Los Alerces National Park

It’s hard to get all that you want from Patagonia. There was too much demand for bus tickets so I couldn’t go all the way from North to South by public transport. There also was too little demand for a ‘Safari Lacustre’ so I could not get on a boat tour inside the Los Alerces National Park to see the Alerces in a forest setting (they seem to run only on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday but the schedule is highly variable). And then on January 25, a devastating bushfire broke out affecting 6,924 of the 188,379 ha of the park. Only a few days before my visit in late February, it was all under control. I did not see any smoke, firemen or scorched ground – the fires were much further north than the area usually accessed by tourists,

I brought a rental car from Bariloche airport to cover Los Alerces, which at least provided me with additional flexibility. Arriving from Esquel at the central park gate around 9am, I stopped to pay my entrance fee, but I did not need to pay anything. Maybe they temporarily suspended it because of the fires?

Driving in this area takes longer than you think. You may not drive faster than 40km/h and the final 20 of the 32 km from Villa Lahautan to Lago Verde, where the main activities are, is unpaved. So by car, I was maybe only half an hour faster than the 2.5 hours given as an …

I have spent one day and one night in Parque Nacional Los Alerces and it is a beautiful mountain area with lakes, forests, mountains and rivers in which you can easily spend a calm time to relax a little bit. 

From Esquel Terminal I took the 8 a.m. bus service to the National Park which took as announced 2,5 hours until arriving at Lago Verde. There I stayed in the beautiful camping El Aura and slept later in a "Domo", which is like a big, permanent tent. I was planning to go directly hiking for the rest of the day after arriving which also would have been possible if I had not fallen a bit sick. In the end I have skipped the tracks to Lahun (Mapuche word for Alerce tree) viejo, Laguna Escondida and the Mirador Lago Verde in the area which I was all planning to do as different people had recommended them to me. I had decided against a navigation on Lago Menendez to the very old and big Alerce, which can only be reached by this navigation, and have also decided against a navigation on Lago Futalaufquén towards Lago Krügger, which can also be hiked, as they came too expensive to me. Additionally I did not see the high value add as I had already seen some Alerce trees in Parque Nacional Pumalín in Chile (between Chaitén and Caleta Gonzalo) which was cheaper to reach for me. In the end I walked two tracks of …

I visited the Parque Nacional Los Alerces during my trip to Argentina in February-March 2022. Unlike Nan, since I was visiting in high season, access to the park was relatively easy. However, like him, I was also told no at every agency in town. Indeed, I wanted to do the park's flagship activity, the lake safari, which takes you to the millennial alerces. However, only one company offers this excursion in the park and their boat was fully booked for several days. So I had no choice but to go for a simple hike.

In January and February, Transportes Esquel offers daily buses to the park. I bought my ticket the same morning at the company's counter in the bus station. Six vehicles full of tourists were leaving simultaneously that morning. The company makes a stop at the park entrance for everyone to buy their ticket, then continues into the interior where the bus stops at each point of interest to let people off. The journey takes 2.5 hours to Lago Verde, where I was getting off, but the bus continues to Epuyén at the north of the park. The return journey is also at the same time for everyone and the driver makes sure everyone is on board, which can keep you waiting for latecomers for quite a while.

The park is full of trails in several areas. I had chosen Lago Verde as this is also where the boats for the lake safari leave from. The …

“No bus.” I stood there at a loss. I had made my way past four travel agencies in Esquel and now stood in the local tourist office. “Tomorrow, sorry, but no bus. Bus was today. Next bus is on Saturday.” Everyone had told me that, so it was of little surprise. Still, I wasn’t happy as this was my last chance.

It was Wednesday evening and my bus to Puerto Madryn and Peninsula Valdes was booked for the next night. I had only the following day to visit. And then the lady of the tourist office asked: “But why don’t you try to hitchhike?”

I let that one sink. The last time (and the first time for that matter) I hitchhiked was back in January. At the time I was in Donana National Park and the bus connection with Sevilla was rather awkward. To kill time I figured to walk to the coast and see the beach on a winter day (recommended) and check out if another park visitor center was opened.

Eventually, a car driven by an elderly Spanish couple stopped and asked if I needed a ride. They dropped me off at the visitor center. After I had completed my visit, I decided to go all in, put my thumb up and in 5min had hitched a ride to the beach. So, I thought ... Let’s try this in Argentina.

That night I slept very little, always worrying about not getting back in time …