El Chalten: A hiking town

After all the glacial excitement from Perito Moreno, we had to get up early the next day because we were on the move again. This time it was a couple hours up north to the small town of El Chalten (town is being generous). The area is known for it's hiking and the town is really built around supporting that with the majority of the buildings being hostels/hotels and restaurants. The cool thing about El Chalten was the trail heads were right in town so you didn't need to worry about any sort of transportation other than your feet. It was to be our home for the next three nights. 

Our home in El Chalten. Our neighbor was a horse.

The town from the Laguna Torre trailhead

The nice thing about this place was that before the bus even dropped you off at the station, they stopped at the welcome center where everyone got a trail map and a quick rundown of the park rules.

It was a short bus ride so we decided to hit the trails that afternoon. We decided to head up to Laguna Torre in hopes to see some views of Cerro Torre. It was a 5 hour round trip but when it stays light until well after 9pm, it's easy to leave for a hike at 3pm. 

On our way to the lake.

All the water in the park was drinkable!

The hike itself was a nice stroll. There was a bit of an uphill to start (the trailhead was only 2 blocks from our place!) After hiking into the valley it appeared the weather didn't quite want to cooperate with us. The hike was fine but the clouds over the mountains didn't quite reveal Cerro Torre to us!

Panorama of the lake. You can see the blue skies disappear behind clouds just over Cerro Torre.

"No Photo!" is most likely what the fox says.

By the time we finally made the lake, the sun was out and blue skies were abundant. Except directly behind the lake. Still we had a great time. This was also the location of our first wildlife sighting. A fox! We tried to ask, What does the fox say?, but it ran away before we got the chance. We headed back satisfied and had another home-cooked meal of pasta and sauce and prepped for our hike the next day.

Fitz Roy!

The next day, we were up early as we wanted to get underway on the most famous hike in the area, Mount Fitz Roy. To catch a glimpse, we were going to hike up to Laguna Los Tres. With the traditional Patagonian weather of wind and always a chance of rain, we held out an hour in the morning to see if it was going to clear up (as we also had the next day available to hike there as well). We were satisfied with the weather and set off. It was a 10km one way hike so we had our work cut out for us.

Our destination

The first 3km was pretty much all uphill at a gradual pace to get to the base elevation. After that the next 6km was fairly flat and flew by quickly. At 9km, there was also a campsite so we stopped there to get out of the wind and have some lunch before attempting the last 1km.

Up we go!

The last 1km at Fitz Roy is the most challenging. It's a lot of scrambling while gaining over 1300 feet in elevation. The map estimated the last kilometer would take an hour! It was a brutal part of the hike but we managed to pull it off and boy were we rewarded. The clouds opened up on our final approach and the what a sight we were able to see. Over 11,000 feet, it's not the tallest peak around, but it dominates the surrounding landscape and sits over another beautiful, milky blue lake. Only this one had a surprise for us in that if you walked around the left side of the first lake there was actually a second lake! 

Panorama from the first lake. The second if to the left under the snow/ice.

Fitz Roy in all it's beauty

Towering over the landscape

The second lake.
There was a waterfall from the first lake on the other side of the closest rock.

Proof we made it!

We stayed up there for about an hour taking it all in before we decided it was time to start heading back. The approaching gray clouds may have also helped in that decision. We made it back into town and to celebrate our hike, we stopped for a hearty meal at Don Guerro. Meat was on the agenda as Jess had a nice big steak and I had their version of poutine sans gravy with Chorizo, potatos, and onions covered in two fried eggs. It hit the spot and we made it back to our place tired and satisfied!

Fitz Roy completion meal! Fried Provolone, poutine sans gravy and steak!

After two days of hiking, we were planning for a rest day and the weather cooperated! It was rainy and windy all day long. Not just a gentle breeze, but a downtown Chicago breeze. We saw a guy on a skateboard going backwards just by using his sweatshirt as a sail! The only place we managed to make it to was La Wafleria for some brunch. It was a tasty place and also very crowded.

Chorillo del Salto

So many veggies!

Our last day in El Chalten, we settled on a relatively easy hike to pass the time before we took an evening bus back to El Calafate on our way to Puerto Natales. Chorillo del Salto was only a 3km hike to a solid waterfall where we had some lunch and relaxed before heading back to town. On our way back to the bus station we stopped off at La Cerveceria. Since the sun was out, we relaxed and had some beer and the most impressive veggie pizza I've ever seen! It had broccoli and a whole heap of carrots on it. After our pizza, we hopped on the bus back to El Calafate and said goodbye to some amazing hiking in El Chalten.

-nick