Huerquehue National Park

This is a park near the city of Pucon, which claimed views of a volcano and 3 lakes, so of course we had to hike! Right near the parking area was one of the Arrayanes trees that we had not been able to see when we were in Villa La Angostura (on the lakes), which claimed to have one of the remaining forests of them -

yes, it’s in the myrtle family

This was near the beginning of the hike, and we were bracing for more of the same, but it honestly wasn’t bad after this -

Along the way, we saw interesting trees…

… a pretty waterfall…

… and the promised lake(s)…

… complete with smoking volcano! And as we came back down from the hike, the clouds had cleared significantly -

We also passed another (taller) waterfall…

… before reaching the first of 3 lakes, at the turn around point of the hike.

And there were Arcuaria trees here also…

… both at the shoreline, as well as along the ridge -

I just love the trunk covered with Spanish moss, as well as the design that the branches make in the sky -

sorry this is sideways, but when I put it vertically, it looked stupid

I just loved that bark!

Our hike took about 5 hrs, and we covered over 9 miles, with 2,200 ft of elevation gain. This ending picture was my attempt on the rooftop of sunset with the moon in the corner -