We took a bus from Calafate across the border to Puerto Natales, Chile where we bought food for a week-long hike in Torres del Paine National Park. After getting off the bus at the park, we spotted this guanaco up on the hillside, which we hoped this was a good omen for the hike.
The hike was a circuit that started with this view of the mountains we would spend a week hiking around. The granite towers on the right are the famous Torres del Paine.
On our second day we were priveldged to spend a few minutes watching two male Megellanic woodpeckers, which are very distinct with their red crowns. We had seen two females a few months ago.
The second and third days of our hike were rainy but we were walking around the less scenic side of the mountains so it was okay. We enjoyed walking along the Rio Paine and were grateful for excellent shelter from the rain provided by the lenga forests. We were very happy when the clouds began to clear the third day and we got a glimpse back at this lake we had camped at the night before. The huge glacier that is barely visible had been completely hidden from view before.
In a wet area of the forest near some waterfalls Dan, with his trained eyes, spotted these orchids. They had just finished blooming so fall must be on its way. Maybe we will have to return next spring to witness the full bloom.
A typical scene from the rainy days of the hike, which often included careful navigation from stick to stick to rock through the deep mud. A true test of balance and gear.
We hiked up to Gardner Pass, the highest point of the circuit. It was very windy at the top!
At the top of the pass we gained this beautiful view of the Glacier Grey, which is part of the larger Hielo del Sur ice sheet which covers much of southern Patagonia. Though hard to capture with a camera, the panoramic view from above was our favorite scene of the trip so far.
Here we are in front of the glacier, with two nunataks behind us. On the other side of the nunataks is a large grey lake where the strong Patagonian winds blow huge icebergs across the water.
We really liked the deep blue color of the ice exposed by calving at the edge of the glacier. We walked along the side of the glacier for over a day, and camped above it on night four.
The long morning shadows on the glacier show the jagged nature of the peaks behind us.
The slope between the peaks and valley glacier were very steep. In several places, water has cut deep ravines through the lateral moraines and/or shale bedrock.... these required ladders to cross. Bets did not enjoy the cold metal ladders with a 35 lb pack.
We spent the night at Paine Grande, which is a hotel that has been built along the trail- a boat ferries people to this hotel, leading to crowded trails and campsites but a few luxeries we did enjoy, including a beer each that night!
The next day we hiked toward these awesome mountains, for which the park is famous. This part of the trail was better maintained, with boardwalks, another perk of the crowds. The wind was fierce that day, as Bets took this photo, her packcover was blown off her backpack!
We camped at the base of the valley and in the afternoon, hiked up Valle Frances to see this beautiful view.
The unique black-capped mountains were caused by a large granitic pluton that was emplaced into these Jurassic seds. We really enjoyed seeing the dikes at the edges of the intrusion, as shown here.
A neat photos showing glaciers coming off or and capping the 3000 m tall mountain Paine Grande.
A beautiful rocky beach along Lago Nordenskjold. The trail followed the edge of this lake for a ways.
A flycatcher we saw along the trail. A few days later, we watched some of these birds catching moths and butterflies as we ate breakfast.
Here´s Dan basking in the sun after a lunchtime dip in this lake. When the sun was out and there was no wind, it was very hot!
The last day of our hike we woke at 6 am to begin walking uphill through Valle Ascencio to a famous viewpoint. Here we are just as the sun came up around 7:45. Don´t you love the long-johns and shorts combo we both were sporting? (Someone stole Dan´s pants off the clothesline during this hike).
Bets with the Torres del Paine in the background.
We had this beautiful view to ourselves after a long 2.5 hr (900 m) walk uphill! We especially enjoyed eating some hardboiled eggs and cookies for breakfast while we watched a huge condor perched high on the peak above us.
We returned from the hike for a night in Puerto Natales and then took a bus to Punta Arenas. Our first night in this surprisingly large city, we went out for dinner. The restaurant we chose had a sign out front for that said Gyros Pizza and had a large labeled photo of Shawarma. We were fooled to think this might be a Mediterranean restaurant, and went in. Of course, it was not.... it was a pizza and burger joint. Well, Dan asked the waiter to reccommend the best thing on the menu. The guy told us Camorra pizza. Hmm... bad chicken AND bad maize on one pizza?! We went with cheese instead.
We spent two nights in Punta Arenas at a nice hostel, which we were lucky to find as the night we arrived, each of the twenty others we tried were full. We decided to walk to the large duty-free shopping area at the edge of town- despite there being so many tourists in town, this seemed to be the only thing to do. We saw an ag fair on the way, and stopped in. The whole event was focused around sheep, some of which were absolutely enormous. Here are some prize-winning sheep.
We took a bus from Punta Arenas to Rio Grande, Argentina. Rio Grande is famous for having a river (the Rio Grande) with huge sea-run brown trout. You basically have to be a millionare to fish the Rio Grande though, because you have to pay to stay on a private ranch, plus buy a special license. We decided to try our luck at other nearby fishing spots where the fish were apparently a bit smaller, but still very large. We rented a car and spent two nights in the little town of Tolhuin at this awesome cabana overlooking the large Lago Fagnano.
We spent one day fishing the Rio Ewan Sur, a small river that winds through the open Argentine steppe. It was a fun experience to be fishing near guanacos!
Dan caught the only fish of the day, a little brown trout. Disappointing!
We spent another day fishing a laguna adjacent to Lago Fagnano where the fish were rumored to be 10+ kg. Unfortunately we didn´t catch any. This photo was from sunrise over the laguna. We had to scrape ice off the windshield of the car to drove down the road to this fishing spot.
Here´s Bets at the end of two days without catching a fish. The wind was relentless here on the edge of Lago Fagnano, and we fished all day in hats and down jackets. The leaves are starting to change colors and on our drive to Ushuaia yesterday, it snowed. We are heading further south into Chile once more to Isle Navarino, across the Beagle Channel from Ushuaia. Brrrr!!!
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