The alerce tree, or Patagonian cypress, is an endangered type of tree that can get very tall and very old, but grows very slowly. Unfortunately a lot of the trees have disappeared because the wood is of excellent quality. Now, logging is forebidden, although dead trees can still be taken. Unfortunately there’s still illegal logging going on. But there are also people passionate about protecting the tree, or just passionate about having some of the biggest and oldest trees on the planet in their region. Or perhaps it’s just a great sell to tourists, local and foreign, and a way to make money off of something nature provides.
In Argentina’s Los Alerces national park they tried to sell me a boat trip to a milenario for over 100 euro. Sure, a tree of several thousand years old is impressive, but is it worth that much? In Chile I could join a cheaper tour to another milenario, which also included more walking, so I took that chance to visit one of these ancient natural wonders in the Alerce Andino national park. It’s a relatively short distance from Puerto Varas and the driver talked about the area and the park as we drove via Puerto Mont, along the start of the caretera austral, towards Lenca. There, we turned onto the dirt road to the park. There were some houses that had cleared the land to build. All of this used to be native forest, but now all that’s left is pretty much in the national park.
This entrance of the park offers one path that leads to different sights along the way. The official itinerary said we could visit the old alerce tree, but there were two lagunas beyond it. Our time there was a bit tight to walk to the 2nd one, but the 1st one was a good option and offered a slightly more adventurous walk. The majority of the path to the tree was wide and pretty flat. Nothing challenging. It got a bit more wild after that. A little bit. At first I was disappointed, but as I walked deeper into the forest, it got more interesting. The trees got bigger, the vegetation thicker. Trees had fallen and had been caught by other trees. Big roots were winding around tree trunks as if they were holding on to each other. Some trees looked like an intricate braid or were covered in green.
Just before reaching the tree, there were some waterfalls: Saltos Río Chaicas. They were surprisingly nice. Here, they’d built some platforms and stairs to protect the nature. They went up and around the milenario, which was reaching up into the sky. However impressive, it certainly wasn’t the only impressive tree. And, when you reach a tree, you will only look at it for so long before moving on. So I crossed a little river, which was easy over the rocks as the water level was low, and continued. The path got slightly steeper until laguna Chaiquenes. There was a bench overlooking the water. When I walked a bit further I found another small viewpoint and then returned to relax on the bench. The way back seemed much longer, but the milenario stood in better light and I met a funky bird that was walking the same path. Our driver guide took us to a small port to buy some empanadas and then we made the drive back to Puerto Varas in the busy traffic. I’m glad I took advantage of one of the last nice days before the rain set in. Honestly, I still can’t recognize an Alerce!
