Trekking the Huemul Circuit and hiking Laguna Torre and Laguna De Los Tres near Chalten, Argentina!
The owner of the trekking company I was hiking with while I was in Chalten picked myself and one other person (David) up from the bus station. She gave us a quick tour of Chalten and pointed out great restaurants and delivered us to our respective hotels and gave us a start time to be at the office in the morning to begin our multi day trek around the Huemul Circuit. This 35 mile long trek around Huemul mountain is named after the Huemul, a South Andean deer. I never spotted one which was slightly disappointing. The next morning we started our Trek! My group consisted of our guide named Pablo and my hiking partners, a couple from Colorado and David. This backpacking trip was challenging but so rewarding.
One morning we had to wake up early to cross a river before the water rose. It comes straight out of the bottom of the glacier and it is literally ice cold and thigh high. Later in the day as it gets warmer, the glacier melts faster and the water can become impassable. Sandals on, we linked arms and crossed the river. I have swam in some pretty cold waters, but this was colder. My feet instantly cramped which Pablo warned us about ahead of time and he instructed us to just keep moving forward. We made it through, sat down, dried off our feet, put our boots on and started hiking uphill as quickly as possible to warm back up!
At one point, I recall a steep uphill and it was cold and extremely windy and little less than enjoyable that lasted for about five hours… I remember asking myself, “why am I doing this?” I had my answer when we crested a saddle we had been moving towards all day. I was greeted by the harshest winds and a view of a large portion of Argentina’s southern icefield with a central moraine where two glaciers collided. This was the largest landscape I can recall ever viewing in my life! In the distance, there were mountains that were off limits to the general public. Their ruggedness deemed them only fit for approved research projects.
Each evening when we made it to our camp location, it was hard to override my ‘get stuff done’ tendencies and enjoy a cup of tea before setting up a tent! It was the first time that I chilled before jumping into camp prep upon entering a chosen camp site in my entire life. And it was pretty relaxing to just take in the day for a second and warm up with hot tea.
On our last night of the pack trip, we camped along a beach. The nearby glacier calved regularly and the little shore was packed with ice of various shapes and sizes that clinked together like the most earthy wind chime when the breeze passed through.
Back in Chalten, I realized I only had one day and two hikes that I HAD to complete. The trip to Chalten would not be complete without hiking Laguna Torre and Laguna De Los Tres. I talked with that gal that ran the trekking company that I just used for my guided hike and she pointed out a route that would make both hikes doable, linking them together in a day. It would be a long day, but it was totally worth it. My bag packed to leave Chalten was checked in at the front desk of the hotel. I headed out early and met up with David at the trekking company office. He was game to tackle both these day hikes with me and we needed to catch a ride to the other end of town with another one of the trips heading out that morning. We hiked at a pretty fast pace and made it to our destination only to be greeted by clouds covering the mountains posted behind a turquoise glacier fed lake. You get what the mountains give you. I was able to make it to both the Laguna Torre and Laguna De Los Tres and with a little speed walking (and a tiny bit of running) made it to the bus station with 15 minutes to spare that evening!
The three hour bus ride back to Calafate passed quickly. One night in Calafate was followed by an uneventful bus ride to Puerto Natales, Chile! My second stamp in my passport! I was a little nervous at the border because I remember checking out of Argentina, then getting back on the bus to check into Chile with a mile or so in between the two border checkpoints. I wondered what would happen if I was denied entry. Would they just leave me on the side of the road to hitchhike back? Would I be able to take another bus? I never had to find out because they let me in without issue.
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