Descabezado Grande Volcano, closing circles.

After some days of resting in the city it was time to end something I started some years ago. Reach the summit of the Descabezado Grande Volcano. Last time I went to the Andes near Talca I decided I had to reach the summit of the Descabezado while on tour. The last try of a summit we couldn't summit due to a cloud that freeze our asses and forced us to go down. Jota and Maximiliano would try to summit with me this time as it's not all about pushing pedals but also about walking up mountains.

Up the mountain we go.

We arrived to the park early on Friday. Our heavy backpacks were ready to be on our shoulders for the next 5 days but some luck would take them away for the first 2 kilometers. The park rangers who were driving their pick up truck up to the entrance offered us to take our backpacks with them. It's the first time I've walked that part with no backpack and hell it's different to walk up when you don't have anything on your shoulders. I kind of understand now the ultralight people.

Right after the rangers took our backpacks, and after walking 50 meters, a tall fat guy, in a yellow suite and with a really high tone on his voice for being a man would stop us and say; “Hey guys, I need to see your stove.”. I said the stove was on the backpacks the rangers took and the guy then replied he couldn't allow us in. ಠ_ಠ. This kept on 3 times and after some rambling and telling how the rangers offered to take our backpacks he allowed us in.

After entering the park, the trail goes up the mountains in a much flatter manner than the start of the hike. So after registering our presence in the park everything went quite smooth and nice till we found some lost lads.

After 4 hours walking we found a couple of Argentinians men who claimed got lost and had no supplies. They said they had been lost for 2 days and that in the first day they had lost all their gear and food while crossing a river. They were clearly dehydrated and begged us for some water and some food. We gave them some cookies and water and told them how to reach the entrance of the park which was only 4 hours away. The thanked us, swore against the mountains and left. After some talking with Jota and Maximiliano we agreed that the guys were drug dealers trying to cross the Andes through some hidden trail, got lost, dropped the merc, and tried to save their asses. There is not that much water to get all your gear and supplies lost if you fall. We didn't buy their story, I wonder if they did at the park entrance.

We kept on and later in the day, after 10 hours walking we got to Valle del Venado. A nice valley 6 hours away from the base of the Volcano. The valley would have several people camping, most of them camping there for a couple of days to enjoy the surroundings which are really nice. We stopped at this place to spend the night and keep moving the next day towards the base.

We walked the 6 hours early in the morning of the second day, arriving to the base of the volcano with a couple of nice springs that should be waiting for us. Sadly, as there is not much water this year due to the dry season, the springs didn't have much water. Still, being at the base of the volcano was awesome but hot. There is not a single tree around that offers any shadow to protect yourself from the sun. At the base we met a couple of guys who were doing the same route it would take us 5 days, but in 2 days. This guys were not sleeping at all, were carrying ultralight gear and not even sleeping bags, just some emergency blanket, medkit, ultralight stove and some food. They left the base at 4 pm to climb the volcano, and were back at 3.30 am to sleep a couple of hours and leave the park. Ultralight gear for ultrafast hiking.

We woke up at 4 am to start the climb at 5. We started the climb at 1800 meters over the sea level and after 7 hours of walking and a struggle with the altitude that made us tired as hell we reached the 4000 meters over the sea level and with it, the summit of the Descabezado. From there the view of the valleys would be awesome. And it was as the pictures show. The only bad thing, wildfires.

There had bee so many wildfires due to the summer season over here, that when we tried to see the Pacific Ocean, we couldn't. We tried to see Talca from the summit but it was impossible either, the only thing we could see around us were the mountains north and south from us. At the coast, a huge cloud, which we suspected was bad weather, coming from the sea to the valleys, and a weird mist reaching the base of the Andes Mountains near the valleys. Later on our hike back, we would realize it was a cloud of smoke rather than bad weather, and that there were at least 5 wildfires in the Maule region destroying most of the mountains in the coast. With so many wildfires, the skies got clouded by smoke and ash that would cover everything in the valleys, forbidding us to see what was going there from our location at the top of the volcano.

As usual the way down from the Volcano was way faster than going up, and in no time we were at the base again. There's not much to do at the summit of the volcano rather than looking at the distance and getting amazed by the landscape, other than that, the wind, the sun, and the unstable temperatures will force you to go down soon. A small spring was waiting for us at the end of the day to recover energies and to start our hike back into civilization.

Going back to the city was straigth forward. After doing the last of the climbs at night to avoid the heat, we decided to spend the night sleeping under the stars. No tent for the last night up there, and a nice view of the stars with sounds of frogs walking around us. Next day, we were outside the park and on our way back to Talca.

Finally I closed the circle of going up the mountain. It was something I had to do and the reason why I left Santiago earlier than planned. It was definitely worth it and also an accomplished mission. After 1 week, I'm still in Talca, but the itch is starting to appear again. I'm already thinking in the route I will take towards Concepción when I leave next week to continue my tour. I have received a really nice visit in Talca, have met friends and have already said goodbye to some of them too, it's nice to see the people :).

The guessing among some of them still continues though, and it's weird when they ask; “when does your tour start?”. It already has!. As Talca is my hometown, most of them think I left Santiago by bus and that my tour hasn't started yet. At some point for me I felt the tour hadn't started, but when the itch started to appear again yesterday, I definitely realized I'm already on tour.

Next post should be from Concepción if I manage to get Internet there. It should take me around 2 days to reach that city as it's only around 220 kms away from Talca. The hills though may stop me a bit. The only thing, I hope I don't have to cross any wildfire on the way.

Enjoy the pictures, and if you want to see more check this link.

Cheers.