We are going to call this the warm-up hike. We had plans to do this hike, but on another day when we can get started early and pack food and water. But for today, the plan is just to take a short walk and check out the trail.
The first thing we noticed was all the bamboo that was growing along the trail. Bamboo has many uses you know...
Ski Poles
Pole vaulting, of course.
Don't forget the javelin.
Naturally, to scare away the mountain lions.
And balancing beam for crossing big logs across the river.
These are Araucaria trees. The are like nothing we have ever seen before. In English they are called Monkey Puzzle trees.
As they grow, they only put out foliage at the top. They can grow up to 50M in height and 2M in diameter. They can live to be over a 1000 years old and grow very slowly, only 5 to 8 cm per year.
There were so many interesting things to see on this hike. We lost count of the number of lizards we saw.
Dave had a good time taking pictures of lizards and mushrooms and us of course.
Any bugs in this fallen log? Yep, a few grubs.
Emily and Dave
The boys with their walking sticks. Thanksfully, they didn't use them too often as weapons.
A purple mushroom with a pink stem. Are we in wonderland?
We definitely not in the desert anymore.
Everywhere we go it is always fun to see differents kinds of wildflowers.
Aren't these pretty little purple mushrooms. Too bad they aren't edible, they sure would look cute in a salad.
The boys climbed through the brush down to the river.
One of the first things they noticed was how clear the water was.
The other interesting thing was that the river bottom was filled with a fine sand made from lava rocks. They liked the patterns it made as the water washed over it.
We also enjoyed seeing the animals in the area. Chile doesn't have many large mammals, but we have seen many birds of prey like this hawk
It is also fun to see a family of pigs foraging for prarie flowers.
We found these colorful feathers on the trail.
They belong to this tropical looking bird called a Choroy.
After reaching a large puddle that covered the trail, we decided to head back. Only from the back side did we see that this fallen log was in the shape of a heart. The other end just looks like any old chopped down tree. Hopefully it is not to cheesy for you.
Definitely too cheesy now, sorry.
This is an active volcano named Villarrica. This is the destination to the hike that we were just on. Here is a little tidbit about the volcano from wikipedia:
Villarrica is one of Chile's most active volcanoes, rising above the lake and town of the same name. The volcano is also known as Rucapillán, a Mapuche word meaning "House of the Pillán". It is the westernmost of three large stratovolcanoes that trend perpendicular to the Andean chain along the Gastre Fault. Villarrica, along with Quetrupillán and the Chilean portion of Lanín, are protected within Villarrica National Park. Ascents of the volcano are popular with several guided ascents reaching the top during summer.
Villarrica, with its lava of basaltic-andesitic composition, is one of only five volcanoes worldwide known to have an active lava lake within its crater. The volcano usually generates strombolian eruptions, with ejection of incandescent pyroclasts and lava flows. Melting of snow and glacier ice as well as rainfalls often cause massive lahars (mud and debris flows), such as during the eruptions of 1964 and 1971....The partial trail that we just finished actually takes you to the base of the volcano. We plan to take the full hike in a few days.
And here is an intereting shot I found online of the lava lake inside the volcano:
1 comment:
I love that heart tree. So cool!
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