Andes 101 - Cajon del Maipo

Our first hike in the Andes!  We rented a car and drove up into Cajon del Maipo, which is one of the recreational areas outside Santiago.

We had planned to do a cool hike up to the El Morado Glacier, which claims to have a very "Patagonia" feel to it.  Apparently you can often see large chunks of ice floating in the lake at the base of the glacier.  We were excited about seeing something like this, and the hike seemed like a good distance for us.   However, when we got within 7 km of the trailhead  (at this point we had been driving about 11 km on gravel access road) we came across this.

We learned later that a gigantic avalanche had crashed down last week and washed this bridge out.  Oops!  The other hike up in that area (to Nieves Negras) is quite a bit longer and we had set that one aside as a good option for a backpacking trip on a different weekend.  We bounced back down the dirt road to Baños Morales and set out on a hike in the national park there.

It was already late by this point, around 1pm.  It was extremely hot and the first km of the hike was fairly steep.  Furthermore, this area of the Andes is completely alpine and there are zero trees, except in the little communities where people have planted them, and maintain them by watering.  All of this did not bode well for good attitudes from the 10-and-under contingent in our party.  However, after a lot of pouting and crying on their part, and cajoling on our part, we managed to get about 2.5 km up the trail where there were some mineral water falls cascading down an embankment across from the trail.

After a snack, Jonathan offered that I go up ahead to see if I could catch a glimpse of the lake at the end of the basin and he would return with the girls to the shady stream back in Baños Morales where we had parked the car.

I didn't go far enough to see the lake, but I did reach a high point in the trail that provided an impressive view to the back of the basin.

360 degrees of bliss!

Some more views on the way down.

Baños Morales in the valley

 I found Jonathan and the girls resting under the trees at the bottom of the hike.

A much needed foot soak....

Quick stop at an open air empanada stand in San Jose de Maipo on the way down the mountain.  Best empanadas we've had in Chile so far!  One was plain cheese (which in Chile means mantecoso cheese), one had goat cheese, tomato, and Italian seasoning, and the third had corn, peppers, and zucchini.  Yum!  

Our chef is preparing the empanadas in the background, as Jonathan and the girls do a bit of map study.