Valle de Aguas Calientes

It is early May and the summer heat has given way to a pleasantly sunny central-Chile-autumn: the perfect time for some beautiful hikes! With the International Workers' Day falling on a Tuesday this year, we thought we'd make an extra-long weekend of it and spent it in Las Trancas near the Nevados de Chillán volcano complex, about 400km south of Santiago.

During the last few centuries (and including in recent years) the Nevados de Chillán has been among the most active volcanoes of the Andes. In fact, it has been on a continuous "yellow alert" since 2016, with smaller smoke and ash eruptions almost on a daily basis.

Smoke billowing from the Nevados de Chillán (those grey rocks in the center of the photo is a lava field)

This has not, however, stopped the development of of a skiing center on it's slopes and a number of hotels with spas, which make use of the thermal waters that surface at various places around the base of the volcano.

We hired a cabin for us, a couple of friends and our three dogs, and apart from a lot of chilling and a bit of soaking in the hot baths, one of the days was dedicated to a hike to the Valle de Aguas Calientes. Two of our group, handicapped due to knee problems or old age, were "allowed" to guard the cabin in the meantime, though. q-; 

This is a trek which we would put into the "hidden gems of Chile" category. It starts at the car park of the skiing center and takes you to a valley on the southern side of the volcano, up above 2000m, where one can find several streams with geothermal waters, hot waterfalls and pools included. It sounds unbelievable, and our hiking companion first thought we were joking when we told him about it, but it's true.

The first hour or so leads through Nothofagus forests, which at this time of the year sport their autumn reds and yellows. Later on one has to cross over a ridge at 2300m, before entering the valley.

Nothofagus' autumn colours 

View from the ridge across to Antuco (just left of the centre) and Sierra Velluda (the double peaks to the right)

The first thing we were greeted with on the other side of the ridge were a fresh billow of volcano smoke recently ejected from the active crater approximately 5km away (we could even hear it, it sounded like a jet engine) and a Puma track.

Patricia sizing the Puma track

The truth is, the information we had about the valley was a little sketchy, we had read there are places to take a dip, but didn't know exactly where. So we scored the northern slope of the valley, making our way to a couple of fumaroles that we had spotted from the distance, while trying to stay high to have better views of the valley and beyond.

As it turned out later, the fumaroles were not where the hot rivers emerge from the ground, but eventually, after 4 hours hiking and with not having bumped into any other folks all morning, we found one of the hot springs and a couple of nice natural pools for a bath, beautiful views included. 

Enjoying the hot spring at 2100m above sea level

After soaking for about half an hour we had to start heading back, this time we took the more direct route along the bottom of the valley, crossing a couple of steaming rivers along the way that also would have lent themselves perfectly for another quick (or not so quick) bath had we wanted to. After 8.5 hours we made it back to the car, very impressed by the experience we just had the privilege to enjoy... what a great day out! A few more photos in below slide show (or higher resolution here).