The Windiest and the Steepest Trails

We had the whole day to spend hanging out in Piedra del Fraile. We started the morning out with a hike to Lago Electrico. This lake was not very far away, but we still got an early start because we were up. We went around the large glacial erratic to where the terrain opened up. The wind was intense! I could not believe just how powerful the Patagonia wind was until I was in it and experiencing it. We struggled to keep moving forward. True, the lake was not that far away, but it sure seemed like it as we battled the wind. There was probably a reason why there were no trees in this landscape.

The video will show just how powerful the wind was. I wish I would have got a better video, but I think with the sound, you can get the point. By the time that we made it to the lake, we were good. It was awesome to see the power of the wind creating white water type conditions on the lake. This was not a place to go kayaking or canoeing as this lake looked like it had waves or tides just from the wind. It would have been interesting to go around the lake and up onto the glacier above, but Dad was using this as his rest day and he did not want to push it too much. We were going to have a big day on the following day as our plan was to walk all the way back to El Chalten, so it was understandable.

We found ourselves some shelter away from the wind to relax a bit before we went back. Going back was a lot easier, though with the wind at our backs. I wondered how the lake could keep all the water it had in there as it was being blown out of there by the wind creating the feeling that we were being rained upon. We seemed to fly back to camp where we decided it would be a good idea to switch our camping site. We decided to go around the boulder to a spot closer to the river with a bit more sunshine. Here we sat around playing cribbage and reading our books until the afternoon. I got the urge to go explore another trail that led steeply up the side of the "hill".
It looked like a short trail on the map, but it also looked incredibly steep. It went next to an impressive series of waterfalls that cascaded down below Cerro Electrico. My favorite of the waterfalls were the ones that were side by side pouring into the same pool. If something like this existed in the U.S., there would be thousands of people visiting this place every day. For us, we had the entire experience to ourselves.
I charged across the field and found the trail rather easily by using the map. It did quickly decide to go uphill. It was steep! There were series of switchbacks but they were so close together it was really like doing a zigzag all the way up the hill. I was feeling good and moving really swiftly. I went at Dad's pace when we were hiking together, but with just myself, I moved quite a bit swifter. I should have been having to tough out this incredibly steep hill, but I was feeling really good. There were not many trees, mainly just some short stumpy bushes. This gave me a good view down into the valley below.
I could see the glacial erratic right next to the river that we were camping next to the entire time. As I looked down, I would not have believed I could just hike to that spot if I had not been there. Eventually, I reached the top of the hill and the trail began to get less steep. It was still steep, but not quite as bad. The views were incredible. I could see the mountains on all sides of this glacial valley and even over to the ice cap that one could access from the valley behind Lago Electrico. This was quite the spot. I figured that I could keep going even further if I felt like it, but for some reason I was not incredibly ambitious.

I really just went as far as the trail would take me and after that decided that going up the scree slope was not in the cards for this day. Sitting here writing about it, I wish I would have gone further because I am sure that the views would have been even better, but I just wasn't ambitious. I guess after days and days of hiking, even I can get satiated on that.
 I traveled the steep trail back down instead where we were to have dinner at the little restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It was extremely expensive, but considering they had to bring it in by horseback, it was understandable. We would awake in the morning to leave the Fitzroy region and return to El Chalten.