We are currently on historic route 40 heading from the small hiking city of El Chalten to another hiking city named Bariloche. We spent the last several days trekking through the mountains, lakes, rivers and glaciers of El Chalten. We stayed three nights in a local hostel and the other two nights under the stars at free camp sites in the national park. Camping is not for everyone, but if you like opening your door in the morning to the sound of rushing water and views straight off the front of a postcard, it may be for you. There are so many fully present moments we have while camping and trekking. On one day, we hiked halfway to our destination and decided to stop and have a coffee with Lake Hija as our backdrop. There were no noises besides the sound of our propane. It was amazing to hear nothingness and see vastness
We have been in many incredible places in the past nine months, but spending the last couple months with nature has really been special for us. Please enjoy the following images from our stay
A cat we fell in love with. He thought he was a cheetah.
On our first night we arrived in the afternoon so we decided to take a short one hour hike to some viewpoints overlooking the whole city
Viewpoint número uno
Viewpoint numero dos- this is the entire city of El Chalten
On our second day, we took another light hike to a waterfall
Day three was the start of our real trekking through the national park. Our first destination was Cerro Torres. The climb to the tallest point (approx. 3500 meters) was not accomplished until 1975, way after all the 8000 meter tall mountains had been peaked. Hikers can only go about 1000 meters
With our full packs on, we hit the trail
The whole Fitz Roy mountain range. We will be closer soon
Cerro Torre
This was the point our camera had an unfixable lens error. Luckily, we were wise enough to bring a backup into the park. The blog continues
Our first of many glacier sitings
Getting closer to our campsite
We set up our tent next to the river, built a dining room, made a coffee and went back out to visit the most incredible glacier
Mila found a chunk of ice at our first stop
We walked around the lake to arrive at our final mirador. It was worth every step
After seeing the glacier, we went back to our tent and got poured on the entire night.
The next day we walked to the base camp for the Fitz Roy hike
A frog on the path
Our campsite for the second night. We ran into a friend who we met in Ushuaia and a friend we met in Punta Arenas. This is the great thing about Patagonia. All backpackers are going roughly in the same direction north or south so you get to see many of the same people
We set up camp and went back out to see another glacier
The view from our home for the evening. Each peak had its own cloud during sunset
We saved the highlight of our trip for the last day, a sunrise hike up a steep mountain to watch the Fitz Roy glow for the audience in attendance (a small amount of people). No light was necessary as the full-ish moon lit the way. Our friends Anna and Ben joined us
Our first view under the moonlight
Mila found this amazing spot to take a photo. We had fun here
The sun starting the show
Our whole crew
Lit up in all its glory
We stayed a while but eventually had to exit the park
The last views before our stay concluded
We will be continuing our treks through Patagonia on the Argentina side in Bariloche. We hope everyone is doing well. We can't wait to see you guys in less than three months!
-Mila and Scott
- Posted around the world from our ipad
Location:Avenida San Martin,San Carlos De Barloche,Argentina
Beard, come baaaaack!!
ReplyDeleteI had this voice in my head while reading it.
Thank you for sharing your journey.
I especially like the silhouette pictures!!
I regret to say "goodbye beard".
Tomo
I echo Tomo's pains... Bye bye most epic of beards. It's beauty would have enhanced the scenery. By the end, however, I came to like the new Richard Brandson-ish look. Your spirits/content-ness/peace mirror his bank account in size ;)
ReplyDeleteSo many of your posts make me so happy for you guys to experience all of that. This one made me sad. We've had enough. It's time for us to join you in this adventure... Comeback and get us! Seriously, we all need to find a way to live like you guys have for the rest of our lives.
This trip reminded me of Narnia! Love the crazt mountains and ice everywhere. Silhouette pics are probably in the top 10 for me (had to look at Tomo's post to spell Silhouette... so sad. Thanks for the help, Tomo).
Pat, where you at?
Have fun guys!
sorry i missed your skype yesterday. went for a twelve mile run (at least it felt like twelve; it was probably more like a mile and a half :) through contra loma. nice pics, as always, although there's something incongruous about seeing sunshine and glaciers in the same photos (you must be photoshopping that sh*t...see, and i just taught tomo how to censor a naughty word with an asterisk).
ReplyDeleteyeah, and the whole beard situation is kinda weird. you have a beard like...everywhere...and then when you're finally out in the wilderness where you're supposed to look all lumberjack-y you shave it...wtf??
p.s. the word that i was just forced to type in to prove i'm not a bot, to respond to your blog, was analry...look that one up tomo :)
ReplyDeleteMila, Scott Ryan and Patrick
ReplyDeleteHi! Tomo is back!! Although the beard don't come back.
So I stare at the photograph of Richard Brandson. I am thankful to Mr. Richard for reminding me of you.
Yes! I know that "S*it" is an American soul word.
I often hear the word in movies. For example, "Holly sh*t!!", "Bull shi*!!" and so on.
It is one of the most amazing words that has positive, negative and neutral connotations.
If someone shout "Shit!", this has bad meaning.
But "You are the shit!" is a compliment.
It's awesome! To know sh*t is to love shi*.
Unfortunately, I couldn't look up meaning of "analry".
Hello gentlemen,
ReplyDeleteYour comments are classic. We should have you guys write our blog for us. That would be a popular post. We can't wait to see you all in California soon (that includes you Tomo) Have you booked your flight to see us already? We miss you guys. Thanks for entertaining us on the road
Mila and Scott