The Chile Adventure: Parque Nevado Tres Cruces

We visited the Nevado Tres Cruces National Park a couple of weekends ago. It had been a while since we last went to the Atacama Desert, and since we have a friend who now lives in Caldera who we wanted to visit, this seemed like a great opportunity for an excursion.

Caldera is a small city in the Copiapo province. As with most cities in Chile (at least for European standards) there is nothing that exciting to report... with the possible exception of an OK beach in the harbour where sometimes some sea lions show up :) Bahia Inglesa is a small town a few kilometers away, a lot more touristy and with a nicer beach.

From Caldera we set off on Saturday morning towards the national park. We bought supplies (mostly bread and water) in Copiapo and made our first stop in the Desert to have some bread, olives and tomatoes.

Near Sector La Puerta

The climate in the area is very arid, nevertheless there are some rivers and along their banks some interesting vegetation. Sector La Puerta, which we drove past, used to be an important oasis in this region.

We headed for Laguna Santa Rosa at 3742m asl. and within Nevado Tres Cruces National Park. It is very peaceful place where different species of Flamingos chill within the hyper-saline lagoon (incidentally, the place takes its name from the pink colour of the Flamingos). They have a CONAF office there where one can pay for entry to the National Park. They also have a small camp site and a shelter (including beds, a small kitchen and toilets).

The Altiplano Landscape

Laguna Santa Rosa in the distance

We wanted to stay there (and it would have been the sensible thing as it was about the altitude limit one should be doing in a day... but... to be fair, the price for pitching our tent and not making use of their facilities (as we had everything we needed with us: water, petrol, tent etc) was a bit of a joke 15.000CLP per person... So, we decided to move on and find another camping spot (although we knew this would probably mean going to higher altitude).

We drove to the Rio Lama waterfall (at approximately 4300m asl... we were a bit short of breath after a few mins!) and found a great wild camping spot by the waterfall. We set camp, made some dinner and waited for the incredible night sky (with new moon) to appear!

Our camp at the Rio Lama waterfall

The scenery was incredible and the lack of oxygen helped us to do less thinking and more experiencing :) (Warning: it is not uncommon for people to get sick or at the very least have mild altitude sickness signs at this elevation... the most sensible recommendation is to stay well below 4000m on the first night to give your body a chance to adapt, although this varies from person to person!)

The views at dusk

The incredible night sky that many of us city dwellers have (sadly) almost forgotten

The next day, the morning was very crisp (let's just say that more than one water bottle froze!) and we could enjoy some incredible colours as we packed our tent while the sun was rising.

The colours at dawn (the sun is behind the photographer!)

We then headed to Laguna Verde (again around 4300m asl), where we found some very rustic hotsprings waiting for us. On the way there, we managed to check out (in the distance) the Ojos del Salado volcano, the highest volcano in the world and second tallest mountain in the Andes after Aconcagua! (Maybe something for another adventure!!! :))