Parque Andino Juncal Review, Travel Story

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Parque Andino Juncal

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If you want to go camping or hiking in the Andes you can go where I went. I was able to stay in the Refuge. At 6:22am a particularly loud gust swept down from the glacier, through the canyon and hit the Refuge, causing it to rattle intensely for about 30 seconds. The walls of this building are thick rock and the roof is nailed on tight. Everyone woke up. It turned out to be a tremor, which is common in Chile. Everyone went back to sleep. It was also felt in Santiago and, by a difference of hours, a 6.2 earthquake in the South of Chile was followed by a minor tsunami that claimed 10 lives.

At about midday we hiked up to, or rather 'toward', the glacier. The 1-3 hour hike (depending) extends most of Parque Juncal, which at this point is more of a philosophical question than a coherent park project. What is private property? Update: it's definitely a park! Our host spent a good amount of time in amiable conversation with other people we found -- campers, hiking guides, the Chilean military -- handing them written information about Parque Juncal and reminding them to ask before using his land.

The landscape is incredible, the air savory and the refuge warm. I felt sorry for the campers in tents in the biting cold. The trail makes for a great day hike. Remember to ask before camping there. Here are directions to Juncal.

Most of us weren't in any condition to do anything extreme like take our shoes off and cross the river that would take us off the park and up to the glacier, especially in the cold. So we went back and cooked meat over a fire and watched the sunset. Then drove back to Santiago, utterly defeated.