If you talk to anyone who has been to El Chalten in Argentina, they will all say the same thing.. Fuck yea! You have to go!
El Chalten (the volcano) is the town at the foot of Mt Fitzroy which is one of the coolest mountains I've ever laid eyes on. Chalten is also dubbed the trekking capital of Argentina. The hiking trails lead you straight from town into the hills where you can either choose to camp or just do all the major trips as a day walk from town.
This time around it was Los Tres Gordos (the three Fatties) and we had a different agenda...
One of the many rad photo ops on the drive in to town.
This time rather than being stuck on a bus until we reached town we could stop and take a few photos etc. Mt Fitzroy comes in to view pretty early on with a great view of glaciers and mountains and lakes. Pretty much a paradise!
Heading around the backside of Fitzroy. More glaciers, mountains, lakes, rivers, etc..
Rather than staying in town or even hiking in to camp somewhere, we decided to drive to a sweet campsite that was around the north side of the mountain called Estancia Ricanor. The camping was pretty sweet with great BBQ's and hot showers and views of the mountains..
First order of business - fire!
Only so we could eat again!
The following day we stuck with the plan which was to go for a hike. We didn't get much time to do a lot of hiking on the way down because A) there was a tonne of driving to get done and B) we were enjoying the Asado and vino much too much. Not a bad thing at all.
The hike for the day left straight from where we were camped and was up to a place called Lago Diablo (the devil lake) and was definitely some much needed exercise to try and make use of the previous nights meat and wine. The hike was super cool and followed a river up to a lake that was fed at the far end by a very cool glacier or three. On the way up we were also getting some really good views across the valley of Fitzroy.
A well deserved water stop.
The valley at the top where it changed from a river valley to a glaciated valley.
The view of the lake etc
On the way back down the views were just as good.
Cool trees
And then surprise surprise, another BBQ.
The other day and a half was spent just enjoying being in a really nice place by drinking scenic beers, scenic wines and having scenic BBQ's. Then it was on the road again to cross back into Chile.
The quaint town of El Chalten.
On the way out of town we came across a few Condors and Eagles soaring right next to the road.
And here is a little Asado action..
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