El Chaltén

Arrived at midnight in El Chalten, a small town in the mountains of Patagonia.

Day 1: Laguna de los Tres
Woke up early because some guy in the hostel let his alarm ring for 15 minutes. But it’s ok, it got me up to hike Laguna de los Tres, aka the trail to the base of the Fitz Roy. The weather was amazing! Chilly in the early morning but warmed up as the sun illuminated the beautiful fall colours of the mountain valley. Most of the hikes here start straight from town which is amazing so you can do day hikes no problem. About 4 km uphill, then you reach a huge valley at the base of the mountains, full of beautiful forest and lakes. The fall colours are insane! Another 7km or so mostly flat, then a last steep part up to the Laguna, which sits at the base of the Fitz Roy, the biggest and most famous mountain, jutting up into the blue sky. Really loved this hike!! Incredible views, colours, landscape. On the way down I did a detour to hike along the valley and around a lake there, involving a fair bit of bushwhacking. Ended up a lot longer than I expected, and I got back to my hostel after a solid 35km hike! Holy moly my feet hurt.

Day 2: Laguna Torre
Had planned a chill day, but Mario, Svenja, Zoe and Anna got to the town and were doing the Laguna Torre hike, and Another great weather day so why not! This one was a little easier, just a bit of uphill at the beginning, then again flat through a forest valley until another lake, this one at the base of Cerro Torre, one of the other well known landmarks here. Again super beautiful! The mountains are just amazing, and it’s such a nice time of year with green, yellow, orange and red leaves everywhere. By the time we got back it was 25km and my legs dying! Then went for fries and a beer together.

Day 3: Miradores
This time somewhat more chill day, just a 7km round trip out to the Mirador de las Aguilas and Mirador de los Condores near to the town. Super nice views of the mountain range (same one you can see on the Patagonia brand logo), and the other direction over the huge Lago Viedma and Lago Argentino.

Day 4: Cascada Chorillo del Salto
Another more chill day while the others did the hike I did on Day 1. Super windy today so I just hiked a short 8km round trip to the waterfall Chorillo del Salto outside of town. Pretty nice! Some people taking selfies, nice fall colours, cold water. Tempting to jump in but wasn’t brave enough 😋

Day 5: Loma Pliegue del Tumbado
Another long hike, probably the toughest! My cheap hiking boots falling apart and my feet complaining, we made it another 25km or so in total out to an awesome viewpoint and back. A lot more elevation gain than the other hikes so my legs were burning! But really nice views over the Laguna Torre that we hiked to the other day, as well as the Fitz Roy. Also the lake and huge barren desert stretching the other direction. Awesome! Saw some huge condors aswell, really cool. Feet absolutely killing me on the way back, but made it. Happy Birthday Malina!! 🥳❤️

Day 6: Huemal Glacier
Took a shuttle out 37km to Lago del Desierto, along the bumpy dirt road that follows along further down the river valley. A beautiful drive in the sunlight, seeing the red and orange forest and the sparkling river. Then a nice easy hike up to the Huemal Glacier for some nice views of a green glacial lake and the long thin Lago del Desierto which stretches to the Chilean border. Had a little more time to walk through the forest along the lake, and then the shuttle back as the rain started to fall. Pretty exhausted! Last night in Chalten, then travel day on the 20.04 El Chalten to El Calafate by bus, then fly to Buenos Aires.

Loved it in El Chalten! Nice laid back town vibe, good food, amazing hikes right on the doorstep. Was nice to hang out awhile with some the guys I got to know a bit in Natales/Torres del Paine, so I had a nice mix of socialising and solo chilling.Read more