Lago Caviahue and Volcan Copahue

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December 1, 2018 – December 2, 2018

Our guide book for Argentina is not very good. It highlights a few regions of Argentina, but is more focused on luxury hotels and expensive restaurants, and gives only a few highlights of things to do, in only a few regions of the country. So we didn’t really have a plan for what we wanted to see and do in between the larger, well known sites in Argentina. We looked at our map and at iOverlander, and decided to head to Lago Caviahue for a night.

On the way we stopped to see Salto de Agrio, a beautiful waterfall, and although we were only about 30 kilometres from where we wanted to camp, we had to backtrack and drive about 100 km to get there…the shorter route included a bridge rated for only 3 tonne, which we thought was maybe unwise to cross with our 5 tonne truck.

There was beautiful, lush green mosses growing in the shadows beneath the falls. The red colour on the rocks is due to iron staining.
Looking down river from the falls.
We took this picture due to the odd looking tree on the horizon. This was the one of the first of many “monkey puzzle” trees, officially called Araucaria Araucana, that we would see in the area.

We arrived at Caviahue Lake to be greeted by Volcan Copahue, on the border with Chile, pumping out steam. This volcano, we learned, is almost always spewing something, so we were fairly comfortable camping across the lake from it. We did, however, park our truck facing outward and talk about what our procedure would be if we needed to evacuate.

A little bit of steam or smoke continuously rolled out of the volcano on the afternoon that we arrived.
The next morning, the output of the volcano had become thicker and darker.
Using the zoom lens to get a better look.

The next day we hiked to a set of four waterfalls near the town of Caviahue.

Derek and Piper checking out one of the monkey puzzle trees.
A close up of the bark. The size of these “puzzle pieces” vary….some, like this one, were about the same diameter as an orange, on other trees, they were much larger, perhaps the diameter of a soccer ball.
Detail of the branches. When the tree is young, the entire trunk is covered with these pointy, triangular shaped needles.
Travelling with Derek means there is always some discussion of geology of the area. Here is a picture of some volcanic basalt with interesting “jointing” (fractures originating during the cooling process)
One of the four waterfalls, with monkey puzzle trees all around.
And another waterfall….
…and another, with the active volcano in the background.
Derek and Piper climbing on the remnants of a monkey puzzle tree.
For you car enthusiasts out there.

We drove a rough gravel road out of town and towards the Termas Copahue (hot springs), circling the base of the volcano. We arrived at the termas, not exactly sure where the springs were. The directions on my phone seemed to indicate that we had arrived, but we looked out at what appeared to be a hospital. But sure enough, there was steam rising from behind the long, green, one story, very institutional looking building. We decided to go in and check it out before digging our swim suits out of the back of the truck.

Inside were three triage-type admitting windows, like what you would see in the emergency room of a hospital. People sat in chairs talking through a round hole in the window to staff who typed on a computer. We headed to an unmanned desk with some informational fliers….they seemed to indicate that you first pay for a medical evaluation, then you are “prescribed” different treatments. Okay, not quite the hot springs experience we had been looking for. The water was milky and unappealing, and the idea of soaking in hot water with “patients” of the facility did nothing for us. So we drove on, always keeping one eye on the smoking volcano over our shoulder.

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