El Chalten - Good Morning Fitz Roy

After an exhausting but beautiful day, we went to bed early to recover. However, since the weather forecast for the following day was good, I got up early for sunrise. I had heard that when the early morning sun shines upon the Fitz Roy mountain range, the colour of the mountains becomes an intense orange. Of course, I had to see that for myself. I could not convince dad to get up that early, unfortunately.

So, even though I had a tough day before, I woke up at 4.30am to get to Mirador Condor, which was only a short 35 minute walk away. I could definitely feel my legs aching as I was walking through town. I have to say, though, that walking through town in the very early morning, with the crisp air and quiet streets was a nice start to the day.

Anyway, the hike to the top of Mirador Condor was an easy 15 minutes slightly up and not difficult at all. Once at the top, I set up my tripod to get some beautiful shots before waiting for the sun to rise behind me to shine upon Fitz Roy in front of me. There were maybe a total of 10 people up there, which made it a peaceful atmosphere.

I didn't have to wait long before the first rays of sunshine appeared. And just as ordered, once they became just a touch more intense, the mountain range started to change its colour into orange-y. It was a beautiful sight.

I lingered there for quite a while, taking in the beautiful view, and capturing the orange-y mountains. I wished dad was here as well to see Fitz Roy early in the morning with that colour, but I guess he deserved a bit of a rest after the long hike the day before.

For the rest of the day, I took it easy, while dad decided to check out a nearby waterfall. We also explored the town, had a drink, met a guy that I had met in Uruguay on a walking tour, and went to the visitor centre a little bit to get a recommendation for a beautiful hike that we would do the following day.

So, I guess, everyone did their little hike that day at a very relaxed pace. I think those things are called 'active recovery'. I definitely was still a bit exhausted from the prior day, but since the weather forecast for in two days looked unpromising, we tried to make the most out of the days with sunshine. So far, we were quite lucky, which made our stay in El Chalten a really great one. I also thought this was what dad had in mind when he thought of flying to the end of the world to see, hike and experience Patagonia. While not everything was perfectly planned in hindsight, we definitely had a fantastic time together exploring all those different treks and hikes!Read more