Trekking Around Bariloche

Hello family and friends,

We have finally finished our approximately two month long journey through the mountains of Patagonia and we saved our most challenging trek for the end. We left El Chalten for a twelve hour bus ride to a city called Perito Moreno. There, we stayed one night waiting for our next twelve hour bus that would take us to the seven lakes district of Bariloche. The bus ride was pretty pleasant and we even had a guide on board to keep us entertained. Midway through the second leg of our journey, we saw a truck full of sheep stuck on the side of the road. When you are on route 40 through Argentina, you might be one of two cars that passes each hour. Luckily for the sheep and the driver, our bus came to the rescue and pulled them to safety. They all seemed pleased




Look at those happy sheep stacked on top of each other




The city of Bariloche itself is exceptionally beautiful. It has been made famous for its lakes, mountains, beer, and chocolate (four of our favorite things). We spent the first couple of days getting acquainted with the city and gearing up for entrance into Nahui Huapi National Park. Sorry for the lack of pictures of the city. We kept forgetting our camera













We also hit a couple of chocolaterias. This is a recreation of a picture from our Belgium post







After we had our fill of the city and chocolate, it was time to start our trek. We registered for a four day, three night trek, but weather would soon throw a wrench in our plans, please stay tuned

The ranger told us day one would be a walk in the park, pun intended. It was not. We thought to ourselves, if this is considered easy, then what will the next days of medium and hard hikes be like... Day one was easy. Everything is relative. We began our journey bright eyed and bushy tailed at Lago Gutierrez




We took a detour on the first day to a "beach," and decided it was prime location to fire up a coffee










Mila hiking through the forrest




A shelter to rest before the ascent to our first campsite







Near the top




Soon after, we arrived at Refugio Frey, a popular spot for climbers. On the day we stayed, an Argentinian military group was training on the mountains. The campsites were very crowded but we still managed to find a nice spot by the lake

Refugio Frey







Mila's campsite creations- she has become quite adept at mixing all our ingredients into one pot and turning them in to a tasty treat




We spent one night and continued our journey early the next day. This was the start of our hike/ climb up our first giant mountain of the day







A lake halfway up the first ascent. We would next be climbing over that mountain in the back with over 40 pound packs on







The way up was a bit technical and challenging but the downward portions were much more intense. This picture was taken from the peak of the first mountain (where's Mila?). We had to climb straight down all the way to the valley below. It was more like sliding than hiking




We finally made it to the bottom only to realize we would have to go up and over another mountain the same size

Newlywed rocks at the rock alter




The last part of the climb to the top of the second mountain was a bit scary but we eventually made it up and got an incredible view of our campsite at Refugio Jakob




Views from the peak of the second mountain










After sliding down our second descent of the day, we arrived at the beautiful lake under clear skies with the Refugio waiting for us in the distance. We will jump ahead a moment to show you the scene twelve hours later. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas







When we got to the campsite it started to rain pretty hard so we hung out in the Refugio for a while. It wasn't until we woke up in the morning that we realized what had happened during the night.










We waited for a loll in the snow and decided to head back to the city










By the time we made it out of the park, the snow was gone, the sun was out and the birds were chirping. This will be a trek we will not soon forget, but we were happy to have a private room with a heater when we got out of the park. We are now on our way to Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina and home to the largest peak outside of Asia, Aconcagua. We will see you all next time as we continue our adventures.

-Mila and Scott


- Posted around the world from our iPad

Location:Calle Corrientes,Mendoza,Argentina