Torrential rain marked our first days on the Carretera Austral as we detoured to the renowned white rafting town of Futaleufú.
‘It’s an El Nino year!’ the girl told us as she cheerfully shut up the cafe we had been aiming for. No coffee and cheesecake there, just the fuselage of a wrecked plane that took me eerily back to Iceland and the Justin Bieber plane in the black desert near Vík.
This one had crash landed about 6 miles away and had been dragged with oxen by some locals to its present location. Stripped of everything useful, they had proceded to live in it for 15 years whilst they built a house on the nearby river.
The owner of the El Avion Cafe is now restoring it to make a little museum and an unusual adjunct to her cafe – when it is open.
Adding to our woes the El Nino had bought torrential rain. For three solid days it had poured, apparently quite unusual for mid November.
El Avion is just before El Amarillo, a small settlement 24 km south east of Chaitén once known for its thermal baths. However these were destroyed in a landslide in May 2020 and have yet to reopen.
It is also the southern sector to Parque Pumalin with campsites and a few walks, including a 20 km return hike to the Michinmahuida glacier.
Crossing an elegant suspension bridge at Puerto Cárdenas, we followed the scenic-on-a-nice-day shores of Lago Yelcho with encircling shrouded mountains.
We managed to get some brief exercise at Ventisquero Yelcho where an hour long trail leads to various miradors over hanging glaciers. The first 300 m had a super new boardwalk but after that it was all very wet and muddy. Spanish moss dripped in the trees above our head and the river roared beside the track – the view when it came was fairly indistinct but at least we got some fresh air.
We decided to detour some 77 km to Futaleufú. The turn off is at Villa Santa Lucia, an area devastated by a glacial flood in December 2017 – the effects are still very obvious.
We followed a bumpy ripio road through the valley. Hemmed in by high mountains, it was easy to see how these areas can suffer so easily from landslides.
The slogan for the town is ‘Un Paisaje Pintado Por Dios’ – a landscape painted by God. It is apt for a region of turquoise rivers, where yellow broom lines the roads and the thick lushness of trees and bushy shrubs appears like a riotous garden of Eden.
Nearer to town, the valley opened out with clearings and cattle farming until we reached smoother bitumen 10 km out. We had intended rough camping on a pretty grassy flat by the Rio Espolón on Ruta W-901 but our scrappy Nissan was just too low for a stream crossing before it – so near and yet so far!
Instead we backtracked to the town bridge and Camping los Coihues where we managed to bargain the cheerful senorita down from CHP 10,000 to 8000 each. As we were the only idiots in town prepared to camp, it seemed only fair, and with the torrential rain continuing to fall, she was nice enough to tell us to camp in the quincho where Simon managed to get a fire going. We later went to sleep with the rain pounding on the shed roof rather than on the tent.
The water for the hot shower the next morning did not have much caliente about it but was definitely bracing. However there was sunshine at last and after breakfast, we drove to the trail head for the Piedra del Aguila walk.
This 4.8 km round trip starts at a higgledy piggledy farm from where the friendly proprietor emerged to charge us a CLP 1000 entrance fee. We set off on a dirt track which climbed steeply up the hillside and were soon overtaken by a gaucho, resplendent in woolly sheepskin chaps.
However he had to stop to rest his horse so frequently that we were able to chat – guachos obviously don’t walk! He proudly told us about his Argentinian sheepdogs and confirmed that there were pumas in the area although we were unlikely to see them.
We finally beat him to the top where we found he lived in a homestead that Butch Cassidy might have recognised with its ramshackle wooden buildings and corrals.
However, he also enjoyed the most beautiful location. Leaving the track we cut across the hillside to the distinctive white Eagle Rock where we indeed had a bird eye’s view over the high snow sprinkled mountains and two hidden lakes.
Further around, the wide valley spread below us with scattered houses and farms and a condor soared past – this was finally the fabulous Chilean scenery which had been cruelly hidden from us by the rain in the previous days.
Going down was a lot quicker than going up and we had plenty of time to check out a popular lookout spot at the other end of town. A short sharp 15 minute hike, largely up a lengthy staircase, led to the Mirador Torre de Agua, from where there was a fine view over Futa.
We had hoped to finish the day with coffee and cake but could not find anywhere open, one of the drawbacks to being early in the season. If it is open Martin Pescador is apparently the best spot for meals.
We retreated to our campsite and had coffee beside the surprisingly blue fast flowing river, a beautiful view enhanced by the snowy mountains and vivid yellow broom flowers.
There were no rafting trips to be seen but there are plenty of tour operators in town which will take you in season, as well as fly fishing guides and horse outfitters – the tourist office has a list.
Time to get out of the quincho! Futaleufú is famous for it’s river – the name actually comes from an indigenous Mapuche word for big water or large river and most of the outdoor activities are centred around it.
To get closer, we visited the Futaleufú Nature Reserve, just off the road to the Argentinian border. It is open daily and offers three seemingly quite short trails.
Thinking to start with the hardest first we took the path to Mirador el Cóndor, some 2.5 km away with a 420 m elevation. This does not sound excessive but when the path is largely vertical, it gets quite exhausting.
The first 1.3 km to the Mirador el Piedrero was the worst as it just consisted of steep steps. We collapsed on a bench to enjoy the view of the river valley and got our breath back for the next section, which levelled out a little in places, but not much – bring plenty of snacks to keep the sugar levels up!
The view from the top was expansive; the mountains looked cold and remote all around us. Going down was just as bad due to the steepness and it was with some relief that we reached river level. We followed an undulating track to the Mirador Piedra Ventosa for a view over the river, which was running so high that there was not a rapid in sight. The Argentinian border was only a little way up the valley.
Once back at the car we found another I Overlander recommendation and followed the Futaleufú river downstream into an unspoilt world of wild mountains, small scale farming and wooden fences. It felt very wild west!
We stopped at the Cañadon del Diablo where a thankfully short 150 m uphill walk led to a great look out platform over the Futaleufú River where it ran through a narrow canyon in very rugged country.
A little further down the road I suspect we may have been the first customers of the season at the Hermanos Haussmann campsite – for CLP 8000 each we had a charming campsite right on the river with clean non draughty hot showers. There was a little refugio with interesting odds and ends pinned up and lots of fireplaces. Best of all, we had the most superb views all to ourselves – it was a heavenly spot and worth the detour in itself.
We decided to stay another night so next day investigated the end of the road, walking the final couple of kilometres when it got too rough for the car. It descended steeply to a gate so we never actually got to the river but it was a pleasant amble through the forest with mountain views. There were still plenty of people living along the road, including one clever modern construction which had used a huge boulder as it’s base.
Just 2 kilometres south of our campsite we found the Pasarela las Escalas, a solid footbridge over the river. It is a picturesque spot with boardwalk seating to each side (picnics!) and allows a popular circuit for mountainbikes from Futa – if you were brave you could even cross it on a motorbike!
Finally we tore ourselves away from the heavenly view and backtracked to the Carretera, passing the comfortable Peuma Lodge 25 km out of town. There is another popular 10 km round trip day hike which leaves from there to Laguna Pinilla. With a climb of 875 m, we decided against it after our previous exertions – the Carretera beckoned!
