We stumbled across Puyehue National Park in Chile. With a hire car and time ahead of us to explore but no set plan we looked at national parks that were within our reach. The road to the park was mostly dirt track, endless and with sufficient pot holes to keep you awake. At the end of the track was a German skiing chalet, not for the first time we stumbled across civilisation where it felt there should be none. In the winter evidently there are skiers here, presumably Chilean and German. In the summer months there is some incredible, yet in our experience, rather undiscovered hiking.

Dense forests give way to volcanoes and a harsh volcanic landscape where plants are struggling to survive, battle hardened to endure against the weather. The higher we get the colder it gets, there is snow and ice, in contrast to the hot and humid forests that lie just out of reach of the wind. The clouds move by quickly, hiding and then revealing everything around us. We spend three days hiking various routes including the incredible snow capped Volcan Casablanca.