Alright, my apologies for missing 5 weeks or so between blogs. We had super limited Internet access, and if we did not for more than 10 minutes at a time. It turns out it takes a really long time to write 7 pages of blogging. I am totally into chronicling this adventure. ITs a fine line between mundane events from day to day (journaling) and providing you with the details in a chronological order. But really, whatever, here it is. El Calafate and El Chalten a bit of trekking through insanity. Wish you all could have been there or that I could share pics with ya, but here we GO. (sidenote: blogger doesnt allow exclamation points....)
El Calafate and Argentina
We began to take our trip North through the rest of Patagonia. We took a sunrise bus through the border back to Argentina and had to say good-bye to beautiful Chile. We took a bus across desert, insane lakes, and dropped off a valley wall into the relative desert of Argentine Patagonia. About 2 hours later we arrived in El Calafate. El Calafate, named after the wild Patagonian blueberry, is not the most attractive town. First, it was super expensive and the only hostel in town was a massive hotel style place, quite a change from all of our previous hostels that were very personable hostel owners.
The town is full of people who have flown into Argentina for a week or less and want to do trekking in the summer or skiing in the winter. Therefore, most of the shops are gear stores, there’s a huge casino, and all the restaurants and grocery stores were the most expensive so far in our whole trip. But once you get over all of that there is a ton to do, but all outside of town with a tour, that inevitably you have to pay for. But to El Calafate´s credit, the town is the springboard for one of the most incredible wonders of the world: Perito Moreno Glacier.
So naturally we had to go to the Glacier. We had already seen some glaciers but nothing like Perito Moreno. We got some bus tickets and were swept off early in the morning on a partly cloudy day. About an hour later we arrived at the Southern Entrance of Parque National Los Glaciares. The national park is HUGE and encompasses some of Argentinas most massive Glaciers. You have to pay to enter the southern part (Perito Moreno Glacier) but the northern part is free (El Chalten, more on this later). So after paying our entrance fee the bus dropped us in front of a visitors center and the entrance to an incredible maze of suspended walkways that twist and wind all over each other closer and closer to the Glacier.
Perito Moreno Glacier is incredible. The setting: the glacier is half a mile wide and several deep. It is also close, if not over, 100ft tall. Just massive It emerges from a valley with treeless peaks on all sides that make their mountainy way down to Lago Argentina. Lago Argentina is a pretty huge lake (miles long and at least half a mile wide) that has a dog-legged shape. The glacier itself is one of the few Glaciers in the world that is considered “stable” in size and hasn’t lost any mass over the past century (unlike 95% of Glaciers worldwide). In fact the giant mass of ice move nearly 1meter every day. The coolest thing about the whole glacier is that because of its massive advancing it eventually races across the lake and divides the lake in half right at the dog leg. This happens every several years and eventually the pressure of the lake and the weight of glacier creates a rupture where massive chunks of ice, rock, and water spew, explode, and fly all over as the lake claims the dog-leg once again. This happens sporadically; 1998, 2004, 2008, 2010, etc.
About a month before our trip the Glacier had once again reached the other side of the lake (the more frequent ruptures a sign of climate change? heh heh). This created a crazy aspect to the lake where half of it was a different color, one side green, then the other side of the glacier blue. Also the two sides were even different heights. Totally a different lake, although it was the same. We were sure to bring lots of food for our bus was not returning to pick us up for another 6 hours. So when we arrived we walked along miles of these catwalks until we were only several yards from the Glacier which was spread out in an unworldly sprawl. So we did the only natural thing at this juncture. WE sat for 6 mind blowing hours, hypnotized and picnicking. Even after looking at it for hours its still difficult to fathom the actual size of this ice cube.
The Perito Glacier is an experience of all the senses. Even after the sun came out and bathed the whole valley in sunlight, you can feel the cool air blowing off the ice (not unlike a hockey game...). The most interesting, and unexpected, sensation is listening to the glacier. IT makes insane noises that I cannot begin to explain. IT gurges, gushes, creaks, and moans. It splashes, splays, cracks and whistles. Half of the enjoyment is listening to the unworldly sounds. But the real reason everyone is there for the spectacle. Because the glacier moves close to a meter a day the giant100 foot face calves of in massive skyscraper size chunks. So literally, we found a place we liked and for 6 hours just watched the glacier. IT is comparable to waiting to see a shooting star or a strike of lighting. Waiting to see the awesome power of nature. The first glimpse you have is unbelieving, mezmorizing. And after that first glimpse you are HOOKED, so all you can do is continue to stare and wait. Sometimes you are rewarded and sometimes not. Then when the first piece falls, it is with such power, and insanity, that all you can do is watch and wait in anticipation for the next to fall. Even the smallest pieces that fall make a little cracking sound, then silence as they fall 100ft or so, then an INSANE crashing sound as they are obliterated on the waiting sapphire lake.
Highlight: The crown crash of the day came around 3pm or so, just as we passed the 5th hour of straight Glacier watching. The sun had been baking the face of the glacier since about 11am when the clouds finally broke and the glacier was looking a beautiful deep blue, swirling with whites, and greys shaped in insane spires and impossible shapes. Slowly, larger and larger chunks would break off. Every 20 minutes, 5 minutes, 45 minutes, until one little, itty bitty piece fell off the top. This piece was the keystone and soon a massive, 80feet or more, skyscrape size chunk roared into the water. You could feel it, hear it, smell it, taste it, not one sense was left unenlightened. It was unfathomable.
We returned to Calafate in awe, and the next day we jumped on a bus to El Chalten.
El Chalten:
This town is ridiculous. First off, it is the youngest town in all of Argentina. It was built in the early 90´s and was only started because Chile and Argentina were debating where the border was, so Argentina won. Secondly, El Chalten boasts having the worst weather in the world. Which is true. Thirdly, El Chalten is also the, most importantly, the springboard into some of the most raw, stunning, and impossibly beautiful natural landscapes that Patagonia, and the world, have to offer. So it seemed completely logical to go there.
We had heard from several travellers before we even made it to Patagonia that El Chalten doesnt have a bank, the only ATM rarely has money, and that food at the few grocery stores flies off the shelves. So we prepared by taking a bunch of money out in EL Calafate, buying most of our food before we arrived, and planning on camping to keep costs down. We also had talked to our Hostel owners in Puerto Natales about El Calafate for the best 5 day backpacking trip and had a pretty good itinerary set up. We were ready for anything. Then everything came. But first...
The bus ride was awesome. Only about 2 hours from Calafate, El Chalten is located off of famous Ruta40 in Patagonia. An epic highway that cruises the desert on the rain shadow side of the mountains in Patagonia, right in the foothills. The entire time there are beautiful jagged peaks in the distant, insane colored lakes and river, and tons of giant ostrich looking birds and herds of llama type animals. Its totally nuts. We arrived in El Chalten which is a gorgeous little, brand new town.
El Chalten is in the shadow of Mount Fitz Roy (seriously, google up a picture right now) and reminds me of Silverton, Colorado. All the roofs, and buildings are different colors and hunkered down tight for the insane winds and rain that come out of the mountains. There is also a bunch of construction going on because the town is new, and in the last 4 years it has seen a huge increase in toursim. Our hostel, it turns out was actually illegal and without papers, was still being built and the second floor was a skeleton of a building without windows, a roof, and only a couple brick walls. It was the cheapest place in town and everywhere else was double or triple the price of what everyone had been quoting us. This put us in a cash strain, even though we took out abunch of money, because the ATM was, of course, out of money. But not to dampen our spirits. We stayed one night, got some last minute food, and got a ride out to the boondocks to begin a 5 day trekking trip back to town. Oh boy was it epic.
Piedra del Fraile - Lago Electrico
We got dropped off on a partly cloudy day, where the mountains were doing a sort of dance with the fog and mist, right at the confluence of the Rio Blanco and the Rio Electrico. As their names imply, the Rio Blanco was a beautiful crystal clear river running over white granite while the Rio Electrico was an incredible electric blue/sapphire/turquoise meandering down a multicolored valley. We began our hike out to Piedra del Fraile away from the valley of Rio Blanco and along the Rio Electrico. It was perfect. The mist blocked the sun and made the temperature perfect for backpacking. When the sun is out its almost too hot when you are moving, but when its cloudly and cool the temperature is perfect for hiking and once you stop your body temperature cools in about 5-10 minutes so it naturally keeps you moving.
We made it to Fraile in a couple hours after walking along through beautiful forests, over creeks, and next to a couple mooing cows to the privately owned campground. We were sent here by our hostel owner in Puerto Natales solely on the reason that few people venture back here. He was right and there was only one other couple staying at the camp when we arrived. The gentleman that owns the camp is an awesome dude that 4wheels in the summer and backpacks in the winter to keep the place stocked, does epic climbing,and skiing in the winter and was stoked to talk to us even though we could barely even retort in our broken spanish. We put down the tent, payed some cash money, and took off up the valley further to check out the headwaters of the Rio Electrico, Lago Electrico. As we headed up a massive valley, that had obviously been abused by a glacier only a couple hundred years earlier, the clouds began to clear. we were in an incredible valley that ended only a couple miles ahead of us. To the south there was incredible colored rock in Reds, blacks, yellows, whites, and greys that peaked out at Cerro Electrico (electric peak). In front of us, to the west, was a massive glacier field and scraggly, treeless peaks that directly fed, the still hidden, lago Electrico. And narrowly on the North side was another giant, treeless ridgeline. Behind us, to the east, was the giant wash of the Rio Electrico and Piedra del Fraile, which really is one of the only rocks, a giant one, in the middle of the valley where the camp was nestled up in the forest. Beyond that was more mountains and rivers and epic Patagonia.
After much scrambling and jaw dropping scenery we made it to the cliffs on the southside of the Lago Electrico. The first glimpse was an onslaught on the senses. It was still cloudy, but the lake was the most insane color blue. Indescribable. I know I keep saying things like “impossible”, “insane”, “epic”, etc, but after weeks in this wonderful land Megan and I were mostly speechless with the frequent “wow”. Then a couple more steps and “wow”. Its all just wow.
We continued on our Journey next to the lake over some orange, purple, black, white, and cream colored rocks that had obviously taken a beating from some glaciers not too long ago. We stopped to have a bite to eat with our legs hanging over the lake still about30 meters above the water. Here, while we ate, the sun came out and gave the lake, if that was possible, an even more insane color as well as lighting up EVERYTHING.To our left we could see the massive glacier expanse covering a jagged black mountain with several peaks poking through the ice and stretching back to the right over across a huge valley. The right side of the glacier abruptly stopped into another incredibly orange, glacier abused jagged mountain that ran along next to the lake and most of the valley back to Piedra Fraile.
Now that the sun was out we boogied across the rocks and down to a pebble beach (florida?) next to the impossible lake. There we could see a peninsula that sticks out into the water which literally looks like it is floating. Without lagging too much we juanted up the the left into a valley next to a small creek that was feeding the lake and it was incredible to see the geological change. The rock type was changing at a pace reserved for weather in the mountains and not the usually relaxed meandering over millions of years. We were in a band of soft crumbly white rock which had huge boulders and white sand everywhere. I could have been in Jtree or in the hills by Santa Cruz if it wasnt for the granite peaks and glacier bays. But differing terrain is the name of the game here in PAtagonia so another30 meters and we were in a different band of beautiful crystal induced yellow granite that to the step was super sticky. We followed this up to the top of the creek was another lake with another insane view.
This was insane. There was an absolutely glass lake that was being fed by 2 blasting waterfalls at least10 meters each. Behind the falls on the right was an incredible granite wall with black streaks of water cascading down. IT looked like a wall of Northern California Granite except of being stained black there was a glacier sitting on the summit. It was almost as if we were watching Yosemite being formed. Then just to the left there, shrouded in its eternal mist cloak, was the giant Cerro Fitz Roy. The entire geologic party was being reflected off the glassy lake and we stopped to enjoy the solitude on a rock right on the border of mirrorlake meeting cascading creek.
We returned to the gorgeous Lago electrico in the still brilliant sunshine and once we got to the shores of the insanely colored water I had such a desire to jump in. Minutes later we found a nice spot on the beach and I went for a quick, and freezing dip in the awesome water. IT was literally swimming at the base of a glacier but it felt great to dry off in the sstrong patagonian sunshine afterward. Hands down the best swim I have ever taken.
The next day we headed straight up next to our camp about1300 meters or so to a small valley and pass called “Paso del Cuadrado”. We had to climb straight up some beautiful granite and once we reached the treeline the color of rocks became insane. We were hiking next to a peak called Cerro Electrico which, true to its namesake, was striped in 5 different color rocks and was a brilliant peak on the way to some of the most incredible geologic formations in the world. The rockfields above treeline were situated by color in an unbelievable precision. There was a giant band of black rocks from the summit of the many peaks running down to treeline, a perfectly distinguished line then a band of bright orange rocks, another line, and then white rocks. IT was crazy. Once we made it up to the top we were in a sharp bowl-shaped valley.
On the left were the 3 bands of colored rocks heading to several peaks that slowly crumbled down from the sheer faces of perfect granite Cerro Fitz Roy. IT was insane, probly the most dominating rock in the world. IT is soo much bigger, more sheer, and beautiful than any rock in Patagonia (the world?). Then tumbling down from that peak was a glacier right in front of us and lake. We were standing less than a kilometer from Fitz Roy and it was surround by snow, rock and ice. But today, the only day of the 6 we were in El Chalten, there wasnt a cloud in the sky. All there was was brilliant blue, perfect white granite, white snow, and the multitude of colored rocks tumbling down to the Valley. Not a bad place to be.
This blog is already too long for my tired fingers and the fact that it has been so hard to find time and a computer that I can sit at for more than 20 minutes, but I must go on without sparing any insanity (it all is insanity).
The day after Cuadrado We hiked around to the other side of Fitz Roy away from Rio Electrico and up the Valley along the Rio Blanco. However, now there were no more cloudless calm day of el Chalten. Fitz Roy had decided to live up to its renown as having the worst weather in the world, and it did a good job. The first day after Cuadrado was ok. We went from partly cloudy to insane wind to sideways rain in a continually revolving weather wheel. We also got to see some insane things including Lago Sucia and a whole bunch of other glaciers, epic rock scrambling with 40lb packs over rivers with no other witnesses except waterfalls and glaciers. However, that night when we reached the busy campgrounds at the trail head to lago de los tres all weather hell broke loose.
We entered the heart of a 4 day storm of 40mph (or more) wind and rain for days. We had luckily got our tent set up before the drizzle went to the downpour but it lasted for days. That night was insanely loud. The rain was constantly dropping on our tent and water with nylon is exactly quiet. But that was a whisper compared to when the wind came and shook all the water out of the trees into torrents that you had to yell over to be heard 1ft away to the other side of the tent. This lasted for 24 hours or longer. The next day we slept in, moved slow, and were staying realatively dry in our tent, but shortly after noon we were getting cabin fever and put on all our rain gear, gaiters, and gloves and headed out for a walk to see what we could see. The answer was nothing. The mountains were completely cloud drenched and the rain was blowing sideways. We were able to walk for a couple hours, but with that much rain and wind not even the best goretex can keep you dry and we were completely soaked to the bone.
At this point we had to head to the tent. We were 3 hours from town and, because the atm didnt have any money, had nowhere to go. Our bus didnt leave for several days, we had enough food, but still needed to buy a little on our last day so we were camped out in a true patagonian rager with no retreat. That night, close to dawn, silence for the first time in 2 days meant that the rain had given up for a second. I had tied a clothes line and it gave us a couple hours to hang our stuff out and hopefully dry a little. After a couple hours the drizzle came back, but with less strength than the downpour. We decided we were going to see anything so we took off for the closest campsite to town, still an hour away but not 3.
So we packed up all our stuff a fast as possible and right when we made it to the other campsite the downpour resumed. As we were hurrying to put up the tent to try to keep something dry the tent pole SHATTERED right on the plastic joint which makes it impossible to fix. . Mala leche. Quickly we pulled out the ducttape and a metal pole and tried to tape it together but the tent still wasnt holding its shape. So I had to cut a whole mess of guidelines to tie from the tentfly to trees, and other stakes and after a bit we had a tent that look like a tent. WE threw all our dry stuff in the tent, our wet stuff under the vestibule and in the insane downpour decided that we werent getting any wetter so we should do our last trip to town for some supplies.
The money situation was a bit dampening. Everything was more expensive than we planned for and we had 2 more nights. So with the ATM out of money the little cash we had lead us to 2 options. We could camp in town and have a meager last 3 meals, or camp an hour outside of town in the free camp and have a more luxurious last 3 meals (box of wine anyone?). So we decided that our tent might not make it through another breakdown and set up so we decided to spend our last remaining pesos on tasty vittles. So down the mountain we slipped in the down pour towards tiny El Chalten.
An hour later we were walking through the streets completely soaked and cold and ehadedd to the bus station so we could eat lunch somewhere dry for the first time in 3 days. After shedding some layers and getting some hot tea from some fellow trekkers with teh same idea at the bus station we tried the ATM and VIOLA. MOOuuLA. It was like winning the lottery. Now that we were ganster-balling-rich-folks our soggy fruit cake didnt taste as good so we headed for a pizzaria with a heater and coffee. But first we also decided we were going to get a hostel for our last night and dry out and warm up. There is something chilling about being soaked to the bone in 40+mph winds for 3 days that makes the price of a hostel not matter. We were tired, hungry and soaked. The lady at the hostel was so sorry she didnt have a room for us when we asked while we dripped a huge puddle on the floor from our soaked clothes. But was overjoyed when we told her it was for tomorrow. We booked our room, she even gave us a discount for nothing (probly pity) and pointed us to the cheapest pizza joint in town. WE left with our spirits much higher and camped out in the pizza joint next to the heater for a couple hours and some of the best pizza ive ever had. Afterwards, bought a box of wine and walked up the hill in the mud to our tent in the dark.
What we arrived to was an insane river running through our camp and threatening to wash our backpacks our from under the vestibules, the inside of the tent was still the driest place for a couple miles but had puddles building. That is when out came the most dynamic, useful, and my favorite tool I brought on the trip: my Spoon. Megans plastic “light my fire” half spoon, half fork/knife that seem to be very popular among most backpackers, had broken a week or so before at a hostel while we were eating Polenta, POLENTA. But the entire trip I was constantly crooning over my love for my MSR super strong spoon, and, truly, it was the only shiny thing in the dark hour in the downpour of Chalten. I was able to dig an entire trench around the whole tent successfully diverting the river from under our tent into a pretty good sized creek running safely next to the shelter. And it was flowing fast. But after a tasty meal and some wine we laid back down to the sound of rain beating our tarp for the last time...
A lot more happened, but Im going to end here until I bring us to El Bolson, Wwoofing, The Futaleufu, kayaking, MORE RAIN CAMPING, and the return to cities, friends, waterfalls, and Che Guaveras hometown. Hope you all dont get too bored reading. Holla atcha.
Ciaoito
Nic and Megan
We began to take our trip North through the rest of Patagonia. We took a sunrise bus through the border back to Argentina and had to say good-bye to beautiful Chile. We took a bus across desert, insane lakes, and dropped off a valley wall into the relative desert of Argentine Patagonia. About 2 hours later we arrived in El Calafate. El Calafate, named after the wild Patagonian blueberry, is not the most attractive town. First, it was super expensive and the only hostel in town was a massive hotel style place, quite a change from all of our previous hostels that were very personable hostel owners.
The town is full of people who have flown into Argentina for a week or less and want to do trekking in the summer or skiing in the winter. Therefore, most of the shops are gear stores, there’s a huge casino, and all the restaurants and grocery stores were the most expensive so far in our whole trip. But once you get over all of that there is a ton to do, but all outside of town with a tour, that inevitably you have to pay for. But to El Calafate´s credit, the town is the springboard for one of the most incredible wonders of the world: Perito Moreno Glacier.
So naturally we had to go to the Glacier. We had already seen some glaciers but nothing like Perito Moreno. We got some bus tickets and were swept off early in the morning on a partly cloudy day. About an hour later we arrived at the Southern Entrance of Parque National Los Glaciares. The national park is HUGE and encompasses some of Argentinas most massive Glaciers. You have to pay to enter the southern part (Perito Moreno Glacier) but the northern part is free (El Chalten, more on this later). So after paying our entrance fee the bus dropped us in front of a visitors center and the entrance to an incredible maze of suspended walkways that twist and wind all over each other closer and closer to the Glacier.
Perito Moreno Glacier is incredible. The setting: the glacier is half a mile wide and several deep. It is also close, if not over, 100ft tall. Just massive It emerges from a valley with treeless peaks on all sides that make their mountainy way down to Lago Argentina. Lago Argentina is a pretty huge lake (miles long and at least half a mile wide) that has a dog-legged shape. The glacier itself is one of the few Glaciers in the world that is considered “stable” in size and hasn’t lost any mass over the past century (unlike 95% of Glaciers worldwide). In fact the giant mass of ice move nearly 1meter every day. The coolest thing about the whole glacier is that because of its massive advancing it eventually races across the lake and divides the lake in half right at the dog leg. This happens every several years and eventually the pressure of the lake and the weight of glacier creates a rupture where massive chunks of ice, rock, and water spew, explode, and fly all over as the lake claims the dog-leg once again. This happens sporadically; 1998, 2004, 2008, 2010, etc.
About a month before our trip the Glacier had once again reached the other side of the lake (the more frequent ruptures a sign of climate change? heh heh). This created a crazy aspect to the lake where half of it was a different color, one side green, then the other side of the glacier blue. Also the two sides were even different heights. Totally a different lake, although it was the same. We were sure to bring lots of food for our bus was not returning to pick us up for another 6 hours. So when we arrived we walked along miles of these catwalks until we were only several yards from the Glacier which was spread out in an unworldly sprawl. So we did the only natural thing at this juncture. WE sat for 6 mind blowing hours, hypnotized and picnicking. Even after looking at it for hours its still difficult to fathom the actual size of this ice cube.
The Perito Glacier is an experience of all the senses. Even after the sun came out and bathed the whole valley in sunlight, you can feel the cool air blowing off the ice (not unlike a hockey game...). The most interesting, and unexpected, sensation is listening to the glacier. IT makes insane noises that I cannot begin to explain. IT gurges, gushes, creaks, and moans. It splashes, splays, cracks and whistles. Half of the enjoyment is listening to the unworldly sounds. But the real reason everyone is there for the spectacle. Because the glacier moves close to a meter a day the giant
Highlight: The crown crash of the day came around 3pm or so, just as we passed the 5th hour of straight Glacier watching. The sun had been baking the face of the glacier since about 11am when the clouds finally broke and the glacier was looking a beautiful deep blue, swirling with whites, and greys shaped in insane spires and impossible shapes. Slowly, larger and larger chunks would break off. Every 20 minutes, 5 minutes, 45 minutes, until one little, itty bitty piece fell off the top. This piece was the keystone and soon a massive, 80feet or more, skyscrape size chunk roared into the water. You could feel it, hear it, smell it, taste it, not one sense was left unenlightened. It was unfathomable.
We returned to Calafate in awe, and the next day we jumped on a bus to El Chalten.
El Chalten:
This town is ridiculous. First off, it is the youngest town in all of Argentina. It was built in the early 90´s and was only started because Chile and Argentina were debating where the border was, so Argentina won. Secondly, El Chalten boasts having the worst weather in the world. Which is true. Thirdly, El Chalten is also the, most importantly, the springboard into some of the most raw, stunning, and impossibly beautiful natural landscapes that Patagonia, and the world, have to offer. So it seemed completely logical to go there.
We had heard from several travellers before we even made it to Patagonia that El Chalten doesnt have a bank, the only ATM rarely has money, and that food at the few grocery stores flies off the shelves. So we prepared by taking a bunch of money out in EL Calafate, buying most of our food before we arrived, and planning on camping to keep costs down. We also had talked to our Hostel owners in Puerto Natales about El Calafate for the best 5 day backpacking trip and had a pretty good itinerary set up. We were ready for anything. Then everything came. But first...
The bus ride was awesome. Only about 2 hours from Calafate, El Chalten is located off of famous Ruta40 in Patagonia. An epic highway that cruises the desert on the rain shadow side of the mountains in Patagonia, right in the foothills. The entire time there are beautiful jagged peaks in the distant, insane colored lakes and river, and tons of giant ostrich looking birds and herds of llama type animals. Its totally nuts. We arrived in El Chalten which is a gorgeous little, brand new town.
El Chalten is in the shadow of Mount Fitz Roy (seriously, google up a picture right now) and reminds me of Silverton, Colorado. All the roofs, and buildings are different colors and hunkered down tight for the insane winds and rain that come out of the mountains. There is also a bunch of construction going on because the town is new, and in the last 4 years it has seen a huge increase in toursim. Our hostel, it turns out was actually illegal and without papers, was still being built and the second floor was a skeleton of a building without windows, a roof, and only a couple brick walls. It was the cheapest place in town and everywhere else was double or triple the price of what everyone had been quoting us. This put us in a cash strain, even though we took out abunch of money, because the ATM was, of course, out of money. But not to dampen our spirits. We stayed one night, got some last minute food, and got a ride out to the boondocks to begin a 5 day trekking trip back to town. Oh boy was it epic.
Piedra del Fraile - Lago Electrico
We got dropped off on a partly cloudy day, where the mountains were doing a sort of dance with the fog and mist, right at the confluence of the Rio Blanco and the Rio Electrico. As their names imply, the Rio Blanco was a beautiful crystal clear river running over white granite while the Rio Electrico was an incredible electric blue/sapphire/turquoise meandering down a multicolored valley. We began our hike out to Piedra del Fraile away from the valley of Rio Blanco and along the Rio Electrico. It was perfect. The mist blocked the sun and made the temperature perfect for backpacking. When the sun is out its almost too hot when you are moving, but when its cloudly and cool the temperature is perfect for hiking and once you stop your body temperature cools in about 5-10 minutes so it naturally keeps you moving.
We made it to Fraile in a couple hours after walking along through beautiful forests, over creeks, and next to a couple mooing cows to the privately owned campground. We were sent here by our hostel owner in Puerto Natales solely on the reason that few people venture back here. He was right and there was only one other couple staying at the camp when we arrived. The gentleman that owns the camp is an awesome dude that 4wheels in the summer and backpacks in the winter to keep the place stocked, does epic climbing,and skiing in the winter and was stoked to talk to us even though we could barely even retort in our broken spanish. We put down the tent, payed some cash money, and took off up the valley further to check out the headwaters of the Rio Electrico, Lago Electrico. As we headed up a massive valley, that had obviously been abused by a glacier only a couple hundred years earlier, the clouds began to clear. we were in an incredible valley that ended only a couple miles ahead of us. To the south there was incredible colored rock in Reds, blacks, yellows, whites, and greys that peaked out at Cerro Electrico (electric peak). In front of us, to the west, was a massive glacier field and scraggly, treeless peaks that directly fed, the still hidden, lago Electrico. And narrowly on the North side was another giant, treeless ridgeline. Behind us, to the east, was the giant wash of the Rio Electrico and Piedra del Fraile, which really is one of the only rocks, a giant one, in the middle of the valley where the camp was nestled up in the forest. Beyond that was more mountains and rivers and epic Patagonia.
After much scrambling and jaw dropping scenery we made it to the cliffs on the southside of the Lago Electrico. The first glimpse was an onslaught on the senses. It was still cloudy, but the lake was the most insane color blue. Indescribable. I know I keep saying things like “impossible”, “insane”, “epic”, etc, but after weeks in this wonderful land Megan and I were mostly speechless with the frequent “wow”. Then a couple more steps and “wow”. Its all just wow.
We continued on our Journey next to the lake over some orange, purple, black, white, and cream colored rocks that had obviously taken a beating from some glaciers not too long ago. We stopped to have a bite to eat with our legs hanging over the lake still about
Now that the sun was out we boogied across the rocks and down to a pebble beach (florida?) next to the impossible lake. There we could see a peninsula that sticks out into the water which literally looks like it is floating. Without lagging too much we juanted up the the left into a valley next to a small creek that was feeding the lake and it was incredible to see the geological change. The rock type was changing at a pace reserved for weather in the mountains and not the usually relaxed meandering over millions of years. We were in a band of soft crumbly white rock which had huge boulders and white sand everywhere. I could have been in Jtree or in the hills by Santa Cruz if it wasnt for the granite peaks and glacier bays. But differing terrain is the name of the game here in PAtagonia so another
This was insane. There was an absolutely glass lake that was being fed by 2 blasting waterfalls at least
We returned to the gorgeous Lago electrico in the still brilliant sunshine and once we got to the shores of the insanely colored water I had such a desire to jump in. Minutes later we found a nice spot on the beach and I went for a quick, and freezing dip in the awesome water. IT was literally swimming at the base of a glacier but it felt great to dry off in the sstrong patagonian sunshine afterward. Hands down the best swim I have ever taken.
The next day we headed straight up next to our camp about
On the left were the 3 bands of colored rocks heading to several peaks that slowly crumbled down from the sheer faces of perfect granite Cerro Fitz Roy. IT was insane, probly the most dominating rock in the world. IT is soo much bigger, more sheer, and beautiful than any rock in Patagonia (the world?). Then tumbling down from that peak was a glacier right in front of us and lake. We were standing less than a kilometer from Fitz Roy and it was surround by snow, rock and ice. But today, the only day of the 6 we were in El Chalten, there wasnt a cloud in the sky. All there was was brilliant blue, perfect white granite, white snow, and the multitude of colored rocks tumbling down to the Valley. Not a bad place to be.
This blog is already too long for my tired fingers and the fact that it has been so hard to find time and a computer that I can sit at for more than 20 minutes, but I must go on without sparing any insanity (it all is insanity).
The day after Cuadrado We hiked around to the other side of Fitz Roy away from Rio Electrico and up the Valley along the Rio Blanco. However, now there were no more cloudless calm day of el Chalten. Fitz Roy had decided to live up to its renown as having the worst weather in the world, and it did a good job. The first day after Cuadrado was ok. We went from partly cloudy to insane wind to sideways rain in a continually revolving weather wheel. We also got to see some insane things including Lago Sucia and a whole bunch of other glaciers, epic rock scrambling with 40lb packs over rivers with no other witnesses except waterfalls and glaciers. However, that night when we reached the busy campgrounds at the trail head to lago de los tres all weather hell broke loose.
We entered the heart of a 4 day storm of 40mph (or more) wind and rain for days. We had luckily got our tent set up before the drizzle went to the downpour but it lasted for days. That night was insanely loud. The rain was constantly dropping on our tent and water with nylon is exactly quiet. But that was a whisper compared to when the wind came and shook all the water out of the trees into torrents that you had to yell over to be heard 1ft away to the other side of the tent. This lasted for 24 hours or longer. The next day we slept in, moved slow, and were staying realatively dry in our tent, but shortly after noon we were getting cabin fever and put on all our rain gear, gaiters, and gloves and headed out for a walk to see what we could see. The answer was nothing. The mountains were completely cloud drenched and the rain was blowing sideways. We were able to walk for a couple hours, but with that much rain and wind not even the best goretex can keep you dry and we were completely soaked to the bone.
At this point we had to head to the tent. We were 3 hours from town and, because the atm didnt have any money, had nowhere to go. Our bus didnt leave for several days, we had enough food, but still needed to buy a little on our last day so we were camped out in a true patagonian rager with no retreat. That night, close to dawn, silence for the first time in 2 days meant that the rain had given up for a second. I had tied a clothes line and it gave us a couple hours to hang our stuff out and hopefully dry a little. After a couple hours the drizzle came back, but with less strength than the downpour. We decided we were going to see anything so we took off for the closest campsite to town, still an hour away but not 3.
So we packed up all our stuff a fast as possible and right when we made it to the other campsite the downpour resumed. As we were hurrying to put up the tent to try to keep something dry the tent pole SHATTERED right on the plastic joint which makes it impossible to fix. . Mala leche. Quickly we pulled out the ducttape and a metal pole and tried to tape it together but the tent still wasnt holding its shape. So I had to cut a whole mess of guidelines to tie from the tentfly to trees, and other stakes and after a bit we had a tent that look like a tent. WE threw all our dry stuff in the tent, our wet stuff under the vestibule and in the insane downpour decided that we werent getting any wetter so we should do our last trip to town for some supplies.
The money situation was a bit dampening. Everything was more expensive than we planned for and we had 2 more nights. So with the ATM out of money the little cash we had lead us to 2 options. We could camp in town and have a meager last 3 meals, or camp an hour outside of town in the free camp and have a more luxurious last 3 meals (box of wine anyone?). So we decided that our tent might not make it through another breakdown and set up so we decided to spend our last remaining pesos on tasty vittles. So down the mountain we slipped in the down pour towards tiny El Chalten.
An hour later we were walking through the streets completely soaked and cold and ehadedd to the bus station so we could eat lunch somewhere dry for the first time in 3 days. After shedding some layers and getting some hot tea from some fellow trekkers with teh same idea at the bus station we tried the ATM and VIOLA. MOOuuLA. It was like winning the lottery. Now that we were ganster-balling-rich-folks our soggy fruit cake didnt taste as good so we headed for a pizzaria with a heater and coffee. But first we also decided we were going to get a hostel for our last night and dry out and warm up. There is something chilling about being soaked to the bone in 40+mph winds for 3 days that makes the price of a hostel not matter. We were tired, hungry and soaked. The lady at the hostel was so sorry she didnt have a room for us when we asked while we dripped a huge puddle on the floor from our soaked clothes. But was overjoyed when we told her it was for tomorrow. We booked our room, she even gave us a discount for nothing (probly pity) and pointed us to the cheapest pizza joint in town. WE left with our spirits much higher and camped out in the pizza joint next to the heater for a couple hours and some of the best pizza ive ever had. Afterwards, bought a box of wine and walked up the hill in the mud to our tent in the dark.
What we arrived to was an insane river running through our camp and threatening to wash our backpacks our from under the vestibules, the inside of the tent was still the driest place for a couple miles but had puddles building. That is when out came the most dynamic, useful, and my favorite tool I brought on the trip: my Spoon. Megans plastic “light my fire” half spoon, half fork/knife that seem to be very popular among most backpackers, had broken a week or so before at a hostel while we were eating Polenta, POLENTA. But the entire trip I was constantly crooning over my love for my MSR super strong spoon, and, truly, it was the only shiny thing in the dark hour in the downpour of Chalten. I was able to dig an entire trench around the whole tent successfully diverting the river from under our tent into a pretty good sized creek running safely next to the shelter. And it was flowing fast. But after a tasty meal and some wine we laid back down to the sound of rain beating our tarp for the last time...
A lot more happened, but Im going to end here until I bring us to El Bolson, Wwoofing, The Futaleufu, kayaking, MORE RAIN CAMPING, and the return to cities, friends, waterfalls, and Che Guaveras hometown. Hope you all dont get too bored reading. Holla atcha.
Ciaoito
Nic and Megan
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