Plantilla:Segment 1 Bosque Llancahue
From the start point,go ahead bythe left side road around 70 meters,and you will find a road bifurcation.Take the left road, walk a around 95 meters and you will arrive to Guidepost No.2.
The forest observed here is dominated by big individuals of Coihue (Nothofagus dombeyi), a very common specie in the Valdivian temperate forest. This is one of the first species that initiate the formation of a forest in a naked land, mainly due to its low soil and nutrient requirements, and its high resistance to direct sun, reason why it is called a “pioneer” or “colonizer” specie.
Continue by the left side track around 300 meters,and you will find a new bifurcation.Take the right side road and follow for a few meters until finding Guidepost No.3.
In this Guidepost,you will find a big Coihue that fell down pushed by the wind,that is used as a micro-habitat allowing many moss,hepatica,and fern species to develop. It is also interesting to observesmall trees that are being established in the clearing caused by the fall of this tree.
Keep going for around 20 meters by the path located at the right side of the fallen tree,and you will see a big Coihue having a gap from the trunk base,allowing to observethe interior of the tree.This opening corresponds to a fire scar, indicating that this Coihue is a survivor of a big fire occurred many years ago. This fire gave rise to a new forest formation, which can been observed around us, and this Coihue undoubtedly provided a large number of seeds to colonize the burnt land again.
From this Coihue,take the right side road and keep walking around 135 meters without leaving the main road.Then,follow the track that goes down the forest for 240 meters until you arrive to Guidepost No.4.
If we watch carefully,we will see some plants that are entangled in tree trunks and branches – these are climbing plants which are gradually climbing up from the forest floor in order to reach the tree tops, obtaining thus precious sun rays allowing them to manufacture their own feed. But many of these climbing plants should fight hard against trees to tryto get to the upper forest canopy, a battle that ends when any of them wins:The tree succeeds in absorbing the climbing plant that climbs up through its trunk and branches,or the climbing plant strangles the tree preventing it from growing and reaching sun light. From here,walk around 150 meters until arriving to Guidepost No. 5, always by the main path.
Keep walking for 150 meters by the path and then follow the right side track.Around 20 meters ahead,you will find a clearing in the forest, to your right, where a typical underwood specie grows, Fuinque (Lomatia ferruginea). You will arrive to a bifurcation after walking around 55 meters from the Fuinques.Take the left side road and keep going for 180 meters until arriving to Guidepost No.6.
Llancahue forests are within a delimited territory called basin.This is in turn divided into a number of micro-basins that generate small rivulets that flow into a main course, Llancahue stream. Small water courses are called tributaries and we can observe the micro-basin that form it to the left.
Go ahead 120 meters until finding a rooted out Coihue which lays across the road.After passing the tree,keep going around 200 meters to the right until arriving to Guidepost No. 7. You will have to pass by a small rivulet that is tributary to Llancahue stream before arriving to this Guidepost.
This stream varies over the different seasons according to rains:its highest flow in winter time,becoming over 5 meters wide and around one meter deep,in average,and its lowest flow in the summer,when there are little water reserves in the ground, becoming around 3 meters wide and 50 cm deep, in average. When summer ends, the first rains start reloading soils and underground sheets of water, allowing thus the cycle to start over again.
From Guidepost No.7,take the right side road, going down around 250 meters by a slight slope until you arrive to Guidepost No. 8. Around 20 meters before arriving to this Guidepost, when walking by the surroundings of Llancahue stream, we will find a new tributary to Llancahue stream, but bigger this time,that you will have to overcome by the edge of the road. Species that prefer wetter sectors develop in sectors near water courses, such as, female Mañío (Saxegothaea conspicua) and Melí (Amomyrtus meli).
Guidepost No. 9 is located only 80 meters ahead.
When walking away from the stream, we can observe big Coihues, that grow better in wet places.
From Coihue,go on 20 meters by the road that gradually goes up and take the right side track,since the left side track will lead you directly to Llancahue stream. We recommend you to go watch the stream, but come back to this same spot, avoiding thus to get lost with calculation of distances.
Once you visit the stream, keep walking 60 meters from the spot where the road divides into two and go on 60 meters always following the main track (do not take the secondary road which goes up a slope, to the right).
Keep going for another 50 meters until you see beautiful Melíes that may be clearly distinguished for their slim shape,their delicate aroma, and their whitish bark. Guidepost No. 10 is located 60 meters ahead. While we get far from sectors of higher slope and less access,landscape begins to change. This is due to the human being’shand starts to become visible, which is evident when you find a plain site with coal rests.
From this guidepost move forward 70 meters by the road which has a slightly more pronounced slope than the tour up to this stage until you find The Chauman, Traumén or Sauco of devil (Pseudopanax laetevirens) is an endemic tree of Temperate Forests of South America and lives mainly in wet and woodest zones,near water courses. Moveforward 120 meters bythe main path until finding Guidepost Nº 12.
Once again we encounter the monarch of these woods,this time it relates to a Coihue of large proportions which certainly has given life to many generations of the wood acting as “seed”tree.This type of trees survives to adverse conditions, such as fires and large sliding of earth and, once land is uncovered, they disseminate their seeds and generate new generations of plants that slowly form new forests.
From this guidepost, move forward about 100 meters, where you will experience a change of landscape; you will be surrounded byentangled shrubs, this indicates you are in Guidepost Nº 13. As we come closer to the communities that live in the surroundings of Llancahue basin, action of man is increasingly more evident. In this guidepost we can appreciate a large Quilanto that generated for the excessive cutting down of trees, concentrated in one area in particular
Move forward by the road to the interior of the quilanto approximately 260 meters to begin the next segment