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| Day 13: January 3, 2006 - El Chalten, Argentina |
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We had an earlier start
today on one of the classic treks in the park to
Laguna Torre. We were supposed to catch the shuttle
at 8am to El Chalten, but through a small communication
error, the driver left without us. The hostess called
him back and he turned around and came back for
us.
Gabe was waiting for us in town and took us to the
trail head. He explained that the first hour and
a half were harder with some significant steep sections
to get to El Mirador. Once there. the trail descends
into the glacial valley and then goes back up over
the moraine to the laguna.
The climb to El Mirador took us through the same
shattered forests as before. On our left we would
occasionally glimpse Rio FitzRoy. The final ascent
to mirador was a bit challenging but we were rewarded
with a nice view of the dark turquoise river and
Cerro Solo. The weather was keeping a low ceiling
and we would occasionally get sprinkled on. This
reduced what we could see, but it is weather that
is more typical of Patagonia.
We descended into the valley of Rio FitzRoy and
walked through a more exposed area on the valley
floor until we got towards the lagoon. Then the
trail went up again over a moraine and deposited
us at the d'Agostina campsite. This is a campsite
for individuals who are not traveling with a tour
operator.
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Howard and Kirsten on the trail to Lago Torre |
Lago Torre |
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Just beyond the camp is another moraine that leads
to lagoon torre. The wind was whipping down the
mountain but we found a nice spot to sit and have
lunch. We looked all around us and saw the steep
walls and turquoise waters. This lagoon is about
150 years old. Prior to that, the glacier completely
filled the area we were in - it was hard to fathom
that much ice!
On our return we walked back through the tour operator's
camp. It was packed with tents and there was a train
of horses being loaded up for a journey back to
El Chalten. In fact, on our way back we needed to
pull off the trail twice to allow supply trains
through.
We made it back to the trail head shortly after
4pm. Everyone is tired but happy that we did the
20km trek. |
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