Reserva Nacional Coyhaique

Just a day trip, but an excellent one that I think merits documentation. I hadn't planned on adventuring on Friday, but after a couple hours of drinking mate and café in the kitchen, I got a little antsy and decided to go for it around 11am (a bit late for my taste). I walked about 3.5 km to the turnoff for the Reserva Nacional Coyhaique, and hitched a ride up the road to the entrance of the park. The price for extranjeros was 3.000 clp, but I was able to bargain the attendant down to 2.000 clp by showing my cédula, saving myself a whopping $1.66! I asked how to get to the cerro, and the attendant warned that the weather wasn't good and that it would take me at least 8 hours. The forecast for the day was partly cloudy, the sun was shining, and I knew I could do this loop in less than half of that time. Starting around noon, I ran about 6km through the bearded nothofagus rainforests, along rocky tundra expanses with winds that nearly knocked me over, and up to Cerro Cinchao (1361m), putting my overall elevation gain at about 3500 feet (my favorite after-work trail run spot in Boulder is only about 1000 feet). After finding the trail again (which doesn't actually go over the summit, obnoxiously), I descended another 7km through more windswept rocklands into the quiet forests, running along living walls of moss and algae enjoying the gentle seeps from the exposed rock above. On the way down, I stumbled upon a family of Chilean flickers, one of whom warned the others immediately of my presence (I was pretty in the moment so I didn't think to record its chirp). I walked about 2km down the road to the highway, and hitched a ride over to Unimarc to pick up the evening's rations. Since we don't have a fridge, I go to Unimarc nearly every day, which results in much time waiting in lines and listening to music on my headphones, since everyone else has the opposite mentality (fill 1-2 carts with as much food as possible). Overall, an 18km day, of which I ran about 13km. The loop that was supposed to take 8 hours took me about 3. 

Here is a good song.

Tomorow, I start the move over to the cabaña! As much as I'm excited to have my own place and cook meals without having to feed an additional 10 people (and then clean up afterward), I'm a tad concerned about the solitude, after living in community for the past couple years. That said, this will provide me with a great deal of time to move forward on my thesis projects!