Hornopirén National Park () is located in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

, in the

Palena Province Palena Province () is the southernmost administrative area in Chile's Los Lagos Region Los Lagos (X). The area is also called Continental Chiloe or Northern Patagonia, as geographers consider the Palena Province to be the starting point of Chilea ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Los Lagos Region Los Lagos Region ( , 'Region of the Lakes') is one of regions of Chile, Chile's 16 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé Province, Chiloé, Llanquihue Province, Llanquihue, Osorno Provin ...

, also known as Region X. The park contains of rugged mountains and unspoiled

Valdivian temperate rain forests The Valdivian temperate forests (NT0404) is an terrestrial ecoregion, ecoregion on the west coast of southern South America, in Chile and Argentina. It is part of the Neotropical realm. The forests are named after the city of Valdivia, Chile, Val ...

. This national park borders the northern portion of Pumalín Park. The

Carretera Austral The Carretera Austral (CH-7, ''in English: Southern Way'') is the name given to Chile's Route 7. The highway runs south for about from Puerto Montt to Villa O'Higgins, passing through rural Patagonia. Carretera Austral provides road access to ...

passes close to the park. In the vicinity of the park lie

Hornopirén Hornopirén is a town in the commune of Hualaihué in Palena Province, Zona Austral, southern Chile. It lies along the northern portion of Carretera Austral. It had 3,629 inhabitants as of 2017. Hornopirén is an important tourist stop on Chile’s ...

and

Yate Yate is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. It lies just to the southwest of the Cotswolds, Cotswold Hills and is northeast of Bristol and from Bath, Somerset, Bath. Developing from a small village into a town from t ...

volcanoes.

Geography

The park is part of the

mountain chain. There are 22 hectares of mountains, glaciers and volcanoes. The park is dominated by glacier-carved mountains and active volcanoes. It includes glaciers comprising an area of . The

Yate volcano Yate Volcano is a large, glaciated stratovolcano located in the southern Andes, in the Los Lagos Region of Chile, south of the Reloncaví Estuary. Yate lies on the major regional Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault, Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault Zone, and is located 10 ...

stands 2,187 meters above sea level and the Hornopirén volcano stands 1,572 meters above sea level. From the Yate volcano southern slope, at only 1,500 meters, you can enjoy panoramic views of the mountains and forests of the park, including a full view of the lake and even Pinto Concha Hornopirén fjord.

Water

The three main bodies of water in the park are Pinto Concha Lake , Cabrera Lake and Inexplorado Lake . Pinto Concha is the most visited attraction in the park. There are six main rivers in the park. Inexplorado Lake is one of a series of paternoster lakes that form part of the Blanco River

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

. The aforesaid lakes are characterized by distinctive blue and green hues, due to

rock flour Rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of fine-grained, silt-sized particles of rock, generated by mechanical grinding of bedrock by glacial erosion or by artificial grinding to a similar size. Because the material is very small, it becomes suspe ...

suspended in their waters and give to the river its milky appearance. Negro River is another major river system in the park.

Forests

They are surrounded totally or partially by millennial '' alerce'' also known as

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, where they are found in lowland forests in the high la ...

forests. The Alerce tree is the second oldest tree species on the planet. It includes Fitzroya trees almost in pure stands. The pristine alerce forests cover an area of about , which comprises approximately the 35 percent of the vegetation cover of the park.Supreme Decree 884, 1988, Ministry of National Assets of Chile

Biology

The park has about 25 mammal species, including native as well as exotic species. Among them are the

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

kodkod The kodkod (''Leopardus guigna''), also called güiña, is the smallest felid species native to the Americas. It lives primarily in central and southern Chile, as well as marginally in adjoining areas of Argentina. Since 2002, it has been listed ...

lesser grison The lesser grison (''Galictis cuja'') is a species of mustelid from South America. Description Lesser grisons have a long, slender body, short legs, and a bushy tail. They have a long neck and a small head with a flattened forehead and rounded ...

chilla fox The South American gray fox (''Lycalopex griseus''), also known as the Patagonian fox, the ''chilla'' or ''zorro gris'' (gray fox or gray zorro), is a South American species of '' Lycalopex'' (the "false" or lesser foxes) in the Canidae family, ...

American mink The American mink (''Neogale vison'') is a semiaquatic species of Mustelidae, mustelid native to North America, though human introduction has expanded its range to many parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. Because of range expansion, the Am ...

coypu The nutria () or coypu () (''Myocastor coypus'') is a herbivore, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent from South America. Classified for a long time as the only member of the family Myocastoridae, ''Myocastor'' has since been included within Echimy ...

pudú The pudus (Mapudungun ''püdü'' or ''püdu'', , ) are two species of South American deer from the genus ''Pudu'', and are the world's smallest deer. The chevrotains (mouse-deer; Tragulidae) are smaller, but they are not true deer. The name i ...

and Chilean huemul. The park is home to 18 threatened species.

Administration

The park is administered by

CONAF The National Forest Corporation or CONAF (Corporación Nacional Forestal) is a Chilean State-owned private non-profit organization, through which the Chilean state contributes to the development and sustainable management of the country's forest ...

in the city of

at the central square and all trips to the forest begin here. Entrance to the park is free. One part of the part can be visited by motor vehicle but the other part must be travelled by foot. To get to the park from Hornopirén travel 11 km north on Av. Lib. Bernardo O’Higgins. Then there is another 7 km on a bumpy gravel road through private land in order to reach the park entrance. 107 km separate

Puerto Montt Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune ...

from this park. There are two bus companies that run between Puerto Montt and Hornopirén National Park. The trip takes about 5 hours. There is a shelter in the park for the exclusive use of the CONAF ranger. It is on the southwest side of Pinto Concha lake and provides information to tourists in the summer months. There is a designated camping area, but it provides no services, i.e., there is no barbecue nor drinking water available. Campfires in and around the park are illegal.

Trails

There are two official, maintained trails in the park.

Weather

Average annual rainfall is 2,500 mm and can exceed 4,000 mm. The temperature fluctuates between 9 and 12 degrees C. There are between 50 and 150 frost days a year. The park is closed to the public between July and November because snow and ice over a meter thick accumulates in the recreation area.

References

External links

Inexplorado Lake Expedition

Hornopiren National Park
*
The Route of Parks of Chilean Patagonia - Hornopirén National Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornopiren National Park National parks of Chile Protected areas of Los Lagos Region Valdivian temperate forests Protected areas established in 1988 1988 establishments in Chile 1988 in Chilean law