Cochamo Valley

The trail leading up Cochamo Valley was treacherously muddy. What could have been an easy 3 hour walk turned into a 6 hour crawl, slogging through unavoidable patches and detouring through the thick jungle in others. Erosion caused the trail to drop 6 feet below the ground, creating a sort of tunnel that my pack was barely wide enough to fit through. Darwin wrote about his experiences in this very clime, and though his account took place farther south than here where we did some other great day hikes, the forest he describes accurately conveys the conditions of both locations.




"In vain we tried to reach the summit: the forest so impenetrable, that no one who has not beheld it can imagine so entangled a mass of dying and dead trunks. I am sure that often, for more than ten minutes together, our feet never touched the ground, and we were frequently ten or fifteen feet above it, so that the seaman as a joke called out the soundings. At other times we crept one after another, on our hands and knees, under the rotten trunks. In the lower part of the mountain, noble trees of the Winter's Bark, and a laurel like the sassafras with fragrant leaves, and others the names of which I do not know, were matted together by trailing bamboo or cane. Here we were more like fishes struggling in a net than any other animal. On the higher parts, brushwood takes the place of larger trees, with here and there a red cedar or an alerce pine. I was also pleased to see, at an elevation of a little less than 1000 feet, our old friend the southern beech. They were, however, poor stunted trees, and I should think that this must be nearly their northern limit. We ultimately gave up the attempt in despair." (The Voyage of the Beagle)


The Alerce

Knowing this was our last trek, we had decided to splurge on food, both as a means of providing us some additional physical challenges, but mostly to explore new options in trail food. Will has a ton of ingenuity in this regard, no small thanks to his open-minded creativity in the kitchen, but also years of experience in leading trips for Chewonki. I also must add that he's been an invaluable Sherpa to me: I have been ruined to think that I never have to carry my camera gear, or that somebody else will shoulder some extra food weight so I have room in my pack for 10 pounds of camera gear. I do my best to hold up our tacit agreement of taking as many great photos as possible. Thanks for your support, Will!




We had quite a feast planned for our three days in the valley. Hard boiled eggs as snacks, mac and cheese with fried cabbage, avocado and tomato sandwiches, lentils and curried rice for dinner (from scratch with my modest spice kit), and best of all, French toast with plain yogurt and blueberry sauce made from fresh local berries. We had planned to make sugar donuts, but we forgot to copy the recipe before leaving town. Whenever people complain about the woes of trail food, I can't help but smile at their Ramen induced misery. Given a bit of foresight and creativity, trail food does not have to be limited to instant noodles and canned tuna--though we do get our fair share of tuna.



Cochamo attracts climbers from around the world who are daring enough to scale its Yosemite style granite peaks. Trail riders frequent the valley (a large cause for such corroded trails) and hikers visit to day hike to various natural landmarks in the valley, including natural water slides and 400 year old Alerce forests. The Alerce was heavily logged throughout Cochamo valley until the land was turned over for grazing. Now the cleared lands serves as a spacious campground, as well as a reminder of what is no longer there. However a stiff uphill hike brings you back in time. The Alerce, which resembles a redwood in both bark texture and scale, lives in the hills that were too difficult for loggers to reach. One Alerce is 3,000 years old, as researched and concluded by a group of silviculturalists from Princeton.