By Devan Pensinger
It was surprisingly sunny as we drove into town of Tortel to begin our first big excursion of the semester. Tortel would be our home base as we prepared for backpacking and conducting fieldwork in the temperate rainforests of coastal Chile in Bernardo O’Higgins National Park. Although only three hours from Cochrane, it felt even farther with different types of vegetation and a much wetter climate. We had done most of our preparation and planning before leaving Cochrane, planning meals for 17 people for a month, organizing gear, and assembling academic lessons for the trip. We would be doing an initial 10 day backpacking trip and then spending additional time base-camping in the fjords doing more fieldwork and in Tortel compiling data.
Tortel, population 700, is a town only connected by boardwalks, with one parking lot at the top of the hill. You have to walk from there to get to houses, businesses, and any other place you would want to go. The layout of the town is spread out along the waterfront with houses tucked away into the cliffs surrounding the water. It would take nearly an hour to walk from one end of the town to the other. It is unlike any place I have been before and it was very interesting to explore during our time there. We camped in a public camping area connected to the boardwalks of town. While in Tortel we met up with Susie, another Round River employee and instructor, who would be joining us on our Fjords journey.
Our guides for the trip, Felidor and Orlando, guardaparques for CONAF the Chilean forest service met us in Tortel on the morning of our departure. We chartered the biggest boat in Tortel to take us out to the Landgre Valley where we would begin our through hike to Orfidro Fjord. The sun was still shining as we left Tortel without a cloud in the sky. From the big boat we were taken in a few trips by Zodiac farther up river to our starting point. The wildlife was out and enjoying the rare sunny day as we cruised up the river spotting Ashy Headed Geese and many other songbirds we had not yet learned to identify.
As we got off the Zodiac in a most stunning landscape, Felidor looked to me and said “Es un buen día para vivir” – it’s a good day to be alive. Although there is a large language barrier I am sure we could all agree that there is no place else we would rather be standing than on that very riverbank, preparing to conquer some of the more difficult terrain imaginable. We were introduced to the importance of a lunchtime fire as we leisurely enjoyed the afternoon before beginning hiking. Then we set off. Within the first 250 meters we had been given a little taste of what the next ten days would be like, with extremely heavy packs we sank deep into the mud around the water and scrambled up steep hillsides. It was hot, and at the time, rain or cloud cover was all we could think about as we sweltered under the summer sun. It’s true when they say be careful what you wish for I guess…