After a deep and restful sleep in our tent we woke up at sunrise and decided to try to hike the longest trail (La Morrena Trail) up to a better vantage point with closer views of the glacier and waterfalls – it was a 3.2 km moderate difficulty hike gaining 280 m altitude and we not only took our rain jackets but also our rain ponchos with us so that our backpacks would stay dry as the forecast was for rain most of the day. The area has rainforest and all trees are covered in moss and lichens and there is Spanish moss hanging of the trees and in between are tree ferns and native bamboo (Quila – Chusquea quila) and then the bushes with dark red and purple flowers which look like “Fuchsien” and actually are one of tge many native Fuchsia species (Fuchsia magellanica, commonly known as Chilco). The hike was over tree roots, rocks and muddy sections through an enchanted forest that reminded us a lot of Point lookout in New England National Park in Australia. There were brand new looking aluminium stairs and walkways and the old muddy path with rotten wooden bridges was still visible. We hiked to the final viewing platform at the end of the 3.2 km hike where a large number of people were standing and waiting for the rain clouds to lift to get a glimpse of the hanging glacier which was obscured by the low hanging rain clouds. We were so glad we had walked to the other viewing points the day before and had some great pictures of the hanging glacier. We saw lots of disappointed faces when people reached the top and could not see anything – we waited long enough to catch a brief view of the glacier before the clouds came over again. We ate some lunch and waited a bit longer – I fell asleep on Andrew’s lap and as the rain started to get heavier, we decided to make our way back down. Several other people and a ranger were still on the viewing platform when we left. All of the other people passed us on the way down. As we tried to let the next person behind us pass, it was the ranger, David, who said that he is closing the trail and he needs to stay behind us – we did feel a bit rushed but he was happy to walk our slow pace behind us and he had lots of information to share and interesting stories to tell. He confirmed that the bamboo looking plants were a type of native bamboo and that the area was part of Gondwana which explained why it looked so similar to the Gondwana forest regions in Australia. He also told us that the park had been closed for 18 months to install all the new aluminium bridges and stairs which were all carried in by hand.

When we returned from the hike we stopped at the campground entry hut which was the only place with wifi. I tried to let my Mum know that I was able to have a quick video call and while waiting for her to call me, I checked my emails and messages and realised that there were several messages from my bank asking me to confirm suspicious transactions – my credit card had been hacked and more than $600 in multiple transactions had been paid to fictitious online companies in Italy, Netherlands, and other European countries and because we were off grid and without internet, I did not see any of the transactions nor the alerts from the bank – I cancelled the card and disputed the payments and all the things you have to do before getting a new card issued 24 hours later – that certainly put a dampener on our great experience of our time in Queulat NP.

We returned to our tent – tired, wet and cold after the 9.6 km hike and warmed up in our sleeping bag and fell asleep and as the rain continued, we did not get up and slept through without dinner.