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| Day 12: January 2, 2006
- El Chalten, Argentina |
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Our activity for today
was a long hike in Glacier National Park. We met
out guide and were off a little after 9am. The Hosteria
is technically outside the park, so we hiked along
the Rio Blanco to the park limits where we picked
up the park trail.
The trail weaves along the Rio Blanco giving us
amazing views of the cerros, torres, and glaciers.
The weather was superb for Patagonia. The wind blew
constantly and sometimes gusted very hard, but there
was just blue sky and fair weather clouds above
us.
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Rio Blanco river valley |
Cerros Torre, Poincenot, and FitzRoy |
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As we walked, we went through a forest of gnarled
and shattered trees. These are the same trees we
saw elsewhere, but due to the harsher weather here,
they grew stunted and quickly fall where they die.
The winds are so strong that you can listen and
hear the trees rubbing and cracking. Many looked
like they were torqued and cracked from the base
upwards.
Another sound was occasionally heard in the forest.
It was a low long rumble like thunder, but in a
higher key. Gabriel, our guide, listened and confirmed
that it was the glaciers that we heard cracking
and moving.
After hiking there for awhile, we turned away from
the river and entered an area that used to be a
wetlands. The water has receded, so we were walking
on hard packed dirt. We still had magnificent views
of everything, just from a different angle.
We turned down a path to Lago Capri, which is a
lovely lake that is fed by the glaciers of the park.
The water is clear enough to drink and there were
several campsites in the area. Across the lake was
a magnificent view of Cerro FitzRoy and Cerro Torre
and the glaciers. We ate our lunch and enjoyed the
pristine conditions.
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Cerro and glacier from Lago Capri |
Robin and Mom at Lago Capri |
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Panoramic from Lago Capri (click on image to view larger size) |
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After lunch we turned away from the cerros and torres
and headed towards El Chalten. Along the way, we
had views of the valley that runs parallel to the
torres. It is a wide U-shaped valley in classical
glacial formation. The river at the bottom is a
turquoise green color and is clearly not at full
strength yet.
As we got closer to the city we saw more hikers
on the trail. Most seemed headed for campsites or
higher altitudes with fully loaded packs. Some of
the people Gabriel knew and he told us they were
porters for another excursion bringing supplies
up to a campsite and being ready for their guests.
We ended our trek in El Chalten proper and finished
the day with some ice cream at a local shop. |
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