After a small 8 mile hike to Laguna Capri and Chorillo del Salto (waterfall) yesterday, it was our day to climb the famous Laguna de Los Tres, a hike that takes you as close as possible to the Fitz Roy.  It is one of the classic and unforgettable treks in Southern Patagonia. The trailhead, a stones throw from our hotel, really consists of two hikes: The first is a three-hour plus climb to a camping area called Camp Poincenot. It was a constant climb for the first hour and then we trekked through a “beach forest” that occasionally straddled the Rio de Las Vueltras River for the next couple of hours. The second part of this hike is the big challenge – especiallly for two 60+ year olds who haven’t hiked in a number of months.   What makes it so challenging is not only the very steepness of the climb (1500 vertical feet over a mile trail); but, the rocks you have to step around, the boulders you have to climb over and the gravel you have to navigate past without sliding back down the mountain.  As you are doing all this, you have to sidestep hikers coming down this very narrow trail. We were very lucky that it was a fairly cloudy day without any wind or rain.  Patagonia winds can be severe and any percipitation would have sent us sliding on the rocks.  The park ranger’s office instructed us to not attempt this section of the climb with wind or rain.   After a long, grueling hour+, we were finally at the top and handsomely rewarded with the views. The peaks of the Fitz Roy and the Laguna de los Tres (glacial lake) were absolutely dazzling and made this arduous climb well-worth every bead of sweat that fell from our foreheads.  We were ecstatic that the peaks were not covered with clouds.  After a twenty minute rest, including lunch and photos, we very carefully stepped our way down due to the uneven, precipitous terrain. With hiking poles, it was an easier effort than ascending.

We had started our climb around 9:00 a.m. and arrived back at the hotel at 5:00 – just in time for a cold Argentinean lager we both gulped down within minutes. It was a great day and we had a fabulous gourmet meal at a restaurant down the street.  Argentina certainly lives up to its reputation of having fabulous beef, lamb and Malbec. In this tiny remote village of El Chalten we have had the very best meals in all of our travels throughout South America. We are very curious how this tiny town, filled with young people staying in hostels and dining at a few pizza parlors would have such incredible food.

It is our last day in this delightful frontier town. The fabulous trekking and post-card worthy landscape makes the four plane rides we had to take to get here well worth it. We have also been blessed with great weather. We were told that it is very common to have two straight weeks of wind, rain and/or low-hanging clouds.