By Julia Selle, of the University of Vermont
Last week, Team Tero headed out on another research trip, this time to the Bien Nacional Protegido (BNP, National Protected Good) Río Mosco, walking from Villa O’Higgins and right next to the Argentinian border. BNP Río Mosco was established as an area to protect the critically endangered huemul deer, and is under the management of the Municipality of Villa O’Higgins. Round River assists the municipality with decision-making by providing information about the biodiversity of the area, and how it may be changing. When we arrived to Villa O’Higgins after an 8-hour drive from Cochrane, we set up camp in the lawn of the El Mosco Hostal, and saw a beautiful welcoming sunset.
Sunset from our campsite at El Mosco Hostal in Villa O’Higgins. Photo by Julia Selle.
The next day, those of us who are traveling afterwards and needed to extend our visas headed towards Argentina! We thought that it would be an easy trip, but we found ourselves faced with many obstacles. Right away, due to recent flooding in the valley, we found that the Río Mosco had extended into many braids, one of which took out the bridge to cross the river. While asking a kind man operating a bulldozer about alternative routes, we were given an offer to cross the river on his bulldozer! We all climbed aboard and had a bumpy ride across the river.
Round River students and instructors (left to right) Anna, Luke, Sophie, Valeria, Lily, and Adam climb aboard a bulldozer to cross the Río Mosco. Photo by Julia Selle.
Once we reached the other side, our journey continued, climbing through fences on someone’s campo and trying our best not to slip and fall in the mud. Eventually, we popped out into a clearing that had a few buildings and a helicopter landing circle, the Argentinian border station. The border guards here are stationed for 30 days, taking a helicopter in and out at the start and end of their posting, but the area is rarely visited, so they were excited to see visitors. They welcomed us in, and offered us mate, which immediately burned half of our mouths. We walked down towards Lago O’Higgins and back, and then got our passports stamped.
The next day, it was time for us to hit the trail and begin transecting. Our bags were loaded up, filled to the brim with as many veggies as we could possibly bring, requiring help from each other to get our bags on. Taking the Sendero Río Mosco trail right from Villa O’Higgins, we would stop every 250 meters to record what plants, birds, and amphibians we saw, and if any huemul or predator signs were detected.
Round River instructors and students (left to right) Adam, Luke, Lily, Conor, Sophie, Matt, Geena, and Anna recording their data and the end of a transect along the Sendero Río Mosco. Photo by Julia Selle.
After 7 kilometers of transects, we reached the Refugio Puesto Rivera, and set up camp for the night.
Round River students (left to right) Anna, Sophie, Lily, and Geena at the Refugio Puesto Rivera. Photo by Julia Selle.
The next morning, we headed out, transecting along the shore of the Río Claro at the confluence with the Río Mosco, before turning North and heading straight up the steep hills of the Río Claro river valley.
Round River students (left to right) Anna, Geena, and Stacy recording their data at the end of a transect along the Río Claro. Photo by Julia Selle.
This section was brutal, each 250 m transect took 30 minutes, and we had to fight through spiky calafate, sharp chaura, and dense Ñirre, trying our best to avoid slipping back down the steep muddy slopes. However, the steepness only lasted for just under 2 kilometers, and we were all psyched to make it out in one piece.
Round River student Matt relaxing during lunch in the Río Claro river valley. Photo by Julia Selle.
View of the Río Mosco valley from right before our campsite. Photo by Julia Selle.
That night, we camped at a clearing in a lenga forest. The next day, we went out on a day hike, working our way down the valley, crossing the Río Claro (with only a few wet feet in the process, mostly mine) and heading towards the mountain pass at the end. We ended up climbing up the edges of a small waterfall to try and escape the incredibly dense Ñirre thickets that took forever to get through. Thanks to my bad knees, I had to stay behind and watch the rest of the group make their way up and over the pass, but I did end up getting to nap away the day in the shade of some Ñirre.
Looking back down the Río Claro river valley from the mountain pass crossed. Photo by Sophie Karolczak.
After the rest of the Teros worked their way up the pass, they turned around and came back, stopping to swim in a bright blue kettle lake, cooling off under the strong Patagonian sun.
It’s COLD! But refreshing… Photo by Adam Spencer
View from inside a blossom hug (a Tero tradition insipired by Conor’s family). Clockwise from top left: Matt, Conor, Lily, Anna, Geena, and Adam. Photo by Sophie Karolczak.
After swimming, the group picked me up and returned to our campsite. The next day, we went back down the way we came up, the super slippery muddy slopes, which required quite a bit of butt sliding. The next day, we had a quiz of the plant and bird species found in the area, then part of the group hiked up to find a camera trap, on which they saw two male huemul and a puma.
View of the Río Mosco valley. Photo by Sophie Karolczak.
That night, we discovered that we had mistakenly bought a 1 kilo bag of peas instead of the intended lentils. We ended up with a very strange pea, veggie, and slightly burnt rice dish that was only probably passable as a woods meal. We spent a lot of time talking to the guardaparques (park rangers), and offered them some of our questionable dinner, which they could only get through by passing the bowl around multiple times.
The next day, we packed up, and returned to Villa O’Higgins. While the trail at times was brutal and made our bodies hurt, BNP Río Mosco contains gorgeous river valleys with an amazing array of species diversity. We achieved Round River’s goal of collecting data for the Municipality of Villa O’Higgins, documenting the wide variety of species we found, including finding huemuls and puma on the camera traps. After a great trip, we can’t wait to head to the Bernardo glacier next!