A short car ride away from Pucón, a very popular tourist destination with one of the best steaks we have ever eaten in our entire lives (available at La Maga), lies the Huerquehue National Park. We parked our car next to the Lago Tinquilco and started our hike through the shadowy woods towards the Los Lagos trail. The woods are a blessing and a curse: on one side, there’s no need to worry about the sun as you will always be nicely covered by the trees. On the other side, this makes the path up very muddy with water pouring down the hill and therefore, slippery. So just be prepared for that.
However, you will get rewarded with breathtaking views on water falls and mirror like lakes that are surrounded by the typical araucaria trees from that region. You can rest alongside Lago Chico, Laguna El Toro or the Lago Verde. Just make sure you have enough time planned in, since the roundtrip for the 12 km (7.5 miles) hike takes about 8 hours in total. Unfortunately, we underestimated the time a little bit so halfway up we sadly realized that we had to say goodbye to another La Maga steak for dinner.
