Riding Through Parque Nacional Queulat (Queulat National Park)

No, we did not see that glacier and its waterfall up close like in the picture. It is the Colgante Glacier and its corresponding waterfall in Queulat National Park. The Colgante Glacier is one of many glaciers set off for tourists to see, with signs pointing them towards it. 

We knew it was there to our right as we pedaled through the park. The full view would be a 3.5 mile hike from the road.

Certainly it would be a sight to see. Yet, knowing it was there was enough. We didn’t need to see it. (And one is only allowed up between 9 and 3)

Below is what we would see if we hiked up. (I didn’t take that picture.) Not really that close, anyway!

So we’re okay with not seeing the fullness of it live. We have already seen many glaciers and many waterfalls from the road– something car riders missed because they drive/ride too fast.

But we did make camp not too far from it, and saw it from afar. We camped all day, went to sleep and got up with the view of it from afar.

We saw it in cloudy days, in the rain and storm, and with a rainbow after the storm. The passing of time as the weather changes over the glacier is not something a passing tourist would get to see.

Many photographs have been done of it (one of which I used.) And yes, I am astounded by the glory of that glacier. I can see it in the photograph. But the rains, the swirling clouds and the ensuing rainbow is what a tourist would miss if they moved too fast. I am in awe, not just of the glacier, but of the actions of nature that occur around it.

Besides, I did not miss anything by not hiking up. I am satisfied with the glaciers and waterfalls I have seen– the un-named ones and the ones missed by tourists heading off to the next main attraction. (They’re everywhere it seems.) I am in awe of the nameless ones I have seen. I soak in its grandeur.

So many to see, both large…

and small. So many of nature’s beauty to savor as we ride. Soooooo many…

And secretly I gloat that I have seen things many quick passers by have not seen. The published tourist attractions may be grand. And most tourists look for the picture perfect vision of the glacier that they’ve seen in postcards. But the mighty actions of nature that occur as time passes, and the hundreds of little glaciers and waterfalls that occur elsewhere– those are the treasures one can behold as one moves slowly the environment.

The little unseen ones are just as glorious. May those natural wonders be a secret that the Chilean wilderness keeps.