Patagonia 2015 Argentina

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Inside our room, where we would spend two nights.

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From the edge of Torres del Paine Nat'l Park to the Argentine border, it is probably 50 km, then about 290 km to the city of El Calafate, so it is a fairly significant drive. But we arrived in El Calafate soon enough for some folks to take their clothes to a professional laundry. Susie elected to do ours in our hotel sink. This is the place we stayed, El Quijote Hotel. Quite nice.

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The next day was designed to focus on the Puerto Moreno glacier, which is in a separate section of Los Glacieres Nat'l Park. Had it been a nice day, I am sure it would have been lovely. But wind driven rain made for poor photographing conditions.

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The Park has installed over 2 miles of these grated steel walkways. Very nice. A lot of people were visiting the glacier, despite the weather. That is Susie in the yellow pack cover. I think Sue is right ahead of her.

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This pretty much captures the conditions.

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At the end of our short hike on the steel grating, we were treated to a wonderful lunch at this restaurant in the Park.

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Because of the size of our lunch, we opted for a very light dinner in our room. Roger visited a local grocery store, got a couple of bottles of wine, some crackers and cheese, and Sue and Andy joined us for an in-room dinner. We photographed this bottle because the wind blown tree says a lot.

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The next day, we are on the road, being shuttled to the town of El Chalten, about 225 km by road to the north. Getting around these huge lakes takes some time. But I must say, this country seems more deserted than eastern Montana or northern Nevada.

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We stopped for some lemon pie (Susie and I opted out, since we did not feel like we needed the calories) and bathrooms at this road house along the way. Do you notice the mistake in the sign? it shows Seoul closer than Tokyo by at least 3000 km. In fact, Seoul is about 600 km further away. Someone needs to get to a Great Circle route calculator.

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Butch Cassidy was reported to have hung out here. This is a poster hanging on the inside wall of the roadhouse.

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Andy getting some coffee, and other folks looking around.

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On the road again, the Argentinian Steppe looks pretty barren.

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A telephoto view of Cerro Solo. Note the flag standing straight out.

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A view thru the windshield of our bus.

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We finally reach the vicinity of El Chalten, an outpost built by the Argentinian government, beginning in 1985. They figured 500 people would live here, but in 30 years, it has grown, given the presence of the Park, to twice that number.

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We stopped at a very nice restaurant, La Tapera, for lunch. That is our new Argentinian Local Guide, Lucho, sitting next to me. Down the line is Ted, Soon, Andy, Don, and Walter. Mike is across from me.

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Susie wanted a light, vegetarian lunch. Looks very pretty.

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So, what do you do after a big, late lunch? You go out and take a hike, of course. This is, after all, a trip entitled "Hikers Patagonia". The hike was relatively short, and only climbed a few hundred feet to an overlook, but our guides wanted to get us out and get some exercise.

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I almost got blown off my feet taking this photo from the overlook of El Chalten and the valley of the Rio de Las Vueltas (on the right). That is the Rio Fitz Roy coming in from the left.

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Another view from below the overlook to the mountains, more or less hidden in the clouds.

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OK, it is time to get serious about hiking. This route, to the Mirador de la Loma, looks to be about 10 - 11 miles round trip, and crosses 16 contour lines on the map. At 50 meters per contour, that works out to be about 2600 feet of climbing. Not sure who we are waiting for here.

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After a short climb, we got to a balanced rock. Not as precarious as some of the ones we have seen in canyon country https://picasaweb.google.com/108604142685829816451/SlickhornPtLookoutBackpack2010#5476731567448333906 But still pretty precarious

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As we continue to climb, the mountains up the valley to the north begin to reveal themselves.

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And some views to the west.

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We arrived at an open spot. Basically, we are headed for the forest in the distance. We will climb thru that, then break out and head for the mirador (viewpoint) on the knob right of center.