After I unfortunately had to break off my last tour after the second day and didn’t want to sit around in the nice weather, I chose another multi-day hike for the next few days. This time it will go along 5 lagoons from Colonia Suiza, a small Swiss-style village, to Pampa Linda. According to my research, the hike lasts almost 5 days, so I stocked up on enough food at a supermarket to set off on another tour.
Colonia Suiza – Friday 19.01.2024
I got up at 8 a.m. sharp and had a quick breakfast in my accommodation. I left some heavier items that I wouldn’t need in the next few days at reception and then made my way to the bus stop. Here I waited for a bus that would take me to Colonia Suiza, about an hour away.
Since there were apparently a lot of hikers and tourists on the road today, the full bus simply drove past the stop because there was no room for any more people. When the second bus just drove past me half an hour later and the next one wasn’t due until lunchtime, I decided to walk further to the front end of the city to get a place on the last bus of the day.
After arriving at one of the first stops in town, I had lunch at a small snack bar. The bus arrived around 2 p.m. and I actually got a seat here before it was completely full a few stops later and simply drove past the other stations.
However, due to the heavy traffic, our progress was slow and we didn’t reach our destination until around 4 p.m. Since I still had 4-5 hours of hiking ahead of me and didn’t want to get there until 9 in the evening, I decided to spend the night at a campsite here.
So after setting up my tent, I walked a bit through the streets of the small town and looked at the houses, which actually didn’t really fit Argentina, but looked more like they were in Switzerland.
I had dinner at a brewery and treated myself to a cold beer in the summer temperatures.
Afterwards I returned to the campsite, chatted with my tent neighbor for a while and then went to bed early.
Laguna Negra – Saturday 21.01.2024
Today it finally really started. At half past 7 I packed everything up, filled up my water again and then set off to the first lake.
After I left the village, it went slightly uphill straight through the forest. The path was quite easy to walk and since I only had a short 4-5 hour tour ahead of me today, I took a breakfast break at a river after just under an hour.
The path took me along the river for a long time through the beautiful landscape. The only thing that kept annoying me was the many flies that would accompany me over the next few days. Otherwise I walked pretty relaxed through the trees and made good progress.
But soon there was a steep and strenuous climb that made me sweat quite a bit at almost 30 degrees. In the increasingly mountainous landscape, I was happy about every shady spot that at least brought some cooling.
After almost 4 hours I reached the lake with the refuge where I wanted to spend the night today. After setting up my tent in one of the places sheltered from the wind, I chatted with the Argentinian Sam for a while and got some inspiration for the next few weeks.
Later, a young lady who seemed somehow familiar set up her tent next to me. As it turned out after a few minutes, the French woman was actually one of the few people I had met in Ushuaia on the Sierra Valdivieso Circuit and, like me, she also wanted to do the 5 Lagoons hike.
Since it was still quite warm and there was a beautiful lake in front of me, I took this opportunity to take a long swim in the cold mountain lake in the late afternoon. Although some people had warned me about the ice cold water, I still went into the water for a few minutes, which was less cold than expected, and swam around a bit. Afterwards I sat by the water with Sam, the Argentinian I had met earlier, and his friends and even drank the mate tea they offered me.
Towards the evening I cooked myself something to eat and then went to my tent to sleep.
Second Day – Sunday 22.01.2024
I got up early in the morning and quickly dismantled my tent. At the Refugio I made myself some coffee and had breakfast there. Then I started hiking.
First we went relaxed around the lake, with the mountains beautifully reflected in the water.
When I got to the back end, it went straight uphill.
I was soon able to see the beautiful surroundings, which I was to hike through over the next few days. In the distance I could already see Cerro Tronador, which is the highest mountain in the region and which I should keep walking towards.
First there was a short descent through a scree field and further down I came across a very steep and sandy forest path. In general, the path was easy to walk, but I kept getting the fine sand in my shoes and soon it felt as if the whole shoe was full of sand.
When I finally got to a river below, I took a break and emptied the dirt from my shoes. Afterwards, I refilled my water and continued my hike.
I went through the forest again, although the path was quite overgrown in some places and I had to go through the bushes again and again. After another river it slowly went uphill. After a few more minutes I left the forest again and went up a steep slope. Since there was no real path to be seen here, I just kept walking uphill and at least saw a few footprints in the sand every now and then. On the steep slope, which was quite exposed to the morning sun and unfortunately offered hardly any shade, climbing up was a really strenuous affair that once again made me sweat a lot.
After a while I at least passed a small stream where I filled up my water and found a few shady places. Here I followed the stream further and further up before I finally reached the next lake.
I took a long break in a shady spot under a few trees and recovered from the strenuous climb in the sun.
Because I couldn’t find a real path around the lake, I looked on my map and couldn’t see a real path here either. Since the edge of the lake didn’t seem particularly deep, I decided to simply walk through the water to the other side of the lake. Just as I was about to set off again, the French woman Geraldine came towards me. Together we walked through the cold water along the edge of the lake, which was a real relief after the steep climb and the summer temperatures.
Once we got to the other side, we took a break at the camp where I actually wanted to spend the night. While she made something to eat, I lay down in the shade for 10 minutes and took a short nap. Since it was still early in the day and the many flies here were quite annoying, I said goodbye afterwards and decided to continue walking.
First I went briefly across a slightly muddier meadow, where I had to repeatedly go through deep mud.
Then I went steeply up the mountain again. The small path quickly led me up and gave me a nice view back of the lake.
Further up there were a few smaller snow fields to cross before I finally reached the highest point after another strenuous climb.
On the other side there was a somewhat more complicated descent. At times I climbed down the steep rock faces, which wasn’t so easy with the heavy backpack. In between there were snow fields here too, but they were at least pretty easy to cross.
Later there was a short descent over rocks and then I reached a small river surrounded by meadows and forest.
Since it was now 6 p.m., I decided to set up my tent here. As it turned out, it wasn’t a particularly good place to camp. On the one hand, I had water to cook my dinner and wash up a bit, but on the other hand, there were so many flies around that I could hardly sit down anywhere for two minutes without being directly attacked by dozens of mosquitoes. Instead of making rice for dinner, I switched to instant noodles, which were ready in minutes, and ate them in my tent, safe from the flies. Since I usually didn’t dare to venture out of my tent anymore, I just stayed inside and used the remaining hours of the evening to read a bit before falling asleep later.
Fast End – Monday 23.01.2024
After a quiet night in the tent, I quickly dismantled it in the morning, and was immediately attacked by several flies in the morning. So I skipped breakfast and set off straight away.
Today it was straight uphill again and I quickly gained altitude. The further up I went, the fewer flies there were, which made hiking a lot more pleasant. Further up, the path led me along the slope, where I also had to cross snowfields again and again. In the morning hours the snow was still pretty solid, which made it easy for me to walk on it.
When I reached the highest point, I took a break and finally had some breakfast while enjoying the view in front of me.
Afterwards I had to cope with a very steep descent, where the course of the route was not always entirely clear and I kept sliding down a few meters on the scree. Since I also needed my hands from time to time, I couldn’t really use the hiking poles here.
After a while I finally reached the forest, where the path became easier to walk again. There was a small campsite right by the river, but I didn’t want to use it so early in the day. I briefly walked to a waterfall that looked very interesting.
I actually wanted to take another break here and listen to the relaxing water. But since there were so many flies around here that didn’t want to leave me alone, I simply decided to climb up the next mountain again. I briefly filled up my water and then started climbing to the next peak again.
It went up over a small ridge and I soon got a nice view of the valley next to me.
The path here was pretty well marked and easy to walk, which meant I got to the top quickly despite the high temperatures. At a mountain lake where the water was actually quite clear, I drank the delicious and refreshingly cold water again before I started the final climb.
I went up over another snowfield and soon reached the summit.
There I met a father and his son who had hiked up here to enjoy the beautiful view. They recommended a viewpoint about a kilometer further up the mountain ridge. So without further ado, I decided to walk there.
After a few minutes I reached the vantage point in question and the panorama in front of me was really impressive. On one side I could marvel at the lakes.
On the other side, Cerro Tronador was visible again and even the summit could be seen wonderfully through the bright blue sky.
Since it was lunchtime, I decided to take my lunch break here and look at the beautiful lakes and mountains of the region. While I was eating my salami bread and enjoying the beautiful landscape, there were a few Andean condors circling directly above me, which, with a wingspan of almost 3 meters and a weight of around 15 kilograms, are among the largest birds of prey in the world and offered a very impressive natural experience. Experiencing the huge birds of prey in the wild made the lunch break a real highlight on the tour.
When the Andean condors disappeared again after a while and I had finished eating my food, I set off again. There was now a long descent ahead of me to the next lake, but I was able to cover it fairly quickly. First we went quickly down a small path and then briefly across meadows to the water.
When I got there, I first thought about whether I should spend the night in the camp here. Since the lake looked very shallow and therefore not suitable for swimming, I decided to continue walking to Pampa Linda. At the refuge I bought myself a Coke and asked the staff how long the descent would take. Since it was supposed to only take about 2 hours, I continued running again.
At first it was pretty flat through the forest, although the cool shade of the trees here was very pleasant.
Later we continued down again along a sandy path, although in the last hundred meters I noticed that it was starting to get tiring. Shortly before the end of the tour, I had completed almost 1,700 meters of descent, although the descent was very steep in places, which wasn’t particularly pleasant for the joints.
The last few meters to Pampa Linda were relaxed on flat paths and I soon reached the actual destination of the multi-day tour. Instead of the 5 days planned, I was able to complete the tour on the third day and overall the tour was much easier than expected. While the rangers in the national park had warned me that the path might not be accessible due to all the snow, in the end it was pretty good for running. The smaller snow fields were easy to cross and the tour was also easier than expected.
When I arrived in Pampa Linda, I sat down in the first restaurant and drank another cold cola, which was a real relief given the temperatures. After the cold refreshment, I ran to a campsite and set up my tent there. Then I took a cold shower, which was not only very pleasant but also sorely needed to wash off both the sweat and the dirt on my legs. Since some of the clothes didn’t look much better, they were then given a quick wash.
Back at my tent I met the Frenchwoman Geraldine again, who was also setting up her tent on the campsite. She actually wanted to take a car back to Bariloche today, but since no one was driving back, she had to spend the night here too. After she took a quick shower, we went to dinner together at a restaurant and toasted the successful tour with a beer. Afterwards we returned to the campsite and, exhausted, went to sleep in our tents.
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