Cerro La Campana, Mountain summit in La Campana National Park, Chile.
Cerro La Campana is a mountain in La Campana National Park in central Chile. Its summit is reached by a path of fragmented greenstone, and a plaque on the way up marks Charles Darwin's 1834 ascent. On clear days the Pacific and Aconcagua are visible from the top.
On 16 August 1834, during the second voyage of HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin left the Hacienda de San Isidro at the foot of the mountain with a guide and fresh horses and climbed to the summit, camping the night before at a spring called Agua del Guanaco. He noted bamboo on the slopes and how honey-like sap was taken from the palms, and found small gold-mining pits even on the top. A plaque on the trail marks the ascent.
The Chilean Wine Palm, Jubaea chilensis, grows on the mountain's slopes; it is an endangered species that had a much wider range in prehistoric times. Darwin noted how sap resembling honey was obtained from the palms during his 1834 ascent. A plaque on the path to the top commemorates his climb.
The ascent starts from the Hacienda de San Isidro area at the foot of the mountain, where Darwin obtained a guide and fresh horses in 1834. The route passes the Agua del Guanaco spring, a camping spot used by Darwin's party, before the final climb over fragmented greenstone. A plaque on the path to the top marks Darwin's ascent.
Traces of old gold mining are scattered across the mountain and remind visitors of the region's mining history. At the summit itself, a small excavation site remains visible that often surprises visitors.
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