When things don’t go to plan-Los Cuernos

What could have been a potential big bummer turned into the best day ever. The plan for the day was for Alex (and our similarly endurance-athlete friends Kim and Laura) to do the big 12-mile hike to Mirador Los Torres and for the less ambitious, our sailing buddy Carol Cronin and I, to do one or two of the moderate/easy hikes. Kim drove to our lodge early to pick up Alex and dropped Carol so I could drive us to our destinations. After a leisurely breakfast, I can’t find the car keys and assume Alex has accidentally taken them with him. Cell service is not good in the park, so my pleas were not received. After exploring all options (there were none), the staff asked a family staying at the lodge who agreed to take us to the hike we had planned to do, Mirador Los Cuernos. We now have a lovely couple and their toddler as our Uber drivers.

After parting with our new friends, Carol & I had the most amazing hike to the Mirador (scenic lookout) - every corner with an “OMG, this is stunning!” elicited. The color of the water, this Caribbean blue-teal, juxtaposed to soaring peaks was jaw-dropping. We also passed Salto Grande, a gorgeous waterfall between two Lagos (lakes).

After completing that 2-hour hike, our next dilemma is “now what?” How do we get back to the lodge, a 40 minute drive? Carol played the role of aggressive problem solver, and soon we are in the back of a car with a lovely 30-ish couple from Berlin who speak to each other in English, as Niko is native to Chile, but Anja is Russian/German and English is their best common language. Four hours, four Miradors, and another hike later, Niko & Anja drop us off at our lodge after we exchange contact info.

I am only bummed that I missed the “Torres” view and the boat trip to the Glacier Grey (our boat trip the next day was cancelled due to weather - post coming soon on that!), but so happy that we got to at least see the glacier from afar in a sunny day and had a wonderful adventure meeting new friends.

PS: Turns out the keys were in the cabin, I just have shit for brains and did not remember him telling me that SMH!Read more