Laguna Torre and Onwards

Our next day in El Chalten was cloudy, blustery and threatening rain. Far be it for these intrepid hikers to turn down an “easy” hike to supposedly stellar views. We started with our quarry in our sights…

We were aiming for the cloud covered peaks in the center of the picture above. That was supposed to be Cerro Torres. You might remember I had it pictured as the single spire in the last post.

As we ventured further along, you could at least see the glacier that fed the laguna we were heading for -

This was the best picture I got of Cerro Torres (you can just make out the top of the spire above the clouds, on the right) -

So, like in French Valley, since we couldn’t see the big picture, I focused on the details, like Lady’s Slipper Orchids…

… and the Firebush flowers -

The sun came out occasionally…

… and I could sneak a peek at some blue hints in glacier snow…

… but overall it was a pretty boring walk/hike. We knew it was a little over 12 miles out and back (“only” 12, compared to the 14+ of the day before!), and had only 800 ft of elevation gain.

As we neared the lake (up over that rocky/sandy ridge on the left)…

… the wind was really picking up. There were times when we were nearly blown over or backward by gusts, especially if they caught you with one foot raised. There’s no way I could get video of this to portray the howling winds, but just know that the following pictures were taken by hiding behind boulders, waiting for a slight lull…

… and then sticking my head and camera out to try and get a shot.

I just loved this impression -

On our way back, we were able to see a valley that we couldn’t on our initial pass through -

Six and a half hours later, we were glad to be finished!

Leaving El Chalten behind, we headed back into the barren landscape of the steppe…

… where desert co-exists with empty turquoise lakes, and guanacos thrive -

We drove about 180 km on gravel roads, with views like this…

… until we reached this side road that was to lead to the estancia (ranch) where we were spending the night -

Google Maps was telling us that it was just 4 km away, but we could see nothing. We rounded the end of that mesa you can see in the picture above, and found…

… an oasis - complete with flamingoes!

The estancia was tucked in behind the ridge…

… and had seemingly endless acres of water and grass in front of it -

There was even a family of Upland Geese -

That night, along with a Canadian motorcycle “gang”, we had fresh roasted lamb that had probably been with its mother that morning. (The gang was a group of 8 retirees on a multi-week curated tour.) -

I’ll close with a peaceful, “golden hour” scene -