Trekking: Parque Tantauco at Chiloé
Trekking: Parque Tantauco en Chiloé
Since opening Parque Tantauco in 2006, outgoing Chile President Sebastián Piñera - who consulted with environmental philanthropist Douglas Tompkins on this private conservation initiative - has built an attractive guesthouse, an elegant campground with modern bathrooms and a spacious quincho for cooking, along with hiking trails and a series of shelters for hikers who brave the frequent rain and soggy forests. At the same time, he's created a plant nursery to reforest areas damaged by fire and logging, principally near the park's overland entrance at Chaiguata, near Quellón.
The park's nucleus is Caleta Inío, a settlement created some 30 years ago to exploit the area's extensive kelp beds. Accessible only by foot or motor launch from Quellón (up to six hours away, depending on the vessel), Inío has a permanent population of about 50. Many are now park employees; others benefit from the park by offering lodging, meals, and handicrafts for sale. I stayed at the guesthouse, which offers only bed and breakfast, but took other meals from the simpática Doña Silda Cadín, whose greenhouse cucumbers and tomatoes anchor superb salads, and her carbonada (beef stew) and grilled fish were as good as, or better than, any Quellón restaurant.
On arrival at Inío, I took a three-hour hike on the Sendero Punta Rocosa, a trail that climbs to a solar-powered lighthouse and then
loops through rocky headlands punctuated by several small beaches. Tantauco, in fact, may have some of the continent's most beautiful secluded beaches, even if the South Pacific here is too chilly for swimming except on the warmest summer days.
Though Tantauco's is still in its early days, one trek appears likely to become an instant classic: I met several hikers, almost all Chileans, who had completed the five-day, 52-km (32 miles) Sendero Transversal from Chaiguata (reachable by bus from Quellón) to Inío, where they would catch the launch back to Quellón. En route, they stayed at four simple shelters, with bunks, that eliminate the need to carry a tent. The shelters also have cooking facilities and latrines (not flush toilets).
At first glance, the suggested daily distances - ranging from 7.5 to 15 km (5-10 miles) per day - sound modest for experienced hikers at low altitudes. The highest point is only about 250 meters (820 feet) above sea level. That's misleading, though, as the route often crosses soggy, sometimes muddy, terrain and involves climbing up, over and down fallen tree trunks. Some of those trunks have steps cut into them but, even then they are often slippery and require caution to avoid falls and sprains (both of which I experienced). In some areas, boardwalks and staircases make matters easier.
Another option is the Sendero Quilantar, a two-day, 22-km (14 miles) loop from Inío that includes a night at Refugio Quilantar; I hiked part of this route. All trails are clearly marked with bright metallic triangles every 100 meters; at regular intervals, these also have numbers that indicate your progress. Still, given the copious rainfall and winter storms that often knock down trees, maintenance is a major issue.
Tantauco is a park you want to visit sooner, rather than later, before it becomes a fixture on the international eco-tourism circuit.
More info at www.parquetantauco.cl