Patagonia is home to many types of glaciers but one of the most incredible and beautiful is Queulat Hanging Glacier. It is located in Queulat National Park in Chile’s Aysén region along the famous Carretera Austral.
By looking at the image of this glacier you can imagine how pretty Patagonia it will be when you will see it from reality. There are many people who have travelled to Chile just to see this glacier. They only say that it is really tempting to see and when you will see it from the hilltop it is much more beautiful.
However, it is not easy to go there via bus ride, if you want to go up there you have to take the way of nearby town Puyuhuapi.
After leaving from puyuhuapi you have to reach the bariloche town.
Bariloche Town
In bariloche, you have to rent a car to park ranger’s hostel from there he will take you to the hilltop through their mode of transport and after reaching there you will see the glacier like this:
Pretty, isn’t it? You have two options in hand: you can either go by car with a park ranger or you can walk through there. Many people mostly choose walkway but there is a demerit:
- vastly dense forest with leaves as big as a toddler.
- It’s not that long but the steeps and muddy ground will make you feel like forever.
It is always advised that if you are travelling through a walkway, wear waterproof hiking boots so that you can trudge through the mud and water.
Another tip: go early in the morning, Queulat national park doesn’t receive many tourists in comparison to the southern parks of chile. but, the crowd is mainly a little bit high according to the land area.
If you like you can camp in the park overnight. That’s not a bad idea if you are going south in the Carretera Austral. That way you can just continue south from there and you’re sure to see the glacier in the early AM before other visitors arrive.
When you go towards the south, the view of the hanging glacier will be a whole lot different than the images shown in google images.
Beware, this place also invites a huge amount of crowd as well. A few people take a kayak ride to the moraines of the glacier. The charm of Queulat is not only related to the spectacular sceneries, but also the use of other senses. The atmosphere at this place is usually clammy with a fresh smell of earth due to the rainforest together with ice cold lilt of glacier.
The sounds are also quite fascinating: the continuous sounding of the waterfalls, the sounds of ice breaking away from the glacier wall, and the fine melodies of nature itself, namely, the calls of the unheard friends, the sound of the leaves, and the sound of animals somewhere in the distance.
Another big role in the peculiar nature of Queulat is represented by the composition of the Aysen area, a sub-Antarctic jungle.
Though the most convenient time to engage in exploring activities should be in summers (December to March), when the weather conditions are more favorable, mild temperatures, and daylight is not scarce, one should remember that the weather conditions of Patagonia are quite unpredictable at times.
It is said that in this part of the world, four seasons in a day refer to any day in any weather including during the peak time of summer. It is regularly raining all the year round, and there is no concession when it comes to waterproof equipment, layered, and well-made, waterproof boots.
Even in what appears to be a sunny morning in Patagonia, the clouds may as well roll in to cover glaciers, or spontaneous rain may transform the trails to muddy rivers. This randomness, though, contributes to the adventurous feel, which reminds you that you are not in a tamed land and a miniature world.
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