Hiking & Laguna de Los Tres

Well, after fifteen days in Patagonia, our first storm is upon us. 45mph winds (with stronger gusts) and rain. Which is nice, because it forces a rest day, and leaves us some time to write about our trip a little more. Along with cragging on the nearby cliffs of El Chalten, we have been busying our days by hiking around this beautiful part of Patagonia. There have been enough hikes that leave directly from the town to keep us more than occupied! The nearby and easy (1/2 hour to 45 minute) hikes of Mirador de los Condors, and Mirador de las Aguilas provide nice views of El Chalten and the massive, glacial-colored lake of Lago Viedma. Loma del Pliegue Tumbado is a quick 3-hours through the Patagonian tundra, Beech Forests, and finally through scree fields (with oceanic fossils!) up to the top of a hill overlooking Laguna Torre. When we went, it was a windy day with some weather moving in, but both the Fitz Roy and the Cerro Torre peaks remained visable for us to watch the remarkable speed and power with which the Patagonian storms can consume these grainte peaks.

Laguna De Los Tres
Localted about 12km out of town, this scenic lake lies below the towering faces of Fitz Roy and Pointcenot. For this reason, it is a popular destination for day hikers. But just seeing this place in the middle of the day wouldnt be good enough. We decided that we would like to witness the sun rising and the alpinglow on its eastern face. So that meant an early morning start (3am) from our cozy,

warm bed.

SIDE STORY: We thought we would be the only lunatics up at that crazy hour, but as we approached the trailhead and passed by the Cervesaria (a popular restaurant/bar), the place was packed to the brim with people still out partying from the night before! The Argentines dont mess around with their timetable. The streets are still quiet and still until aroun 9am. Shops dont typically open until 10am. Then everything closes for the afternoon siesta from 2pm until around 5pm. And the restaurants/bars will stay open until whenever things empty out! In fact, someone wanted to meet with us and said that they would like to get together at 7pm in the afternoon. Now, 7pm to us is very clearly in the "evening" category!

Anyways, to continue on about our hike. After starting on the trail

around 3am, the sky above us was moon-less which allowed for an absoluetly incredible view of the milkyway. More stars above our heads than Brett and I have experienced in a VERY long time, if ever. The trail isnt too tough and gains about 1000 or so feet over the 11km. We passed by several lakes that looked out onto the FitzRoy group which we could see beautifully silhouetted in the darkness. We passed through the old Poincenot Camp which was the historic base for many of the climbers who used to come to Patagonia before the town of El Chalten existed. Then we arrived at the final kilometer, and we should have known that somthing was up when we passed a sign that said "1km, 1 hour". I thought, no way. They must have made that sign for the slower hikers. But, they were right. Two steps up,

and one back down. Sure did take us one hour, just like they said.

Once we reached the top of this final hill, the Fitz Roy massif exploded into our vision. We had made it just in time for sunrise (around 5:30ish). It was a cloudless, and windless morning, absolutely perfectly still and serene for getting our first close up view of FitzRoy in all its glory. The sky changed from a deep magenta, to a lighter pink, and then lit up FitzRoy in an incredible orange, just perfect for accentuating the orange granite that we would be climbing just a few days later. Brett and I spent a good three hours hanging around by the lake, making many cups of coffee and hot cocoa as we watched the day begin.

We packed up around 9:30 and took our sweet time heading down, past the many hikers on their way up to Laguna de Los Tres. We stopped to take pictures, and micro-naps in the shade of Beech Trees as we stared at the un-tiring view of the mountains. It was a beautiful first hike in Patagonia and we would highly recommend it to any visiting the area.