Tierra del Fuego

 The trip was starting to wind down and I was not too entirely disappointed with this. I was really enjoying spending time with Dad and getting out on the trails with him, but I was missing my wife and daughter quite a bit. The games of cribbage and many books were a nice change of pace from home, but they were starting to run their course in keeping my interest level. As we went to our last new place on the trip, the newness of Patagonia was also beginning to wear me out, but I wasn't going to let that stop my enjoyment of the area. We found our way into Tierra del Fuego Nacional Parque. We had to pay quite a bit of money to get in, so much so that the entrance fees to our National Parks in the U.S. seemed a paltry sum.

We were dropped off by our bus at a cafe area where we tried to figure out how to pay for a campsite. After wandering around for a while, we finally decided to just go find a campsite and figure it our later. We picked a site right in the middle of a field out in the open by the slow flowing river that meandered on through. This was a good camp spot and the ground was just like a nice carpeting to keep us comfortable. We had to watch what was left of our food so as to not let the hawks that were all around get to it. They were just like ravens and the buses of tourists plowing up the dusty dirt roads for the day trip were happy to see them. We spent the evening eating our dinner and planning for the next day.  A group of Israeli people came up and talked to us for some time and offered their leftover dinner to us. We accepted, but it made me wonder what people are willing to eat when they are camping because it was mainly just some plain rice. We talked with them a bit and realized that I was going to do the same hike as them the following day.

 We started the day hiking together. Dad was planning to have a more mellow day while I was planning to do the steep climb up to Cerro Guanaco. We walked the road out to the end which stopped at the lake. Then the trail took off from there. There was one trail at first that just went around the lake, but after not too long, the trail split off to go up to Cerro Guanaco. I left Dad here and he went around the lake. I charged up hill and had my iPod to keep me company. The trail was pretty steep and went through a thick forest. It was in rather good shape, though, so it allowed me to move quickly. By this time, I was feeling pretty good as far as physical fitness, which allowed me to move along quite nicely.

It was only a bit over an hour before the crazy steep switchbacks through the forest were over and the trees receded to a big, open wet meadow. Right next to this, there was a sort of pond that was created by beavers that were an invasive species brought in from the United States. From here, I could see up across to the peaks that rose up from the lake.
I could also see the peak that I was going to climb. It looked rather steep once again, but I just had to suck it up and put in the effort to get first across the wet meadow, then above the vegetation, and on to the steep scree that would take me to the top. It looked like once I hit the ridge, it would be smooth going. It was so quiet on this day. I had passed just one group below and would pass one other person coming down from the top on my way up. This was so nice considering how busy the park was and how few the number of trails. I think people just like to sleep in much more than I do, because it seemed like this during the entire trip that people hit the trail much later than me.

As I climbed the steep slope, I could see the ocean (bay?) once again come out to greet me. This was what made this area so inviting was seeing all the water and all the mountains together. I was feeling so good and moving so well that soon I hit the ridge and it was smooth sailing. I kept going until I hit the top. I am not sure what was considered the top of the mountain to most, but I had to do a little bit of scrambling to get to the actual top of the mountain.

The view was nothing short of spectacular. I could see all the remote mountains that rose up above the lake. I could also see the ocean and the mountains near Paso de la Oveja that we had just visited. And I had this entire view to myself. The climb had only taken a couple of hours which I thought was fantastic time for all the elevation I had to gain. I was lucky to find a trail that was in such good shape.

I took my time up on top looking out toward Ushuaia and dreaming of the mountains that I would probably never get to climb.
The weather had just been fantastic, just slightly windy but nothing like near Fitzroy. I was happy that I had been able to climb 2 mountains in Patagonia even if they had not been incredibly difficult. As I started down the mountain, it kind of felt like starting my journey home, one that was going to be a very long journey. We still had quite a bit of time left to get home, but no big adventures planned in the near future. I saw many people going up including the group of Israelis that we talked to the night before.

 They seemed so surprised that I was hiking down rather than up and that I had already made it to the top of the mountain. I passed them at about the beaver pond area and after that it got even more annoying with the questions about where the top was, especially when many of those questions were in Spanish. Also, most of the people looked like they would never make it. If we in America think our people are unprepared for what they do, the people hiking in Patagonia seemed even worse.
I made it to the bottom of the trail, but was still feeling like hiking, so I went out on the trail along the lake.

The highlight of the lake hike was supposed to be something referred to as Hilo 42. I am not sure what that meant, but when I got to it, it was a strange looking monument that was completely covered in graffiti. What made it significant was that it was right on the Chile - Argentina border. We were still technically in Argentina, but on the other side of this marker was Chile. I snuck into Chile for a little bit, but turned around and went back to camp. I still had a lot of the day to waste away while I was there. I finished reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which was quite an engrossing novel, while my dad read Sherlock Holmes stories. I switched with him for a while, but Sherlock Holmes really could not keep my attention. I was going to have to get another book before I went back home.