Outings and excursions · Coyhaique
Queulat National Park and Glacier
Text: Mónica Pons · Photos: Eladio Pinto Nuñez - Jefe Área La Junta - CONAF
Local flora and fauna species, glaciers and rivers are protected by this reserve. Interesting information is provided about its various attractions and activities available.
Queulat National Park is accessed through Carretera Austral (Southern Road) from Coyhaique to Puyuhuapi. The typical mountains and rivers of the Patagonian Andes may be observed inside this protected area.
Driving to this destination was quite amusing. The reserve is located to the north of Lake Risopatrón, in the District of Puerto Cisnes. Queulat stands for "distant lands" in the Araucano tongue and it occupies a large surface alongside the shore of Ventisquero Sound.
We entered the park and took a tour around it. The weather was cloudy and somewhat drizzly, which seemed to add color and glow to the plants. We drove along the open trails and discovered the secrets of the rainforest.
The Protected Area
Immersed on rocky hillsides and in deep valleys, the evergreen woods boast coigües, tepas, mañios, cinnamon trees and tepús as well as huge Chilean rhubarb, typical of the area. We were told that this zone is dwelled by pudúes, kodkods, Magellanic woodpeckers, sheldgeese, black-necked swans, coypus, chucaos and kingfishers, among others.
Suddenly, El Conde Fall appeared before us. We drove on towards the park ranger station and then paid a visit to the hanging glacier. Located at 1,800 meters MSL, it is the result of the glaciation that took place thousands of years ago. It was discovered by Captain Enrique Simpson in 1875. At that time, the captain reported that the snow from the glacier was just 100 meters from the sea shore. It retreated later on.
We spotted Padre García Fall and Lake Los Pumas surrounded by temperate thick forests of extreme beauty in the Queulat slope. Going uphill was not easy. Therefore, we stopped several times. The lack of visibility caused by the drizzle prevented us from seeing the hanging glacier. That frozen formation rests on a ravine of bare rock and creates cascades that may be seen year round when it is cloudless.
We devoted a couple of hours to this thrilling tour, safe in the knowledge that we had seen a minimum part of this highly valuable natural reserve.
