The Queulat Camping Quandary

We almost didn’t camp in Parque National Queulat. Mark had a big call for his new job pop up, and we needed to have cell service so that he could take that call. We decided to pull into the closest town to Queulat, which was Puyuhuapi, and see how reception was. I didn’t want to give up on the dream of camping at Queulat National Park. Since the towns we’d visited recently didn’t have great service, we didn’t have high hopes, but low and behold, not only was it an adorable and well stocked town but the service was full bar!

The storms were rolling in so we decided to go find our campsite and go on a couple of quick little hikes before the storm rolled in and we had to drive the 25 minutes or so back to Puyuhuapi for his call.

We drove to the ranger station and waited in a robust (for Chile) line of people to check in for our park reservation. After we did, the ranger shared that we had to go a kilometer down the road to register and pay for camping. The camping ranger shared with us where our site was, what time the showers were accessible, that there was a water source right at our site, and LOTS of information in Spanish, which we joyously understood. We paid for our campsite and were on our way.

We set up camp in record time, knocked out our two little hikes and headed back to Puyhuapi for Mark’s call. As we were driving past the camping ranger station around 4pm, I recall getting a funny look from the ranger but dismissed it as a “those Americans” look but would later realize it was not.

The kids and I played at the little park in town and burned some energy while Mark joined his prep call and real call for about an hour and half. Since it was 6:30, we decided to grab dinner in town so we had a leisurely dinner at lovely restaurant call El Muelle, “the dock”. It’s still summer in Chile, so the sun doesn’t set until after 9pm. We had plenty of daylight to get back to camp.

We pulled down the road to the park and saw the gate was closed. No problem, in Chiloe they just looped a rope over the gate, and we opened it to get back to our site per their instructions.

Not the case here.

This fence was chain locked and the top was covered in barbed wire. Much of our stuff, tents, sleeping bags, and other camping needs were set up on the other side.

We evaluated the situation, and we decided we had no choice but to climb the fence and walk to our campsite. We took all of our electronics out of the car and Mark backed it up as close as he could to a tree so that the back window would be really hard to smash, should someone try.

All four of us very carefully climbed over the barbed wire fence one by one and hauled our packs with computers, cameras, and electronics down the dirt road to camp.

Would our car still be there in the morning? Would we even do if it wasn’t? What if the windows were smashed? Where could we get it fixed? Would we have to drive for days without a window? I was starting to spiral. I quickly shook all the negative “what-ifs” from my mind. We did what we could do. This was the right choice for the moment.

We got to camp as it started to rain again, brushed our teeth, and enjoyed the peace of the cold, drizzly, glacier-calving noises of a night that only nature can provide.

The next morning, Mark woke up and went to wait for the rangers to arrive at 9am to unlock the gate so he could get the car. As park visitor’s cars started to build up at the entrance, Mark had to tell the line of people (in Spanish) that he was NOT the ranger and could not open the gate to let them in. When the ranger did arrive, he noticed that Mark was inside the gate and got very upset at him for hopping the fence. Though Mark explained we had no choice, the ranger continued with his verbal lashing after which he headed back to camp with our car. We all cheered when he pulled up. What an adventure.

Of all the information the rangers provided the day before, they missed telling us that we’d be locked inside the park overnight. If you ever camp at Queulet, know you have to be inside the park before the gates close about 4:30pm, and you can’t leave the park until 9am the next morning. No late arrivals. No early starts.