El Chalten is a small town whose main industry is tourism. It is the self proclaimed trekking capital of Argentina. The majority of the treks start and end in El Chalten, therefore making all of the hikes into Parque Nacional Los Glaciares very accessible. Sandy, Anna (a friend that I met in Bariloche) and I decided to link a bunch of day hikes into a 4 day trek. We prepared in an afternoon and then took off the next morning for 4 days. The days were quite a bit shorter than on the ¨W¨ so Sandy I found it quite a bit easier. Every day we did a side trip to see a mirador of some sort.
The first day we hiked 2 hours to our camp, set up and headed up a mountain side (without our packs!!) to get a good view of the valley. I have come to a conclusion that Argentineans don’t like switch backs. Almost all of their hikes go STRAIGHT up the mountain - and this side trip was a perfect example. We didn’t end up going all the way up the mountain because of strong winds and driving rain. We hid in a rock shelter for a little while and then decided to head back down since the weather didn’t look like it was getting any better. We ended up being back at camp pretty early and played cards for a couple of hour before dinner. We also played with the camp kitten that really enjoyed hiding in our tent.
The second day we hike 4 hours to our next camp. The trail wasn´t well marked and it took us much longer than expected (it was only supposed to be a 2 to 3 hour hike). The unmarked trail involved some sketchy bouldering and a stopped and looking for the next trail marker. We also took a side trip along our way to view a laguna and glacier. Once we got to our camp we set up the tent and took another side trip to get a better view of Monte Fitz Roy (altitude 3, 375m) a very beautiful and well known mountain. After having spend some time at the mirador we headed back down for an early dinner and an early bedtime.
On day 3 we started our day with a side trip to view Fitz Roy from a different angle. We followed a river up to a laguna and glacier below Fitz Roy. It was quite a bit of scrambling to get there but lots of fun! We then took down camp and hiked 3 hours to our last camp. It was a very nice, open campsite with a river running right beside it. It was kind of loud (but it turned out kind of handy to block out noise from some noisy neighbors).
On day 4 we did a side trip to view Cerro Torre and a glacier below it. We ended up sitting and watching for view for a long time. We then packed up camp and hike back to town.
Overall the hike was not nearly as spectacular as the ¨W¨ but it was nice to be outside nonetheless. We all agreed that a lot of the trails were not well marked and the nacional park was not well mentioned. We stil have a great view of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. We also came to the conclusion that El Chalten is the trekking capital for people who dont normally trek and don´t need experience and can sleep in a hostal every night and can wear jeans and inadequate footwear hiking, and and and...
After the trek Sandy and I headed back to Bariloche and Anna continued her way south to do Torres del Paine. I had three days in Bariloche before Sandy and I parted ways (tear..) Sandy stayed in Bariloche to do another week of Spanish school and I went off to Mendoza to meet my boyfriend Liam.
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