Parque Nacional Puyehue (Caulle Volcanic Range)

Steam rises from grey ash fields where hot water cuts channels through rock that didn't exist fifteen years ago. The Cordón Caulle eruption of 2011 buried Parque Nacional Puyehue under 1.5 metres of ash, and the landscape is still largely unrevegetated — a lunar expanse where thermal streams seep from the ground and you build small stone dams to create your own hot pool at whatever temperature suits you. The contrast between the dead grey ash zone and the living forest at its edges is abrupt and surreal.

Parque Nacional Puyehue in Chile's Los Ríos Region spans two geological realities: the ancient Valdivian forest that predates the eruption and the raw volcanic terrain that replaced everything above 1,000 metres. The Aguas Calientes resort at the park entrance has fed mineral hot pools from Andean springs continuously since 1920 — an older, gentler version of the wild geothermal activity in the active zone above. The Gol Gol River running through the park's lower reaches is rated one of Chile's most productive fly-fishing rivers, yielding wild brown trout to 60 centimetres throughout the season. The Caulle ash fields offer a rare chance to walk through an active volcanic landscape where the ground is warm, the air smells of sulphur, and the terrain is rewriting itself visibly with each passing year.