Explorations in
Patagonia National Park

We will review the scenographic diversity of the Chacabuco Valley and its corners. We hike to the confluence between the Baker and Neff Rivers, the lead actor in this story of exploration. We will visit various lagoons (Laguna Edita, Laguna Cisnes, Laguna Los Flamencos, Laguna Seca) and forests, observing Patagonian fauna and wildlife in different habitats. The colors and views will change as we visit different areas.

The Patagonia National Park is a paradise for bird watching. On this exploration we cross a part of the Chacabuco Valley with great potential for observing di8verse types of lagoon and river birds.

In this exploration we will focus on the Chacabuco River's valleys and route as a natural corridor traveled by nomadic peoples and diverse wildlife since ancestral times. We will discuss the anthropological and paleontological mysteries its rock formations hold, with caves and fossils that are vestiges of a past that it is still possible to bear witness to. These areas are characterized by their lack of snow in the summer and their low vegetation, devoid of trees. This allows you to observe a flat and open landscape where you can feel and live the icy southern wind. It is an experience among the vestiges of pre-Hispanic history and how they relate to the present and conservation.

We depart from Explora on the Patagonia National Park and travel along the Carretera Austral until taking back roads amid forests, rivers and lagoons until reaching the Calluqueo Glacier. This impressive tongue of ice hangs from the western slope of the solemn Mount San Lorenzo. It then flows into a murky glacial lagoon surrounded by walls of ice thousands of years old that impose themselves on the geography of the place. It is a natural environment that was formed over the course of centuries and millennia, where the scale of time is blurred. The wind causes the clouds surrounding Mount San Lorenzo to put on a shifting and dynamic show. We will be able to sit down and contemplate, walk around, or go down to get our wet feet in the lagoon.

We leave the lodge and head northward, crossing areas with a strong tradition in livestock husbandry. We also flank the famous Baker River, know for its turquoise waters and heavy flows. We will hike to the Baker-Neff confluence, the point where the two rivers meet. The Neff is a river that comes from a glacier tongue that comes down from the northern ice fields. Its gray tones are due to the concentration of sediment that this glacier carries. After this visit we walk to the San Martin Fossils sector. Attended by the owner, we will take a small tour to observe and analyze samples of fossilized rocks with different species of molluscs that inhabited the territory more than 175 million years ago.