El Chalten - Good Morning Fitz Roy

After an exhausting but beautiful day yesterday, we, of course, went to bed relatively early to recover. However, since the weather forecast for the following day was also for a gorgeous one, I decided to get 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 or something to get to Mirador Condor, which, luckily, was only a short 20 minute walk away and a short 15 minute hike up. I could definitely feel my legs aching as I was walking through town towards the starting point of the hike. 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. I felt I was starting to win the day already.

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 cool shots before waiting for the sun to rise behind me to shine upon Fitz Roy in front of me in the distance. 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 a more orange-y. It really was a beautiful sight to see as the world underneath and in front of me was starting to change its colour from a cold blue to a warmer yellow/orange.

I lingered there for quite a while, taking in the beautiful view, and capturing the orange-y mountains with some cool snaps. I wished that 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.

Just before 7.20am I started to make my way back in order to avoid paying the park fees that, even for a 15 minute short hike like that, would've still been $45. Absolutely ridiculous!

For the rest of the day, I took it easy and caught up on some life admin stuff and planned the next few days, 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 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