Volcano Lascar

Lascar was a bit an adventure.
First of, there is not much information on the internet and then contradictory.
We started the day before the planned ascension with the bright idea to go camping next to the wonderful looking Laguna Leija. A local guide who we took hitch hiking told us this was the very best idea, “just let them know you are camping as they are strict and camp to the designated areas”. A quick glance at the official website for chilean national parks confirmed it.
We departed from San Pedro early afternoon with the plan to get to the gates well before 18:00, the closing time. Google maps indicated 2 possible roads, we decided to take the quickest one, to Talabra. Upon arriving a stern matriarch informed us that we were too late (16:30), and anyway camping necessitated a formal permit. We had to come back at 06:00.
Thinking we were being clever, we decided to try our luck with the other Google Maps possible road: 45 minutes later stood we in front of a very impracticable road and, upon asking a local, were told that there was no way we could go up there this way and the only entrance was the one we just came from.
Back we went and wanted to ask stern looking matriarch if we could camp somewhere close to the entrance (she had mentioned a spot in out earlier conversation) but we found the office closes and… gate open. With the logic “if we hadn’t been here before we would not know and would drive further we tried our luck again. And ended up being stoped some 500 m further by a barrage formed by stern matriarch and her also stern colleague, not happy at all with our little stint.
After some pleading the lead us to the middle of the village, next to the church where we could set up our tent. Not quite the idyllic laguna we had in mind but we slept well and were back to the park gates the next morning at 06:50.
We had about 45 minutes to drive to the Laguna Leija on perfect roads and then 45 horrible minutes on a not so perfect road, but made it to the start of the ascent (well, the tourist agencies drove about 500 meters more but no chance our car would have made it). The start was at around 4800 m and after about 2:45 of walking we arrived at the impressive cratere. The last 500 meters to the actual top are not accessible anymore, since the last eruption in 2022. The summit (5400 m) felt as a little victory after the difficulties to get there.
During the descent we are asked to accompany 2 brasilian persons that need to go down while the group is continuing (tour operator go with inexperienced tourists on day tours on the volcano, starting from San Pedro de Atacama at 2100 m and leading them in half of a day to 5400 m).
Once at the car we decide to explore the park a little more and the views are out of this world (one of Billie’s favorite). The laguna is blue and yellow from the minerals, with pink flamingos and the volcanos in the background. Each further valley had its own color, from pink, to yellow and green, to gold. One pass was full of lamas, it was a dream.
We spent the night at a very nice and quiet Overlander spot in the desert and a beautiful sunset and night sky complete this perfect day.Read more