

After the hot steep climb we went for a swim at Laguna Pehuen, located in the middle of the dense Araucaria forest.

We walked on across a high meadow with sweet views.

We are always amazed by the Monkey Puzzle trees which grow in unfathomably steep cliffs and right on the crest of the ranges.

Stay tuned for adventures in Puerto Varas on the coast, followed by a hike across fresh volcanics.