On Tuesday we had planned to do one of the most popular hikes in the area, to Lago Torre. As almost an afterthought I looked up the weather in the morning, and saw that the next day was supposed to be the best weather of the week. Everyone recommends doing the biggest trek, to Lago de los Tres, on the best weather day, so I suggested a last minute change of plans to take Tuesday off and hike Wednesday instead, since we had enough time that we didn’t need to hike on consecutive days. Creed agreed, so we lounged around, though he also looked at the weather and saw a different forecast, that it would actually be rainy on Wednesday. I didn’t want to believe it, and I convinced myself that we’d already waited too long and shouldn’t start the Lago Torre trek at that point in the day, so we didn’t. By late afternoon I was very much doubting myself, and suggested doing another short trail so that the day wasn’t completely wasted, but we decided if we really were doing the big hike the next day then resting up was better. We set our alarms for 5am Wednesday morning and… woke up to rain. We’re staying in very basic accommodation, it’s pretty much a shed made of corrugated iron, so the rain was very loud and obvious. I looked again at the weather, and at another weather service, and realised that my original weather app had put me in a different town in the region. It still said it would be sunny all day, but clearly that was not the case, and Creed’s original suggestion of bad weather was correct. So, we didn’t go. Based on the correct weather forecast, Thursday was supposed to be even more rainy. Cue the regret for not sticking with our original plan of hiking on Tuesday, and wasting what had been a very nice day. I had also woken up with a blocked nose that had worsened throughout the day until I was sniffing and sneezing nonstop. Feeling rough meant it was probably a good thing I wasn’t hiking, but it added to the regret of not hiking the day before when I had felt fine. By around 4pm the clouds started to part, so we decided to a short hike to the Mirador de los Condores. There were no condors, and it did try to rain on us again, but it was a nice trail with more good views of town, the river, and in the opposite direction Lake Viedma.

Thursday was absolutely more rainy than Wednesday. We headed out to get more food at around lunch time, and were caught in horrible cold rain and strong winds, and were very glad not to be hiking. I was also blowing my nose approximately every 7 seconds thanks to the worst cold I’ve had in years. We waited out the day, but by Friday we knew it was now or never. We’d planned to spend a week in El Chalten, doing 2 or possibly 3 big hikes and a couple of shorter ones in between on the off days. We’d arrived and immediately had 3 off days, leaving us only 3 full days to fit in the 2 or 3 big hikes. We prioritised the biggest one, Laguna de los Tres, with its view of Mount Fitzroy, the highest peak in the area. We headed off early at about 5.20am, as we had a 2k walk before we even got to the trailhead. There were plenty of others starting at the same time, and the trail only got busier as the day went on. The first stop was Mirador Fitzroy, with views of the whole mountain range, the same view that inspired the Patagonia clothing brand’s logo. There were only a few clouds hugging the mountaintops, and after this point there was not a cloud in sight, the weather was perfect. From there the trail was mostly flat, until a final very steep 400m ascent in only 1.5km distance. The trail was absolutely packed, especially by the time we got to the final climb. It’s the most popular trail, and I imagine many others had intended to go on the previous 2 days but been rained out and so everyone was out today. It’s always disappointing to feel like you’re on a conveyor belt at busy tourist sites, though, especially in nature. The lake at the top was absolutely stunning, and we stayed here for around an hour, walking to various viewpoints and enjoying the reflection of the peaks in the bright blue water. Thankfully it was a large area, so the hundreds of other people also enjoying the views weren’t too much of an issue.

After descending the very steep portion it was around 2pm, and Creed suggested the possibility of combining this trail and the one to Laguna Torre. This would add around 13km to our day, but would mean we could have a day off before doing the third big hike. It was a lot of distance to add, but would be mostly flat, and slightly made up for the lost time at the beginning of the week (at this point I was having more regrets about skipping the hike on Tuesday, which would’ve meant this wasn’t necessary). We flip flopped back and forth on the decision as we always do, and the longer we thought about it the less time we had for hiking. In the end we went for it. We veered off from the main trail and immediately had the place to ourselves, walking alongside Mother Lake with its many green and blue hues, and then crystal clear Daughter Lake. Next came a forested section, before we joined the main trail to Torre Lagoon. It was late in the day by this point, but there were still others on this trail. The last 3km to the top of this one felt much longer than 3km, but we were rewarded with a view of the laguna sparkling in the evening sun, with ice bergs floating in the water and the most incredible peaks of the day forming the backdrop. We didn’t stay too long here as we still had 9km to hike back to town. Amazingly our legs were fine, it was just our feet that were hurting, and mostly because we do not have appropriate hiking shoes. We made our way slowly but surely, finally arriving back at the hotel in time to devour some ravioli and quesadillas. Our final score was 37km walked, leaving at 5.20am and returning just before 10pm.

On Saturday of course we rested. We were again indecisive with what to do for our last day. The third big hike that everyone recommends gives similar views to everything we’d seen so far, and was potentially going to cost us $45 – I’d arrived thinking we’d need the $90 3-day pass to do all the planned hikes, but we’d manage to skip this by starting so early and finishing so late and combining 2 hikes on our enormous hiking day, so while $90 for 3 seemed somewhat reasonable, $45 for the least good of the 3 was less so. An alternative was to drive 35km out of town to Lago del Desierto, for a shorter hike but with some different scenery, and a very scenic drive there and back as well. We decided to go for this option (which may have meant that doing 3 consecutive days would have been fine, because the third day would have been much less intense, but I was trying to stop regretting things). The drive was indeed incredibly scenic, possibly one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever done. The hike was short and shaded, and at the top was a lake with the most amazing blue colour – I feel like I’m saying that a lot but this one was the best of them all, it actually surprised me how blue it was. A second lake in this area was also beautiful, and almost enticed me to go for a swim, though I’m sure it would have been freezing cold.

I spent a lot of time throughout the week second guessing my decisions, wishing I hadn’t made certain plans, and regretting things that weren’t worth regretting. The beautiful drive changed my attitude. I had spent the week surrounded by the most amazing nature, I’d hiked to every viewpoint that I wanted to, and in 5 years time I’ll only remember that, and not my bouts of negativity. Overall I’d had a great experience of El Chalten, and Argentinian Patagonia.

Thanks for following along on my crazy adventures!