Our fourth Chile-Argentina border crossing would bring us to Bariloche, Argentina. Bariloche is in winds-blowing distance from the Chaiten volcano in southern Chile, the site of a recent volcanic eruption in June of 2011. The eruption (amazing pictures can be found here) wreaked havoc on the surrounding area, forcing evacuations, disrupting transportation, grounding airplanes, and dumping tons and tons of ash for hundreds of square miles. From the bus on the way to Bariloche, we could see the mounds of ash that still remained.
In Bariloche itselft, the ash had been mostly cleared away… it was a pleasant and beautiful lakeside town. We didn’t have much time to explore as we were getting ready for our trek the next day.
Registration for our trek at the National Park. They explained to us the route, and we were also told at this point that one half of the trek was closed, due to snow still on the trail, so we could only complete 3 days of the total 5 day trek.
Trek Day 1:
A 40 minute bus to 'Catedral’, the trail head for our trek
The day was tough but manageable. This is the first trek we had done with full packs (including food, tent, sleeping bags, etc.) since Nepal, so we were both a little out of shape. We wound out way through forests, along lakes and up river…
… and arrived at Refugio Frey… a welcoming, basic wood and stone structure sitting along this gorgeous mountain lake.
Our tent with a view. All the tent sites were surrounded on three sides by piles of rocks to help protect against the extreme winds. Even with this reinforcement, we had to wear our earplugs at night to drown out the noise of the tent rattling around in the big gusts. Sleeping was also made more difficult by the sun, which only fully sets at around 10pm and is back up around 4am.
The setting sun streaming through the spires above the lake.
Trek Day 2:
We woke up to another crystal clear day. When Scott went down to the lake for this picture, he startled a couple of dogs that were hunkered down in a nearby bush. We showed a little affection (and shared a bit of food) and they would end up following us for the remaining 2 days.
The day started nicely enough… a flat, green meadow…
We would go up and over this rock face for the first ascent of the day
A little time for fun in the snow for the dogs! We were catching our breath and had enough fun watching
At the of end of ascent #1, another small, emerald lake in the saddle of the mountains
Another ascent (#2) from here through more rock and snow
Finishing the second big ascent, we came around to this stunning view of snow (and ash) covered peaks, sparkling lakes and the green valley below. Our first big descent would take us allllll the way down to the valley.
Pan from the top…
This next section was unlike anything we’d encountered before (even in Nepal). It was not a “trail” in the sense that there was no well-trodden path or switchbacks to guide our way down. We were informed that there would be “steep” sections, but had absolutely no idea it would be to this extent. It was at this point that our previously pleasant trek would take an unfortunate 180 degree turn. Being able to see allllll the way down to the bottom, watching rocks crumble away from our feet and spill alllll the way down the mountain, and the fact that it was ALL scree slope (scree is loose rock, so instead of stepping, you actually slide down, not able to get a good foothold anywhere), all 3 of these factors basically made me freeze completely up. I was also not quite used to the heaviness of my pack yet, so with every step my sense of balance was gone, and the pack was basically driving me this way and that, I was no longer in control. Fear and the weight of my pack combined, I was no longer able to tackle this section safely. Luckily, Scott recognized in my voice and in my actions that I was having a frightful time, and came in and literally saved the day. He would take my pack about 100 yards down, come back up, grab his pack, and take it down as well. All this while I was attempting just to get myself down this steep mountain. Then, he would do it again….and again….and again…..all in all, on this descent (and yes, there would be another unfortunate descent before the day was out) he took both of our bags down basically 3/4 of the way, at least a full mile down the mountain.
Scott and the dogs carefully making their way down the mountain.
Back in the valley, we could refill our water bottles in the stream… much needed after the many tough hours in the sun already today. No need to purify our water here in Patagonia so we could drink to our stomachs’ content!
Hiking through the valley….this is definitely more our speed.
From the valley, after traversing around to another part of the mountain range, it would be another BIG ascent (#3) to this vantage point. At the top, our normal route over the mountain was covered by snow, so we had to basically lift ourselves up and over huge boulders that would cover the only other path up. At this point though, we were relieved to have all the big climbs for the day behind us… but not so relieved to see how far we had to go back DOWN to get to our campsite next to the lake wayyy in the distance. By this time in the afternoon, the big winds were back and kicking up quite a bit of ash. We actually welcomed this as it provided some cover from the blaring sun and were otherwise too exhausted to be disappointed by the spoiled views. In fact, it was surreal… to be able to actually STARE AT THE SUN, through the thick, airborne ash… as comfortably as if it were the moon (picture below).
Another rocky, scree-filled decent to our campsite by the lake. Scott would again have to cover about 3/4 of this descent carrying both of our packs down.
The SUN…..
Despite telling ourselves all day that “we had plenty of time… it stays light out until 10pm”, we managed to roll into camp after 10pm, utterly exhausted (we started about about 9am that morning). As we had already booked a bus for the day after tomorrow, we could not spare a ‘rest day’ and would have to be up and out early the next day. We made some rice (gave some to the dogs), and as soon as the tent was up, went straight to bed.
Trek Day 3:
We had no idea what was in store for us today, but could only hope that all big ascents and descents were done with. As we strolled leisurely through forests, with some small climbs in there, we were very pleased that this would seem to be an “easy” day. The only thing that would take a toll on us this day was the blaring sun, which was easily avoided by finding some nice shady spots by the river, which we would walk right next to all the way out of the park.
After about 8 hours, we would finally find our bus back to Bariloche. We said goodbye to our traveling pals, and made it back into town about 7pm. But as mentioned previously, we had no time for rest, as we would be leaving at 6am the next morning for our long-dreaded 2 day bus to El Chalten down Ruta 40 (which actually turned out to be quite nice, details to come in the next post).
All of this probably sounds pretty awful, and at the time it really was…..it was absolutely dreadful. :-) But now, looking back on everything, we can definitely laugh about it. Plus, we learned to look more closely at the elevations on our topographical maps of upcoming treks. And Scott came out of this with husband of the decade award as well, so he can’t complain either… ;-)
Next stop: El Chalten for the Fitz Roy trek!
