I wanted to make the most of my last day in the Atacama (Day 7), but it was still a struggle to get the early 5am start I wanted after a 4am start the day before. I did eventually get up and moving around 7am, which put me into the indigenous town of Talabre at 8am. Two days prior I had taken the B-357 turnoff with its giant modern highway sign urging visitation only to find that after about 6 miles down the road there was a locked gate across the highway and a detour sign that led to a very unwelcoming gated entrance to Talabre. I did not get good vibes from this situation so left and made other plans. Information was poor online but I did eventually manage to contact someone via email that could tell me the Talabre gate hours and no worries if you fork over 10,000 CLP ($10). So armed with the right info (but alas poor Spanish), on my second attempt I managed to talk my way through the situation, even if they were thoroughly unconvinced at the off-road capabilities of my Forester. Eventually I was cleared, drove through the town, and the detour took me right back onto the sparkling public highway past the roadblock. I'm not quite sure how I felt about it (is this not the definition of highway robbery!?), but I guess good for a struggling indigenous community to get a tourist cash infusion. I was clearly the only self-catered tourist for the day and everyone else I ran into past town was part of a guided 4x4 tour.
Though I had several scenic goals for the day, my main one was to try to climb the highly active Volcán Láscar. At the time, I knew that steam was visible from its summit every cold morning I got a view of it and from what I could see online there were a handful of tour operators offering guided hikes to its summit. And add to that the recommendation at Talabre that I wear a gas mask or particulate mask for the gases. I now can tell you it has ejected a total estimated volume of 7-10 cubic-miles over its 50,000 year lifetime, had a notable eruption in 1993, considerable activity since, and most recently created a new lava dome inside its active crater in January 2023. So the second most dangerous volcano I've been to after visiting New Zealand's White Island in 2009...a decade before its 2019 eruption that killed 22 people.
As I had come to be accustomed to there was plenty of irresistible scenery along the way for quick photo stops. I stopped at an overlook of the old townsite of Talabre, which was abandoned in 1982 due to risk from Volcán Láscar and already half buried in pyroclastic flows such that much of it looked ancient. The road then cut across Quebrada de Talabres and continued counter-clockwise around the steaming peak of Volcán Láscar. After crossing some lava flows I got some desolate views of a lonely road and sparse basin, eventually passing the turnoff for the Socaire Road I attempted a few days earlier.
Another slight saddle led me over and down into the next basin, this one with Laguna Lejía. I turned off for the short but very steep detour for the Laguna Lejía overlook, which was spectacular. The laguna has one of the most curious colors I had seen, that shifted with the light and vantage but generally was an unappealing pea soup color. Despite this, the still 14,000 ft air, created one of the best natural mirrors I have ever seen with a fascinating skyline of melty scree-covered mountains and volcanoes including Láscar and Agua Calientes directly across. I could just make out the white specks (little streaks with their reflections really) of flamingos lining some of the far shore of the laguna. It was a highlight for sure but I had more to see.
Crossing over towards yet another basin to the east, I detoured to drive up the steep incline to the crater rim of Cerro Overo, a highly atypical basaltic maar with some of the most mafic extrusive rocks anywhere in the Andes. Unsurprisingly a drone provided the best view of the incredible landscape.
Onward I drove along the western shore of Laguna Aguas Calientes to some of its spring sources. This was at least the third "Laguna Aguas Calientes" I visited in the Atacama (certainly this was the most remote). The spring water was cold and most of the shoreline marsh pools were frozen from the night before so the name choice was baffling to me. I stopped to walk past the tidy piles of vicuña poop, over the grass, and around the pools to the edge of the lagoon to watch some slightly-too-far-away flamingos for a bit. The area around the laguna also had some nice lumpy alpine plant clusters.
Following up on a area that looked to be interesting on Google Earth, I drove further along past the laguna for a drone flight. The area did not look like much at all from the ground, but from 400ft overhead it was some of the most interesting patterned ground I have seen. It is hard to describe but some of it looked like artistic teardrops or lava lamp mixtures. Another area was mud-cracked in a complex pattern, almost like a natural fingerprint of sorts. Really cool!
I then backtracked past Laguna Lejía and then headed for the turn off to Láscar. This had some deep loose volcanic sand in places and I wondered how things would go looking up at the giant volcano in front of me. Lejía is at about 14,000' elevation, but I still had a further 2500' to climb in the car! The slope got steeper the closer I got to the volcano and I could see cars seemingly plastered on the side at the "trailhead" or at least the end of the road. As the road took a turn to the right it got equal parts steep and loose and my Subaru Forester gave it all it had. I'm not completely sure what combination of elevation and traction control it was, but I had the pedal to the floor as I crept upward at a steady 1-3 mph! It grunted with pain but stayed steady, surmounting this first crux then upward sidling before a second steep and loose section. I could see five guide vehicles parked at scary angles at the end of the road at 16500' and worked my way up. I was dizzy with adrenaline more than altitude as I continued up the narrow road at a ridiculous angle. I hit the second steep and loose section (even steeper!) and grinded onward to an eventual standstill then spinout only 500ft away from the other cars. Maybe I could have given it another try or two, but I had a "make good choices" mantra in my head and was not feeling like pushing it. So I carefully backed the car 1500ft down the road to the next best (read: only other) parking option. As I backed down the steep slope looking over my shoulder out my rear window, it seemed like I was looking straight down below me. I parked and packed exceptionally light but prepared, aiming to blitz the volcano. Despite cold wind I just wore a long sleeve shirt, wanting to not overheat. I took my handicap of an extra 400ft of thin air to climb through and set off up the loose slopes with one step forward, half-step back.
Periodically I checked my progress on my phone's GPS and I also found it very hard to resist nonstop photos of the amazing landscape around me including very fresh lahar, Laguna Lejía, and peaks of many shapes, textures, and colors. Trekking poles were totally key and despite being the only time I used them, were well worth packing. This was far and away the highest elevation I had been before. Despite probably being in the worth shape of my life, I was surprised to find that overall I was feeling the elevation more as a pain in my temples than a cardio effect. Halfway up I began passing people coming down. Eventually I would find out I was the only unguided person going up this day. I got some quizzical looks from some of the guides (I suggest at the late hour of my climb) but after watching me steadily ascend without stopping for a minute or so they seemed to shrug me off and focus on their clients who were having a hard enough time working their way down the mountain. The views just got better and better.
The crude switchbacked trail steadily gained elevation but happily the middle third of the ascent ended up being the hardest. This was also about where I passed the last of the people heading down. The last stretch was mercifully without a false summit and was slightly less steep, which my body appreciated. I later found out the guided groups take 2-3 hours to go up (from the trailhead above mine) and about 1.5 hours to go down. I made it up in 1:34, which I thought was not too shabby given my elevation handicap and frequent photo snaps.
There was more elevation I could have gained if I continued around the rim to the true peak but I was content to make it to the edge of the active crater at just above 18,000', smashing my previous high point of Mt Whitney (14,505'). The view from the crater's edge was fantastically dizzying. Before me was a very deep, clearly very fresh crater! Cliffs and rockfall all around, patches of sulfur and fumeroles over a thousand feet below me. As the wind shifted I would occasionally get whiffs of acidic gas that I could feel burning my throat, something I had not experienced since visiting White Island. It really did feel like it could blow at any moment and it did feel a little unnerving being the only person on the rim. As impressive as the crater was, so was the view across it of the many isolated volcanic peaks stretching out for tens of miles towards the horizon. It was as if I could see the Andes from the ground, imagine the subduction zone far beneath me, and sense the magma plumbing systems spilling material out to incredible heights. The experience was short-lived and I maybe only stayed 10-15 minutes on the crater rim, snapped plenty of photos, and then headed back down.
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| View from Volcán Láscar crater rim (18,000') |
Going downhill felt amazing despite the elevation. With perfect give on the scree underfoot and my clutch trekking poles, I made it down to my car in 35 minutes. The last guide (clearly late because he got stuck with the two most ill-prepared clients) drove past just as I reached my car and very kindly offered to wait until my car started (it did!) before driving on. I made it down and out the road without incident. I made a short detour up the Quebrada de Talabres hoping to drive all the way north of Láscar, but ran into a locked gate instead. I flew my drone straight up for a quick flight despite the wind and an amazing view of some of the best volcanic geology I have seen. The view was looking across the toe of an enormous debris avalanche that traveled over 4 miles from the rim of Volcán Láscar, which in turn was covered by a wispy lahar (volcanic mudflow). I could find very little scientific literature but the debris avalanche looked to be exceptionally young (but not historic) and from Google Earth imagery I could see the lahar happened between 1984 and 2007 (so probably during Láscar's sizable 1993 eruption). Anyway it was a great last view to end with!
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| Debris avalanche coated in ?1993? lahar with Láscar in right background |
Back to the main road I beelined for camp and spent the better part of 2.5 hours organizing gear and attempting to clean the inside of the car. Returning rental cars clean anyways stresses me out and it didn't help that this one was nearly brand new. I had another early start, drive to Calama, gas and car wash, car return, then eventually boarded my flight back to Santiago. My conference that followed went well with a great group and some neat field trips over the course of a week, though it was a bit of an endurance run with a packed schedule, late dinners, and other work things to juggle simultaneously. All in all I really enjoyed my time in the Atacama. I would love to go back someday to venture further off the beaten path, particularly with a deeper dive into the Cordillera de la Sal. By the end of my week my Spanish did improve slightly, but more than anything I came away with a reminder that improving my Spanish should be one of my most important immediate goals! I'll end with a short video of some random clips I took over the week.
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