Kilometres this section: 131
Kilometres completed: 2,588
Anticura is not somewhere to spend a day, there isn't even a shop, well, I at least finished early yesterday. So, onwards, I'm in Parque Nacional Puyehue here, time to head up Volcán Puyehue then. I need to register on the way in, and the guy wants 10,000 Pesos too, oops. Nice chap though, he said he'd accept me sending some photos - well I can do that I'm sure. And I have a £10 note in my wallet for some reason, I can have that too. Up then, a nice, well maintained path through woods, sure is a slog through, I climb up to 1400m, and it is 1pm before I exit the trees and pass Refugio El Caulle, only 7km in. The volcano is dead ahead, I'm not actually going to the top, instead I follow a faint path to the left, still climbing. Then as I circle the peak, I enter an incredible volcanic landscape, a lifeless, monochrome place, gray dust and sand, white patches of snow, and great black fields of boulders, recent lava flows. Of course I have to walk over it all, not easy, and at times there's a reek of sulfur, but wow what a place! Totally worth the climb, hell this is worth coming to Chile for. I only manage 20km, but so what - I get to camp up here!
A few more kilometers of high volcanic country, and then it is back into the trees, and I am very pleased to see this trail is in as good condition as the one on the other side. I manage a better pace downhill of course, and by lunchtime I am on a dirt vehicle track, might as well be a road. Indeed the road I reach around 4pm isn't much different, although not terribly exciting compared to yesterday. Well, a little excitement at least before I find somewhere to camp - I encounter a large, hairy spider crossing the road, sure looks like a tarantula - I give the thing a wide berth anyway.
More road the next day, although not so easy in this mountainous area, I climb, up to meet a nice bit of horse trail, pretty much a dirt track, steeply up then down but good walking - in places cut so deeply into the dirt it feels like a tunnel. A long descent to a ford of Río Hueinahue, then more road alongside Lago Maihue. Lots of tourists here, I pass many campsites, stores and so on, this has its benefits - rather than food from my pack, I get lunch at a restaurant, a steak sandwich then blackberry custard tart, this is good. I guess this is quite a classy place, my sandwich comes in purple bread, but it's still cheap. Then I get biscuits and chocolate from a store, which has its downside - while I shop, a dog manages to pull my bedroll off my pack and gives it a good chew, well at least it wasn't the tent. A bit more nice trail and some gravel track to finish, and an interesting camp spot, next to the ruins of an eleven substantial bridge over Río Pillanleufú.
So, I have another 38km until Puerto Fuy, pretty much all trail, and I've developed a healthy respect for just how long it can take to walk through the trails here. Also, I will be walking through the Huilo Huilo 'biological reserve', I've read they don't take kindly to trespassers. So, I am carrying three days of food, and I have worked out a plan to detour around for 200km on road if it comes to it... Well, in the event, it's a day of dirt and gravel vehicle track, gently climbing alongside Río Pillanleufú. The only people I see are a few guys going fishing, and I power along, drawn by the prospect of real food and a bed, I reach town before 6pm. Only one problem - it's the weekend, some kind of festival is happening, and every place with a bed is full. Back to the campsite I passed on the way in, oh god they don't take cards, I have a bit of a breakdown at this point. The campsite lady takes pity on me and lets me camp for free, and even gives me 10,000 Pesos - yes, just as back in America, long distance walking has turned me into a hobo.
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