Our Journey South

Over the course of the past month, we've walked more than one hundred miles through the Patagonia backcountry with our packs on. The past weeks have been filled with several treks in some of the most beautiful mountain scenery I've ever seen. 

We started our journey in Bariloche, Argentina where we visited mountain refugios and climbed up and over countless ridge lines and through incredible valleys. Next we went to El Chalten where we trekked around the famous fitz Roy skyline, enjoying the view of glacial lakes, bright blue glaciers and the crisp face of Mount Fitz Roy. After this we headed south to Calafate, joining the tourist circuit as we watched the Perito Moreno Glacier for a day- listening to it creek and moan as the entire mass slowly crept it's way toward us. Next we crossed back into the Chilean side and went to Puerto Natales, a port city- and that's really all. We took a bus north to the famous national park Torres Del Paine where we slept in a magical forest and hiked up to the lake by the Torres ("towers") for sunrise. Along with the long line of headlamps hiking up in the early morning, we watched as the sun ignited the mountain; assaulting it with color.

To round off our big 100, we finished our journey south. We took a long bus to the city of Ushuaia, Argentina. To get there we had a long day of driving and at one point got onto a big ferry boat (bus and all) to cross the Magellan Straight. Ushsuaia is the southernmost city in the world, at almost 55 degrees south. It is an island where the beautiful park of Tierra Del Fuego is located. (The name, "land of fire" comes from the sailors who discovered the island. The indigenous people didn't wear many clothes, despite the freezing cold, so they had many huge fires constantly all over the island) Our final trek took us to a snowy lake where we explored an ice cave at the base of a glaciar. We spent a night on the thick, damp moss that covers every surface possible and another night on the bank of a river next to beaver dams, with a view of the valley just starting to change colors. This was the least touristic trek we had done yet and after the first day, we had the entire park to ourselves. We slept at a beautiful blue lake the last night and journeyed over a mountain pass and down a gradual, rocky valley the next day. We returned to the city with tired but extremely satisfied legs and treated ourselves to a feast of crab and cordero (Patagonian style fire grilled lamb) before we left the cold south. 

The feeling I get when I'm hiking through the mountains is indescribable and I absolutely loved a certain moment, hiking through the pass on our last day. Although I have definitely been in bigger mountains before, the gentle giants that surrounded us made me feel so small. Joe, walking way ahead of me, looked like a tiny ant compared to the gigantic masses rising up on both sides. Maybe, I thought, this is one of the reasons am so drawn to the  mountains. Do we come here to get small? There are plenty of other things that appeal to me but I loved this feeling. I loved where we were and have really enjoyed our time of hiking through beautiful, untouched wildernesses. 

Until next time Patagonia.