After another restday, forced by the bad weather, we did a sidetrip to the next vulcano; Lonquimay. The town is at an altitude of about 950 meters (3000 ft) and we had to go up to 1815 meters (5500 ft), where a hike to a sidecrater of the volcano started. The volcano last erupted in December 1988 and on Christmasday of that year, there was a second eruption from this sidecrater.<\/p>\n
The whole 21 kms (12 miles) to the beginning of the hike was uphill. The first part went through forest, but the last 5 kms (3 miles) we cycled through a moonlike landscape with many dunes; all blackened due to the lavastones and lavarocks. And it kept going up and up.<\/p>\n
The hike was only 3 kms (2 miles) and not very hard, but we had to scramble up a steep section of loose rocks and sand. Then we arrived at the top of the crater which was pretty deep and there were large cracks inside. It\u2019s a strange thought that once there was a huge hole with bubbling and boiling lava. The lavaflow was very well visible from above. We also had a great view on the surroundings; on both ends of the lavafield there were mountains and green forests.ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After another restday, forced by the bad weather, we did a sidetrip to the next vulcano; Lonquimay. The town is at an altitude of about 950 meters (3000 ft) and we had to go up to 1815 meters (5500 ft), … Continue reading