Nine Perfect Days in Patagonia...Day 3
We slept in.
HO HO HO.
Here is where I tell you that I'm a free spirit and don't stick to a schedule and just go with the flow, but we all know that's actual bull$hit. The truth is we really did drink 40's the night before and I can't handle my booze so I slept in and forced Jorge to be an accomplice.
As was the theme in Patagonia, it all worked out.
There are so many hikes you can do right from the middle of El Chalten and luckily there was a moderate length one that took us to a viewing point for Laguna Torre.
This trail was about 7 - 8 hours and a relatively easy and rewarding hike. On our way to the viewpoint we walked through what felt like massively different landscapes: forests, valleys, pebble covered shores and open plains.
One thing that I really noticed in Patagonia was the number of very fit, senior travelers. It was inspiring to me to see what was most likely someone's grandparents, scrambling their way across rocks and brush and leaving me in their dust. There's nothing like seeing a 70 year old man with ropy ass calves body check your husband to get ahead to give you an extra spurt of energy.
This, and most hikes in Patagonia are relatively straight forward, well marked and well traveled. Because the landscape changed so often, so did the terrain and to some extent the climate. There were times I was fine in a t shirt, and times I layered on every jacket I had.
Once we arrived to Laguna Torre we were rewarded with an amazing view of the Torre massif, as well as Mount Solo and the Adela range with their glaciers. Depending on the sunlight, the lake can be bright blue/green, or grayish like it was for us since it was a little cloudy and later in the day.
One good thing about getting such a late start was we had most of this hike to ourselves, other than another American hiker we passed who was doing an epic world tour of all the major hiking areas and had just arrived from the Himalayas. He was getting dropped off by helicopter to start a hike the next day while we would just be kicking rocks like all the other mortals on the ground.
This appears mildly threatening now, but to be clear, I didn't get that vibe at the time.
This is the path that led us back to El Chalten, back to cherries being sold on the side of the road, back to fresh bread and back to our window and the possibility of malt liquor.
Need to get caught up on Day 2? Go to Day 4.
HO HO HO.
Here is where I tell you that I'm a free spirit and don't stick to a schedule and just go with the flow, but we all know that's actual bull$hit. The truth is we really did drink 40's the night before and I can't handle my booze so I slept in and forced Jorge to be an accomplice.
As was the theme in Patagonia, it all worked out.
There are so many hikes you can do right from the middle of El Chalten and luckily there was a moderate length one that took us to a viewing point for Laguna Torre.
This trail was about 7 - 8 hours and a relatively easy and rewarding hike. On our way to the viewpoint we walked through what felt like massively different landscapes: forests, valleys, pebble covered shores and open plains.
One thing that I really noticed in Patagonia was the number of very fit, senior travelers. It was inspiring to me to see what was most likely someone's grandparents, scrambling their way across rocks and brush and leaving me in their dust. There's nothing like seeing a 70 year old man with ropy ass calves body check your husband to get ahead to give you an extra spurt of energy.
This, and most hikes in Patagonia are relatively straight forward, well marked and well traveled. Because the landscape changed so often, so did the terrain and to some extent the climate. There were times I was fine in a t shirt, and times I layered on every jacket I had.
Once we arrived to Laguna Torre we were rewarded with an amazing view of the Torre massif, as well as Mount Solo and the Adela range with their glaciers. Depending on the sunlight, the lake can be bright blue/green, or grayish like it was for us since it was a little cloudy and later in the day.
One good thing about getting such a late start was we had most of this hike to ourselves, other than another American hiker we passed who was doing an epic world tour of all the major hiking areas and had just arrived from the Himalayas. He was getting dropped off by helicopter to start a hike the next day while we would just be kicking rocks like all the other mortals on the ground.
This is the path that led us back to El Chalten, back to cherries being sold on the side of the road, back to fresh bread and back to our window and the possibility of malt liquor.
Need to get caught up on Day 2? Go to Day 4.
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