Travel Guide Parque Pumalín Douglas Tompkins

This beautiful 3,250 km² park was developed by the American entrepreneur Douglas Tompkins (founder of The North Face brand who died in 2015). It is one of the best places to approach nature in the south of Chile. It protects areas that are still very wild and ecologically fragile as well as 3,600-year-old alerts. The Valdivian forest is particularly magical and offers great hiking options. All hiking trails start from the Carretera Austral and are distributed between the villages of Caleta Gonzalo and El Amarillo. The trail to the El Amarillo glacier is spectacular and the 2/3 day trek to the Vodudahue waterfalls is recommended for good walkers. Other shorter trails allow a good approach to the flora and fauna. The park has a total of 80 km of trails and has plans to expand again. In 2017, Kristine McDavitt, head of Tompkins Conservation, turned over the Pumalín lands to the Chilean state in a ceremony in the park attended by Michelle Bachelet. Chile then became a national park, committing to protect Pumalín at its maximum level of conservation. This Memorandum of Understanding evolved further in 2018 when the two women met again to sign and create the Chilean Patagonia National Park Network, which includes the reclassification of forest reserves into national parks.