Chilean Redwoods Are Living Links to Past : But a Visit to Andean Alerce National Park Yields More Than Just Ancient Trees

Looking for ancient alerces , South American redwoods that rival California sequoias for longevity, is a worthy quest for the traveler who wants to plunge with a purpose into southern Chile’s spectacular wilderness.

The majestic alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides) once was abundant in Chile and Argentina at about the same distance from the Equator as is Northern California. But it has become increasingly rare this century with the cutting of the trees for their excellent wood. (The wood is handsome, rot-resistant and valuable and, according to some conservationists, a Chilean ban on cutting alerces is not adequately policed.) Still, surviving stands include specimens that are among the Earth’s oldest living things, towering trees that have existed 2,000, 3,000 years and more.

Finding an old alerce is like finding a living link to the ancient past--a being from BC. But there is much more to see in alerce country than those venerable trees; just as impressive are the area’s pristine mountains, rain forests, rivers and lakes.

A good place to look is the Andean Alerce National Park south of Puerto Montt, a port city about two-thirds of the way down Chile’s spinelike coast. Adventerous travelers can also find alerces farther south in more remote areas of rugged mountains that rear jaggedly from the Pacific.

I was in the Puerto Montt area last January, at the height of the South American summer, combining newspaper reporting with a family visit to my Chilean brother-in-law’s farm. I had been this way before--once on a memorable trip over Andean lakes to the Argentine resort of Bariloche. On that trip, I caught a brief glimpse of an alerce or two, and I wanted to see more. So I offered to take my son Matthew and his friend “Chico” Rodriguez on a day trip to Alerce Park.

The boys, in their early teens, were easy recruits for some exploring in the Andes. We bought sandwiches-to-go at a Puerto Montt cafe and headed out along the bayside avenue that turns into Route 7, also known as the Pinochet Southern Highway. The highway was built during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and it opened up a little-known wilderness frontier of coastal mountains broken by rushing rivers and picturesque fiords.

Because the highway is still unpaved, it took our Peugeot sedan more than an hour to travel 30 miles south along the coast to a fishing village called Lenca. A five-mile mountain road into the park from Lenca was even slower-going, but the car had no real trouble reaching the gateway at the southwestern end of the park, which lies inland from the coast and the Pinochet Highway.

At the entrance, a rough-hewn wooden gate, we met Carlos Abello, the lone park ranger assigned to that side of the 100,000-acre preserve. Abello seemed happy to be receiving us and a handful of other visitors that day. He told us alerces are scattered through about half of the park’s lush forest, which is mostly broadleaf trees of other species.

Abello estimated the total territory in Chile on which alerces grow at about 700,000 acres, considerably more than the estimates of some other experts. Most of the trees grow in the Chilean Andes south of Puerto Montt, but some important stands are found on the Argentine side of the border and in Chile’s coastal mountains north of Puerto Montt.

After parking the car by three or four other visiting vehicles in a small lot, Matthew, Chico and I set out by foot on a rough Jeep trail that became steeper as it snaked up a rocky river valley. The track had been used by vehicles until parts of it washed out in the previous winter’s floods. Now it was a peaceful, scenic hiking trail, untroubled by crunching tires and roaring motors. At some points we could see the clear, greenish waters of the Rio Chaica below us and hear it rushing through rapids. All around us, heavily forested mountains jutted up into the blue sky. The only minor annoyance along the way were horseflies, called colihuachos , buzzing around us. If allowed to land and linger, they bit.

The first alerce we saw was a magnificent specimen about a mile in from the park gate. From its creeper-tangled base, which was nearly three yards in diameter, the tree rose to a height of well over 100 feet. We cranked back our necks to look up its branchless trunk covered with shaggy bark and stretching mightily to a final spread of branches and dark green needles--a treetop that somehow seemed small for such an enormous piece of timber.

Abello had told us that this tree was about 2,800 years old. Someone had chopped big notches near the base to see if the reddish wood was sound, he said.

Further up the trail was a side path that led through dense woods and underbrush to a pretty waterfall. Above that was a deep, clear pool in the boulder-lined river that looked perfect for a dip. Coming back in the afternoon, we shucked our clothes and jumped into the bracing water, but on the way up, we persevered toward our objective: Lake Chaitenes, about two miles from the park gate.

The lake nestles among green mountains where alerces grow and condors fly. We didn’t see any condors, but looking along the ridges, we spotted two or three distant alerces , distinguishable from other trees for their size, shape and grayish-beige bark. Abello had said that on the far side of the lake was a grove of the big trees, which we could reach byusing a rowboat (free of charge), then hiking a few minutes up another trail.

We found the boat tied up at a small dock and managed to get out on the water. None of us was an expert rower, however, and the far shore seemed to constantly recede as we zigzagged along at a slow and uneven pace. We took turns practicing our strokes, stopping here and there, once at the mouth of a clear brook, again by a reedy bog. A wind came up, raising small waves on the lake. When we saw people back at the dock, apparently waiting for the boat, we returned, leaving the alerces on the other side for “next time.”

A mile-long trail winding around one mountain leads from Lake Chaitenes to Triangle Lake. A high ridge overlooking Triangle is covered with alerces , but the ridge is not easily accessible, according to Abello. And he had warned that Triangle Lake is a more difficult trek, hard to fit into the same day with Lake Chaitenes. We didn’t have another day to spend, so we left that trek for next time, too--along with other alerce -sightingoptions described by Abello. One stand of them, he said, can be seen from a distance inside the northentrance to the park, near a place called Correntoso. Most other alerces in the park are more secluded, and getting to them requires guided treks of more than a day’s length.

After Lake Chaitenes, we did have time to venture up the trail for half an hour toward Triangle Lake, walking through a dense forest of native hardwood trees with names such as laurel, coigue , ulmo and rauli . Under the trees grows a profusion of vines, shrubs, moss, flowers and ferns--30 kinds of ferns, Abello said. It seemed almost like a tropical jungle except for the pleasantly cool temperature (remember, this is way south of the tropics).

We heard the piping and chirping of many birds but caught only fleeting glimpses of a few through the thick growth. The ranger had explained that they include martins, black woodpeckers and green parrots. In the park’s interior, he said he has seen Andean condors, pumas and pudus, a tiny deer.

To search further for alerces , travelers can continue south on the Pinochet Highway, crossing the Reloncavi Estuary by ferry. Twenty-eight miles beyond Alerce Park is the town of Hornopiren, where there are two hotels. Reaching alerces from there takes several days of trekking inland over mountainous terrain with a guide. I’m not a camper and haven’t done this, but people who have say that it is immensely rewarding in its natural, unspoiled beauty.

Ancient Forest International, a Redway, Calif.-based activist group interested in raising awareness about native forests, has organized photographic, journalistic and scientific expeditions over the past three years to alerce areas outside Hornopiren. Headed by Rick Klein, Ancient Forest is trying to help set up parks or reserves to protect the old-growth forests, some of which, Klein says, are the oldest giant forest growths in the world, older than the redwoods of North America.

Nicole Mintz, a former Los Angeles resident, heads Lahuen (a native Indian word for alerce ) Foundation, the Chilean partner of Ancient Forest International. Mintz said Doug Tompkins, one of the creators of the Esprit clothing line, is spearheading a project to create a 600,000-acre park that would include alerce forests south of Hornopiren.

The alerce is only one of many attractions in the area that has sparked a mini-boom in adventure travel here. Last summer (generally considered to be December through March), five agencies were offering river rafting, mountain biking and trekking out of Puerto Montt.

Only two, however, seemed to be giving major emphasis to adventure operations, and only one was exclusively dedicated to this specialty. That one, Andean Leisure Ltd., is run by a young Britisher, Adrian Turner, and is open year-round. During the summer, Turner organizes day trips to Triangle Lake in the Andean Alerce National Park for about $30 a day, lunch and tea included.

“You’re climbing over fallen tree trunks and crossing streams,” Turner said. “It’s a proper adventure trek, and it’s wonderful.”

For less than $3, backpackers going on their own can take a daily public bus to Lenca, and hike the remaining five miles into the park. Rental cars cost more than $60 a day or $300 a week and up in Puerto Montt.

Andean Leisure also conducts three-day excursions to the Hornopiren area, where activities include bathing in hot springs and trekking around a volcano. “If you’ve got a fit group, we go up to see the alerces ,” Turner said.

GUIDEBOOK

In Search of Chile’s Alerces Getting there: To get to Andean Alerce National Park, take the Pinochet Southern Highway (Route 7) south to Lenca. The road from there to the park’s southern entrance is marked. Both roads are unpaved but a normal car will do. Park admission in the summer (December through March) is less than $2 per person. The park is open every day, all year, but can be cold and rainy from April through November.

Two excursion agencies:

Andean Leisure Ltd., Casilla 854, Puerto Montt, telephone/fax number: 011-5665-258-555. In addition to day trips to see alerces , half-day white-water rafting trips for $30 a person, all-day hikes to the snow-capped summit of Osorno volcano for $60, and photographic tours of the Osorno slopes for $45, Andean Leisure offers custom trips, including weeklong skiing (June-October), eight-day cruises to the San Rafael Glacier in the far south, and up to two weeks of fly-fishing for trout and salmon. Mountain bikes, tents, sleeping bags, etc., are available for rent.

Andina del Sud, Bombero Ossa 1010, Office 301, Santiago, Chile; telephone 011-562-697-1010, fax 011-562-696-5121. The largest travel agency in the area, it offers day trips for $6-$30 a person, including excursions to Alerce Park. This is also the main agency for one-day trips by boat and bus to the resort town of Bariloche, Argentina.

Both agencies will provide lists of services and prices by fax. Andean Leisure also will help arrange for discount air fares within Chile. Travel wholesalers in the United States can arrange package tours, but probably will charge more.

For more information: Contact the Chilean National Tourist Board , 510 West 6th St., Suite 1210, Los Angeles 90014, (213) 627-4293.