Argentina

November 6-29, 2009

November 22: Parque Nacional Lanin - Lago Lacar and the Condor Roost: Cascada Chachin

Continuing on from the restaurant we passed by the path leading to the international Hua Hum Pass. Further on we got to a fork and we realized pretty quickly that we weren't going to make it to the Queni thermal springs. The road had already been pretty harrowing and now there were new warning signs to indicate worse conditions ahead. For a moment we contemplated hiking the rest of the way but given the time of the day and the distance there and back we decided there was no way we could make it. However we suddenly realized we had made it to the start of a short hike to a waterfall - Cascada Chachin and so we parked the car and decided to go for it.

The hike was a short interpretive walk up through a beautiful forest typical of the Valdivian temperate climate. At the end of the hike was a platform overlooking the beautiful 30 m high Chachin waterfall. As we stood admiring it we heard a large group arriving. It turns out they were students on some sort of field trip. Just before they got to the waterfall the instructors made the students all line up, close their eyes and proceed forward with the instructors leading them. When they were all in place on the platform the students were told to open their eyes and behold the wonder. We were quite amused watching the whole thing! It turns out we amused them to - they thought Samantha was adorable and they couldn't get over Christopher in the back carrier.

Eventually we headed back down to the car. Along the way we saw another group of tourists coming up, some of them having quite a bit of difficulty with the hike. Back at the parking lot we decided to hop a little creek and check out the daffodils and other flowers growing along the banks of the Chachin River.

Finally it was time to come back to the car and the kids enjoyed a quick snack of alfajores before it was time to tackle the road back out of the park.

The sign of the Lacar Area at the western end of Lago Nonthué.

Crossing the Hua Hum River. It's a typical bridge... hope no one is coming too fast around the bend on the other side!

Some yellow lady's slippers alongside the road.

This is where we realized we weren't gonna make it to the thermal pools.

At more than 8 km away to just get to the camping (let alone the thermal pools), hiking it was not an option.

But happily we discovered another little hiking trail to a waterfall.

At the parking for the waterfall trail. Strange that we hadn't found any information for this in our research.

Sam at the Cascada Chachin sign at the trailhead.

We saw lots of this beautiful flower along the way.

More flowers on the barberry bushes.

Pretty purple flowers.

Peekaboo!

Christopher and Rubby enjoying the hike through the forest.

Lots of interpretive signs along the path: Trees such as the Coihue canes,
Rauli and Roble Pellin grow larger here thanks to the greater humidity.

The nutrients from rotting leaves and wood, and the minerals from the soil are taken to the roots of trees dissoved in water. The ducts (the trees' arteries) are like suction pumps and take the water up to 30m above the ground to get to the tree's crown.

A close-up view of the Chachin waterfall.

Typical... Christopher has fallen asleep by the time we get to the highlight of the hike.

The Chachin waterfall's torrent originates in heavy-laden clouds formed over the Pacific Ocean which, pushed against the mountains by the westerly winds, dump their load in rainfall and snow to drain away down the Chachin river.

Once again we find ourselves in a Valdivian Temperate Rainforest climate due to the increased humidity from the waterfall spray and the falls' geographic location.

Torrents of water.

While we were at the waterfall a large school group arrived. The instructors were leading all the students who had their eyes closed to the observation deck for the big surprise.

The students were all duly impressed.

One of the instructors thought the kids were super cute and gave Samantha a candy.

Rubby spotted a little mini waterfall through the forest.
I'm guessing it's a little overshadowed by the bigger Chachin waterfall!

Christopher woke up and hey... what's that over there!?

Christopher got to see the big waterfall after all!

Sam and Christopher found a cool bug.

Lots of vines and cana colihue. The solid Colihue cane reaches 3 to 4 m in height and thrives with the humidity in the area. The colihue canes flower en masse and reproduce approximately every 60 years.
The last flowering here happened in the spring of 2000.