Living it Up in the Trekking Capital of Argentina ...

El Chalten, a small Argentine village surrounded by amazing peaks and glaciers, was our third world class hiking destination within a matter of weeks. Just like Machu Picchu and Torres del Paine, we were blown away with the sites and the experience.

We were a little worn out from being on the move since the beginning of November, so we decided to make our stop in El Chalten a 5-6 day stopover. One night was camping, and the rest of the time was spent doing day hikes and relaxing in the 70 degree, sunny weather (we were told this was completely abormal. Mountain climbers had been waiting weeks for the rain and clouds to clear up).

Below are a some of the pictures with comments from our trip to "The Trekking Capital of Argentina," in the southern Patagonia region.


Below is our first view, from the bus, of the mountain peaks so famous in this park. The tallest one on the right at just over 11,000 feet is "Fitz Roy", named after the captain of the Beagle - the famous boat of Charles Darwin in his exploration of the coast of South America, the Galapagos Islands, and other areas of the Pacific Ocean. The peak on the far left, the second tallest of the group at 10,280 feet, is called Cerro Torre.

These peaks are famous for mountain climbers because of their relatively easy access and beauty. We met one pair of Americans in our hostel who were summitting a peak while we were there.

This was a view in a glacier-fed river valley on our first day hike. Breath-taking.

Waterfall at the end of our first day hike. We just sat on a rock below the falls and soaked everything in for a while. The water was amazingly clear, and we saw trout fish skirting around. Apparently this is a world class area for trout fishing, although we didn't try any.

During another treck, we saw this big boulder perched above us. It looked like the Patagonian wind could blow it over at any moment. Chad's theory was that Wiley Coyote, from Looney Toons, had a rope attached to it and was waiting for the Road Runner to pass nearby.

Our second day hike led us several hours up to a bald point on a hill where we had the most panamoramic view of the entire group of mountains, below.

On our way back from the big view, we walked through amazing fields of yellow dandelions. It looked like a Monet painting.

Queen of the mountains. Doesn't she just look beautiful in her element?

They said the water was safe to drink straight from the river, but Chad got a little crazy and started banging sticks on the ground - apparently at nobody ;)

Our overnight trip took us very close to the base of Monte Fitz Roy. This was the base camp for mountain climbing excursions to the peaks.

In this same base camp area, we saw one of the most beautifully blue glacier lakes of our lives. We perched on a rock and watched a glacier tumble down (in its slow glacier way) off the mountains and into this pristine lake.

We were ready for a little adventure being around all of these mountain climbers, so we found a small mountain/hill to the right of the lake above to climb. It was basically all rock, although it was gradual enough with plenty of footholds, so we could make our way up without having to really rock climb. We ended up turning back before the very top, but here's a video we made for all those worried moms out there:

We're being really safe! from Chad Carson on Vimeo.

The second day of our overnight hike was beautiful. We hiked on a connector trail between the trails that lead to the two famous peaks of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, which meant that there were hardly any other hikers. We pretended that we had this awesome wilderness beauty to ourselves.

Our hike ended at this magnificent picnic spot above another glacier lake and with a crystal clear view of Cerro Torre.

We were a little spoiled with so many once in a lifetime views within such a short time. Kari, who just loves mountain views and the outdoors, was in heaven. Being in these quiet, grand places fed our souls and imaginations.