Laguna del Caminante (Day 1) – Thursday 04.01.2024
After recovering from my last hike yesterday and looking for new tours, today I had another smaller hike on the agenda. I had chosen a day hike to Laguna del Caminante. Instead of completing this in one day, I wanted to split the route and spend the night in a tent by the lake.
Since I only had a few kilometers to complete today, I took my time with breakfast. Afterwards I packed up all my things, left the hostel and bought a few groceries for the evening before finally setting off.
Unfortunately the weather wasn’t particularly good this morning and I started walking through the city in the pouring rain. After almost 5 kilometers I finally reached the outskirts of the city, where my actual tour was supposed to start.
From here I first went briefly across smaller meadows where some horses were grazing, and then into the forest. The path led me further and further up through the trees, although I had to be careful not to slip on the wet roots.
After a few kilometers the forest ended again and I continued uphill over rocks. You should actually have a nice view to the rear on this section, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case given the bad weather. The clouds were just too low in the valley and so I couldn’t see much, but that didn’t dampen my mood. So as I climbed further and further up the slope, the weather kept changing within a few minutes. I had barely taken off my rain jacket and stowed it in my backpack when it started to rain heavily again and I unpacked it again, only to take it off again a few minutes later.
Further up I met a young couple from the Netherlands who were waving to me from a distance. Apparently they had lost their way and didn’t know where to go next. In fact, the signage at this point was a bit misleading and we looked at my map together to find the way forward. Like me, they also wanted to get to an ice cave nearby. After eating a few nuts together and chatting a bit, we set off together towards the cave.
We went again first over a small stream and then over a ridge to the other side of the mountain. Snow and ice were immediately visible here. However, the ice cave was not yet visible in the thick fog. So we continued walking over the scree following the GPS and suddenly found ourselves in front of a huge ice cave, which looked really impressive.
The shape of the cave looked almost as if a tunnel borer had been at work here. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get too close to the impressive structure because larger stones kept falling from above and it would have been too dangerous to enter the cave.
After a few pictures, the young couple moved on. I stayed at the cave for a few minutes and hoped for better weather. In fact, a few minutes later the clouds lifted a little and I could see the spectacular shapes in front of me better.
I was also able to get a glimpse of the valley behind me and even had a small piece of blue sky.
Then I set off again to my actual destination. It went steeply uphill again and soon I reached a pass. Then we went back down the other side. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see much here either because of the clouds. At least the path was clearly visible and I happily continued to climb down the mountain.
Shortly before my destination today, the path took me uphill again briefly and then I reached the lake on the other side. To get there I had to cross two rivers again, which were quite swollen from all the rain and a lot of water was rushing through. After balancing over a few tree trunks and reaching the lake, I set up my tent there in the rain.
When I was finished, I started talking to an older couple from Germany who were also staying here with their tent and were here for the second night because they didn’t want to walk in the bad weather. I chatted with them for a long time about interesting tours in the different areas of Patagonia. Like me, they also spent a few months traveling in Patagonia and went on a variety of multi-day tours.
Later I went back to my tent and started making my dinner. First I cooked myself some soup and since I didn’t feel like eating rice today, I just ate some salami bread. Afterwards I treated myself to a lemonade and ate chips while I read another exciting book. With the bad weather outside, my dry tent felt very comfortable and I enjoyed the evening despite the bad weather.
Laguna del Caminante (Day 2) – Friday 05.01.2024
Unfortunately, today started the same way it ended yesterday. When I woke up it was still raining. At first I thought about staying here another day. But then I decided to keep walking and took down my tent in the rain in the morning.
With all my things in my backpack, I set off again. First I went briefly up over the ridge and then I followed the path further and further down through the forest. Here, too, the path was very muddy and slippery in some places, which meant that my progress was very slow at times.
After a long descent, the path further down became flatter and easier to walk. Unfortunately, there were always very slippery passages here too, where I had to use my hiking poles to get safely through the sometimes deep mud. Sometimes it was just a relaxing walk through the forest and in between along the river or over smaller rivers above. Sometimes there were even makeshift bridges so I could easily get to the other side.
Somewhere in the middle of the forest I was surprised by a group of horses that suddenly just stood in front of me in the greenery and when I noticed them, I made a face that was about as long as them.
Otherwise the path was pretty easy to walk and so I wandered around the area lost in thought for a long time. Since most of the time went through the forest, there wasn’t much variety.
There was only one larger field of flowers to be found, whose yellow color represented a stark contrast to the otherwise brown-green forest.
After a while I reached the outskirts of the city and thus the end of my tour. Here I took a short break at a bar along the way where I enjoyed a delicious beer and a bowl of popcorn.
Then I ran another 5 km to the city center. There I stopped at a hostel, washed my shoes and took a warm shower. Afterwards I went to dinner at a restaurant and when I got back to the hostel I chatted with my only roommate. The Italian, who was currently living in Buenos Aires, was also here for trekking and wanted to hear some opinions from me about various tours.
Later that evening I went to sleep in the soft bed.
Cerro del Medio – Saturday 06.01.2024
I was actually expecting pretty bad weather today. When I studied the current weather report again while having breakfast, I was pleased to see that the weather should be quite good until the evening. So today I was able to start a tour that I already had on my list. So I packed everything up again and went to a hotel that I had booked for the next two days. There I dropped off a smaller bag of luggage so that I could carry less weight on my tour today. Afterwards I made my way to Cerro del Medio, which I wanted to climb today.
First I had to leave the city again heading north.
After that it went straight uphill. The first few kilometers went ever steeper uphill through the forest. Thanks to my hiking poles, I still made quick progress and was soon able to leave the forest behind me.
The path now led me further up through the rock. I could already see the beautiful landscape behind me and I could imagine what a beautiful view I would have from above. I excitedly continued to walk up the path, which was sometimes very steep.
After a few more meters of altitude I reached a small lake, but I didn’t want to stay there any longer.
I went straight on to the actual mountain peak, which I reached after a few more minutes. From here I had a wonderful view of Ushuaia and the surrounding area. In addition to the city, I could also clearly see the mountains and the Beagle Channel.
Since I liked the view so much and I hadn’t taken a break yet, I sat down in a place protected from the wind. There I made myself a delicious coffee, almost traditionally. While the water was boiling, I briefly ate a cheese sandwich and then enjoyed the fantastic panorama with a delicious cup of coffee.
Then I started down the other side. Here we initially went down a steep scree field, where I always had a beautiful view.
Further down the path became a little flatter and I made quick progress despite some slippery sections. Soon I reached the edge of the forest again and from then on I was out and about in the countryside again. It zigzagged through the trees for some time.
After a long time I arrived back in Ushuaia and walked straight to my hotel. In the evening I went out for a delicious meal. Today we had a good piece of meat with fries. Afterwards I went back to my room and went to sleep after this lovely tour, which I really enjoyed.
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