by Chile BlogLast updated:: 11:14 AM ET, Tue August 10, 2021 Located in southern Chile in Los Ríos is the Alerce Costero National Park, 24,000 hectares of breathtaking vistas and ancient forests.
Founded in 2010 to protect the area's flora and fauna, many of which are endemic to the region, the park offers a truly unique ecosystem to explore, filled with evergreens, the majority of which are larch trees, called the alerce in Spanish. The alerce is one of the longest living species of trees on the planet, and exploring their natural environment is truly like stepping through time.
The alerces, which can live for centuries, have existed on the planet for at least 3,600 years. The park's main walking trail, the Alerce Milenario or Millenary Larch, takes travelers along the route of the oldest of these trees, which can grow as tall as 45 meters, or 147.6 feet.
To get to the national park, it's important to first rent a car. Visitors during the fall and winter will need to rent an all-wheel-drive vehicle, as the rain and snow during these seasons can affect the roads.
From La Unión, travelers can take the T-80 towards Huecolla, a beach in the Reserva Costera Valdiviana. Once at Los Altos del Mirador, near the CONAF Ranger Station, travelers can hike for three hours on the trails through the park.
Alerce Costero National Park features eleven different trails that each offer incredible vistas filled with beautiful nature and wildlife. The Mirador Chaihuín trail is an easy, family-friendly trail that offers natural beauty like fragrant flowers and the towering alerces.
The most popular trail is the Alerce Milenario, which takes hikers 1.5 miles to the "grandfather larch," the tree that is considered to be 1,000 years old. Seeing this tree, almost fourteen feet in diameter, is a stunning experience that will leave hikers wondering at the beauty and resilience of nature.
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