Patagonia

Location:  Chilean and Argentine Patagonia

Rundown:  A couple of weeks trekking through Argentine and Chilean Patagonia!

Flew into El Calafate, Argentina from the deep south of Ushuaia.  Spent a day or two visiting the town, reminiscent of a dusty western pueblo with a boom of tourism.  The major attraction is the Perito Moreno Glacier, three miles wide, and 250 feet tall from the waterline.  From the bottom of the glacial lake it's 500 feet tall.  Yikes.  Took a boat out to check it out from close up.

Took a bus from El Calafate down to Puerto Natales, the jump-off point for Parque Nacional Torres del Paine.  By chance met up with Kevin and Matías, two photographers from the states.  Matías worked for National Geographic; he was based out of Alaska and specialized in photographing bears close up.  Miranda was in heaven.  They were renting a car to drive into the park and offered us a lift which we gladly accepted.  The guys were great fun and we learned a lot of shooting tips from them.

Ended up camping at Lago Azul, outside of the park and getting some fantastic long range sunrise shots.  Packed up our deserted camp in Lago Azul and headed out.

On the drive into the park, over hill and dale, we ran into droves of fauna!  Loads of guanacos roaming the grassy steppe.

There were even several small flocks of nandu, a tall ostrich-like bird.  But the highlight was the hunting puma I saw chase a flock of these silly birds, feathers flying, across the road, then turn hard and dive into a leafy ravine.  Spectacularly fast, no time for wheeling the camera around.

Hiked into Parque Nacional Torres del Paine.  Easy, marked trails, acceptable vertical, and no downfall.  Compared to Navarino the trails were the autostrada.  Made it to the Torres camp easily.

In the wee hours of the morning we followed in the fire-serpent line of headlight pilgrimaging up the rocky trails to the Torres to watch the sunrise.  Really beautiful, but not the same fireworks of colors that we had from 15 km away at Lago Azul.

Followed the 'W' to the Cuernos campsite.  Huge winds blew walls of spray off Lago Nordenskjold and flatted tents.  Not ours of course; it was strung up tight!







Made our way south to Las Carretas along Lago Pehoé.  Gorgeous blue and wind.  The schizophrenic weather oscillated between gorgeous sunny skies, and charcoal, pissing clouds.  Big fun.




And then we were out.  A few hours flat hike through flat grassland back to the park ranger station and a bus back to civilization.  Sort of...

Enjoyed the fruits of Puerto Natales... lots of good restaurants.  Ordered a pitcher each and were under the table before the first pint.

After our decompression we took a long bus back to Calafate in Argentina, then another to El Chaltén.  The long, straight road pointed straight to our target far in the distance:  Fitz Roy.




El Chaltén feels akin to a wild west town.  Just one main street that turns to dirt just off the drag and also on the side streets.  The whole set is beset by rolling plateau the edged by the Andes.

One of our first days we took a detour up to a series of lakes and rivers north of town with a nice couple we met from Buenos Aires.

Hiked the next day up to the base of Ftiz Roy, a towering, iconic massive that thrusts up out of the Andes.  It's stark, jagged, and gorgeous.  Spent the day slogging up the scree trails that lead to the overlook by the glacial lake.

The next couple of days we followed our noses finding great trails leading right from town, wandering the dusty streets of the pueblito, and eating good food!  Hard times.

Loved Patagonia.  See it when you can.  Until the next round, happy trails...