Peninsula Hualpén
A weekend outing to the coast.
Not far from our home (30 min by bus, 75 cent fare) is a largely uninhabited peninsula with a beautiful, steep rocky, shoreline. I had the ambitious idea that we could, in a day, walk the perimeter of the peninsula. After arriving in Caleta Lenga, we headed along the north coast, following a road up into the forest before the marine biological station of the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción and the old quarry. We had gotten a late start (1-ish) and were unlikely to make the full circuit, if that is even possible. The day was grey and became increasingly wet as it got later. Instead of rushing after an unrealistic goal, we took our sweet time and explored many of the little coves, marveling at the caves and the color of the water in the shallow bays. We were largely on our own even though it was a Saturday and felt like explorers in a place I am sure must be a busy summer haunt. As there are no signs or maps that I could find for the area, the names below come from user-submitted photos in Panoramio/Google Earth.
After 20 minutes of walking, it was dark, but by that time we had made it back to familiar ground and there were only another 20 minutes of walking before we saw the lights of Caleta Lenga. Quite famished by all the exploring on a cool, misty day, we were happy to settle into a good collection of empenadas, sopapillas and seafood. Someday we'll come back and do the whole circuit!
Not far from our home (30 min by bus, 75 cent fare) is a largely uninhabited peninsula with a beautiful, steep rocky, shoreline. I had the ambitious idea that we could, in a day, walk the perimeter of the peninsula. After arriving in Caleta Lenga, we headed along the north coast, following a road up into the forest before the marine biological station of the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción and the old quarry. We had gotten a late start (1-ish) and were unlikely to make the full circuit, if that is even possible. The day was grey and became increasingly wet as it got later. Instead of rushing after an unrealistic goal, we took our sweet time and explored many of the little coves, marveling at the caves and the color of the water in the shallow bays. We were largely on our own even though it was a Saturday and felt like explorers in a place I am sure must be a busy summer haunt. As there are no signs or maps that I could find for the area, the names below come from user-submitted photos in Panoramio/Google Earth.
Starting out through the Eucalyptus plantations.
Our first stop was at Playa Los Cuervos. Lunch, caves and volcanic valley fill!
...and a little bouldering above the water
Playa San Juan
Cool caves on Playa San Juan
or, if you are on a desktop computer...
View west toward Playa Ramuntcho and the lone tree.
This area appears to be crazy busy during the summertime. Big, white sand beach, easy access.
A slippery walk out to the lone tree.
Looking west from the island with the lone tree of Ramuntcho
Faro (lighthouse) en Punta Ramuntcho or Punta Hualpén
This is maintained by the Chilean Navy and they were kind enough to let us through the gate so we could take a look. We were sort of lurking around their fence line. The guy was very nice and gave us some history too.
Playa Sin Nombre, visible off the main road heading south from the faro.
It was getting dusky by now but I really wanted to get to one of the small villages on the far western side. In the end we made it to Caleta Perone. When we arrived, we were looked at quite quizzically as it was starting to get dark and these gringos emerge on foot out of the forest. There were no obvious services in the village of ~20 houses and we had to follow a path through a bunch of side yards to get down toward the water. The village reminded me a lot of fish camps that I've been to in Northern Alaska. Small, simple homes in a rough but beautiful place. Truly connected to nature. We sat for a while and took a quick rest before asking for advice on the fastest way back to Caleta Lenga. I didn't take any pictures, but here are a few from the web.
After 20 minutes of walking, it was dark, but by that time we had made it back to familiar ground and there were only another 20 minutes of walking before we saw the lights of Caleta Lenga. Quite famished by all the exploring on a cool, misty day, we were happy to settle into a good collection of empenadas, sopapillas and seafood. Someday we'll come back and do the whole circuit!
