Hello! I am in beautiful Bariloche on the shores of the huge, deep blue
Lago Nahuel Huapi in the Lakes District of Argentina!
On the
morning of 2/22, I took a bus from Puerto Montt, Chile. The road we
took brought us up through the dense westside rainforest of the Andes
and across the Argentinian border to the drier eastside. Right after
crossing in Argentina, we continued ascending and eventually drove into
the clouds- the visibility was so poor that I could barely even see the
trees on the side of the road. But once we started dropping onto the
other side, the forest got drier, the clouds got thinner and the
mountains got
more rocky and rugged. Eventually there was sun and I could see more
clear stony rivers and then Lago Nahuel Huapi! The mountains here don´t
have nearly as many glaciers as those farther south so the lakes here
are a clear blue like the Caribbean! So pretty! And eventually the
forest gave way to what looked exactly like ponderosa and lodgepole
pines, douglas firs and cedars! There were even lupine and yarrow in
the ditch on the side of the highway. As we neared the first town on
the Argentine side, there were suddenly all these cute little cabins and
cottages with aritechture just like the National Park lodges at home.
There were lots of flowers and lots of gardens and it felt like home!
Everything is really touristy here, but then again, I am one of those so
it´s not so bad. We passed through little alpine looking villages,
around the edge of the lake and finally arrived in Bariloche after 7
hours
of bus time. After checking into my hostel (which is awesome), I
wandered around town looking for groceries and what not. There is a
natural foods store here which I was really excited about (whole wheat
bread and dried fruit in bulk and cookies that don´t have 5 million
ingredients!). The grocery store here also seems to have a much bigger
produce section so I made a huge veggie meal at the hostel for dinner.
After dinner, I decided to wander some more and found four craft fairs
(and bought ANOTHER pair of earings) with everything from jewelry to
clocks to chocolate. The chocolate here is DELICIOUS and really cheap.
So I munched on some of that and just strolled around the main streets
for a few hours.
On the morning of 2/23, I got up early and took
the early bus out to Bahía Lopez the lake. The bus passed through
fragrant pine and fir forests and to the tiny settlement of Colonia
Suiza with cute
little timber buildings, a tiny town farm, dirt roads and lots of
friendly people. One Grandma came out to the bus to get her morning
paper from the driver and gave him a loaf of fresh baked bread in
exchange! I got off the bus at the hotel at Bahía Lopez for a short
hike to a viewpoint on a peninsula. It was really nice, except I was
abosolutely terrified the whole time because there were millions of bees
everywhere (they were yellow jackets and I HATE yellow jackets,
chaquetas amarillas in Spanish). They were above me, below me, buzzing
my face, flying between my legs and generally making such a loud buzzing
noise that there must have been hundreds of nests along the trail- I
have NEVER seen this many bees in my life. I almost turned around about
15 times, but they aren´t aggressive at all here so I persevered. The
view was really nice at the top- one part of the lake ending in a ring
of rocky, forested mountains,
and the other side extending out for miles to another, higher range in
the distance. I walked along the beach for part of the way back to
avoid the bees. Next, I walked along the road for a ways to a trail
through the bamboo forest tovLago Escondido- a marshy little lake with
an amazing reflection of a rocky peak and the surrounding forest.
After eating lunch at the viewpoint, I continued on to a trail to Llao
Llao, a resort on a peninsula with beautiful views up to the surrounding
peaks and across the lakes and with lots of lupine and douglas firs
growing around the golf course. The lodge reminded me a lot of Paradise
lodge at Mt. Rainier- big timbers in the interior and a big lobby with
really high, timber ceilings. I didn´t walk around in the lodge for
long since it was really fancy and I was dusty, sweaty and smelled like
sunscreen. I caught a bus from the bottom parking lot to Cerro
Campanario, a touristy little peak where those that don´t want to hike
up the steep, dusty trail can instead ride a chairlift (or aerosilla in
spanish, literally "airchair") to the top. I hiked cause I´m cheap.
The views from the top were spectacular...360 degrees over the lakes to
all the mountains and east to Bariloche. There were cedars and doug
firs up there too! I spent awhile on the top enjoying the view and
watching the people attempt to get back on the chairlift to get down
(most people up there had clearly never skied before!). After my hike
down, I caught a bus back into town.
On the morning of 2/24, I caught a morning bus to the little ski village
Villa Catedral to begin my 3 day trek. Again, there was a chairlift I
could have taken to the top to cut off some hiking, but it was kinda
expensive so I opted to walk. The guys at the information booth gave me
a ski trail map and I hiked up three ski runs probably at least 3500
vertical! Luckily I didn´t have to hike right under the lift that
everyone was riding, but was able to follow some mountain biking trails
through fields of wildflowers (Mom has some of the flowers in the
garden, but I can´t think of their name right now) and short stretches
of shady lenga forest. And the views were amazing! Out over the water
to far off mountains in Chile I think! About 3/4 of the way up, I did
have to switchback up right under a lift, but it was closed for the
season so there was no one around. The ski resort actually looked
really good- the upper parts were lots of chutes and cliffs on side side
and big open bowls on the other. The lower parts were lots of steep
runs and tree skiing. I joined the main trail at the top of the tourist
chairlift and continued on to a pass at the ski area boundary. From
the pass you could see into the next river valley and on to sharp, rocky
peaks like the eastern parts of the North Cascades. In the distance I
could see Monte Tronodor, which actually looks really similar to Mt.
Baker, with lots of big glaciers. I traversed along the ridge of the
Cordón Catedral, a messy mass of granite spires and giant clumps of
annoying rocks that I had to climb over constantly. There was really no
trail at all, just red spray paint patches and arrows everywhere.
Eventually, I dropped to the east into another little valley with two
lakes and Refugio Frey (refugios are mountain huts where you can stay-
most have services). The little green valley was surrounded by the
sharp spires of Cordón Catedral and Cerro Catedral Sur. There is
actually a ton of trad climbing in the area and I could hear the
climbers talking well after dark. I found a nice little campsite at the
opposite end of the lake from the refugio and had a wonderful evening
with no one around (most of the campsites I have stayed at are really
loud and dirty). I had to get out of my tent to pee after dark and the
stars were incredible! It is really cool to see the stars of the
Southern Hemisphere.
Yesterday morning I got up really early to avoid the heat on my climb
out of the valley. It was great- I didn´t see a single person until I
got to the next refugio! Once out of the valley where I´d stayed the
night, I had a long, steep descent into the next river valley, again
with no trail. I was really happy no one was below me (or above me for
that matter), cause it was really hard to avoid knocking rocks loose
every now and again. Once I descended to the valley bottom, the trail
wandered along at the edge of a bright green lenga forest dotted with
wildflowers. There were lots of pretty little streams and lots of
little birds chirping. Eventually, I began climbing again and crossed
into the next river valley after another steep ridge. The view at the
top was incredible again! Across more rocky peaks, some with snow now
(I was going west) and down to deep blue Lago Jakob and Refugio San
Martín where I was camping for the night. After another ridiculously
steep and rocjy descent, I set up camp in a patch of lenga trees and
took a nap. In the afternoon, I wandered up across glacier-polished
granite slabs to Laguna de los Témpanos in a little cirque above Lago
Jakob. Lots of little waterfalls trickled over massive granite cliffs
below snowy peaks down into the icy water. It was REALLY hot so I
decided to go for a swim, i.e. I ran in, went under, couldn´t breathe
cause it was so cold and then ran right back out again. I sat on a slab
in the sun and was warm again in no time. I had the lake to myself for
1.5 hours! It was wonderful. I sat up there for about 2.5 hours total
just soaking up the sun and the view and then hiked back down to camp
for dinner.
This morning I slept in and began my hike out. The hike was pretty
boring actually- lots of down, then lots of flat and then some up and
then some more down. T first the trail was in a really thick bamboo
forest, making it impossible to see anything, but at least it was
shady. After awhile the trees got thinner and it was really really hot
again. The trail sometimes went along a pretty mountain river with
enticing deep clear blue pools, but otherwise was boring. There was
some kind of trail run though so sometimes guys in yellow spandex, shin
guards and bike helmets would go running past. The trail ended on a
dirt road about 5km from the main highway with the buses (Lonely Planet
lied again!... no buses ran along that road!). There were some police
types at the trailhead and they told me which way to go. After about 5
minutes of walking on the road, one of the policemen pulled up in his
truck and gave me a ride! After about 1km, we came across an Israeli
couple I met yesterday at the lake, trying to hitchhike, so they joined
us too. He took us all the way down to the highway and a bus came in
about 5 mins so I got back just fine! I just made a yummy dinner at the
hostel and had some beer so I´m happy!
Tomorrow I head to El Bolsón, 2 hrs to the south for some more hiking
and hopefully some of their microbrews that they´re famous for! Bye!
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!!!!!! I wish I could be there :( I know the patrollers will take really good care of you though!
