Monumento Natural El Morado and Baños Morales

My new European compadres (see previous post) and I planned to meet and go hiking on Sunday morning. We spoke with someone on the phone with the bus system, and through my very limited Spanish we learned that the bus (#72) for Monumento Natural El Morado left from the Bellavista de la Florida bus station at 8:30 am. There was only one bus to the park and one bus back to Santiago at 6:00 pm, so you had to be there on time.

Hopefully anyone else thinking of doing this trip will read this blog and learn from my experiences...

First of all, before you leave you need a backpack, some food for lunch, and enough water for a 4 hour hike. It's not very strenuous, so no gear is necessary. Depending on the month you're going, a light jacket might be needed as you get closer to the glacier and snow. I went in mid-November and was fine in shorts and a light long-sleeved shirt.

The metro doesn't begin service until 8:00 am on Sundays. So when I walked up at 7:30, it was shuttered. I got nervous about waiting for it to open since I had to take a connection to get to Bellavista de la Florida. Note that Estación Bellavista de la Florida is NOT in Bellavista. It's the last station going south on Line 5 (Green line) before Estación Vincente Valdes. I ended up taking a taxi, and the driver didn't know of that metro stop - definitely bring a map just in case. It ended up costing me $6.000 pesos, which is more than the $3.000, 2.5 hour bus ride to the park. Oh well, I had to get there, right?

I got to the station, and by then it was open. After walking around and asking a ticket operator, I found the Connections area and Bus #72. The station was pretty empty, and there were other gringos in hiking gear there. It always helps to know what to look for when you're in a strange place.

The bus cost $1.500 each way, and still functioned as a city bus as we went out of town. Random people would get on and off as we sat for a few hours, anticipating the destination. The bus stopped once for a coffee and bathroom break, and the scenery along the way was a great change from the city.

The roads got a bit curvier and the mountains got closer as we came into San José de Maipo. We reached the park and were reminded that we had to be back by 6:00 or be left to fend the elements for the night. There was a little store and souvenir stand, but I would still recommend bringing your own food and water. You had to sign your name/passport number at the ranger station and pay $1.500 to enter the park.

Here are the details about the park and why you should go. Cajón del Maipo is a beautiful and accessible park, and the best place to go if you want to experience the Andes mountains near Santiago. El Morado is the highest of the mountains in the area, and hovers at 5,060 m (16,596 ft). The hike will take you up to 2,373 m at Laguna Morado, where snow melts and forms a (not that impressive) lake near the end of the hike. There are a few more details here.



The hike started out kind of intense, but after the first 1 km or so, it flattened out and went right up into the canyon. This isn't a canyon in the American sense, but you are surrounded on all sides by mountains (except the access trail behind you). There was a main path along with a few side trails, but they all led in the same general direction. It was impossible to get lost, and there were children as young as 10 on the trail with us, if you're trying to gauge how serious it is.





The view was unbelievable. A few parts of the path were covered by snow and were a bit tricky, but all in all you could walk and enjoy the view. The river flowed to your right during the whole hike, and there seemed to be no rules about staying on the path. There was really no major vegatation to damage. Also, as a side note, I was surprised at the lack of wildlife. We saw a few horses roaming around, but they were shod and used by the locals to take the lazy up into the canyon. There were a few yellow chested birds that clustered near the laguna (because that's where the food was), but that was it.



We didn't go all of the way up to the glacier, but I wish we had. Laguna Morado seemed to be the area where most people sit on rocks, enjoy the view and have lunch, but the laguna itself was less than impressive. I was expecting some kind of big glacier lake but it was really just a dirty pond where all of the snow melts and then drains into the Rio Maipo. Here is a video I took at the turning point:

We wanted to save time for Baños Morales, which was back at the entrance to the park, so we didn't make it to the glacier (another 20-30 minutes of hiking into the canyon). We turned around and went back to hopefully relax in some hot springs.

Just opposite the park where the bus dropped us off, we entered the springs and had to pay another entrance fee. It was a chilly 65 degrees or so, and we were hoping to get warmed up while we soothe our muscles from the hike. Our expectations, unfortunately, were not met. First of all the water was a strange orange-ish color:




Second of all, IT WAS FREEZING! We braved the water and found where the spring actually bubbled up, and huddled in that corner with a few chilenas and practiced our español. We kind of got used to the water, but it wasn't comfortable by any means. I guess later in the summer when it is warmer outside, the pool would probably be filled with people. But do NOT go there expecting a hot spring. Looking back, we definitely should have hiked up to the glacier instead of coming back to the springs.

We still had an hour to kill, so we went into the shack/store that had a small wood burning furnace to warm up. As it got later, it started to get chilly and we could use the warmth. We got a few cups of tea and ate the rest of our food as we waited for 6:00 to roll around. The locals working and socializing there were very hospitable, as were their dogs. One was named Lobo, and they claimed that his mother was a wolf. I was a bit skeptical.

The ride back (for another $3.000) was uneventful, except for the fact that I had to use the bathroom for the last hour and a half. And my assumption that we would stop halfway again... was a wrong one. We picked up more locals just using the bus as a regular service again and made it back to the station in a few hours.

I recommended the hike to a few coworkers and they went a few weeks later. As it was warmer and into December when they went, there were more people going because of the nicer weather. Balance the higher traffic with the nicer weather to see when you want to go.

Here is my favorite picture, not only from this hike, but from my entire month in Santiago: