My plan was to do a 4 or 5 day trek in 1 day. Instead, due to icy conditions on the steepest part, I accomplished instead a 3 or 4 day trek in 1 day. I'm still happy and have put the former plan on a to-do list along with the portion of it I didn't manage to see. As a note to all concerned readers, I brought lots of food and 7L of water to complement the streams and lakes, and a rain jacket, to cover my bases. I also planned to turn around and retrace my steps at 2pm if I did not make it to the halfway point. Unfortunately, as mentioned, forces other than not being on time (SEE ice) blocked my mission.
7:20am Leave the house. Say goodbye to Alisa who will wait for Bus 50 into town. Walk to the end of Avenida de los Pioneros to wait for the Catedral Bus to pick me up.
8:20am Keep waiting.
8:50am It's too late to start walking now.
9:00am Catedral Bus picks me up.
9:10am Start hiking from Cerro Catedral, South America's famous ski resort, to Refugio Frey.
10:01am Reach the 4K marker on the trail and take a picture so looking back on the pictures and the timestamps I will know what time I hit this marker and the shaded Van Titter stream valley.
11:00am Frey! Laguna Tonchek! I'm here! Sit down and eat rapidly, saving most of the potatoes and beaf for later. Meet up with Brazilian friends made while slacklining in the park the previous day. Check the clock. I made it up in less than 2 hours (SEE 1h50), giving me some slack time in order to trek all of the refugios (four) in one day. If only I had enough time to stop and climb with these climbers:
11:52am Lagoon Schmoll! Just above Frey and its granite spires sits a beautiful high-mountain reflective lagoon, shown here (First from below, then from above).
12:33pm Reach the Catedral Mountain Ridge, where the trail splits between a route back to Cerro Catedral and Laguna (and Refugio) Jakob.
1:15pm Make it down the steep scree path that I think of as a Chachani landslide and come to the valley and a shaded path in the woods.
2:03pm I hope you enjoyed the valley because next up are the rock hills and rock lands!
2:16pm Summiting of the rocklands is yet another vista! One more dip from a ridgeline into the valley will see me at the well-located Refugio Jakob.
3:08pm I reach Lago Jakob. I could stay here for longer if I weren't in such a rush. I speak for a few minutes to Pablo who works at the Refugio. He tells me it is not possible to continue on to Refugio Italia and then to Refugio López because of 1) my sandals are not sufficient for a very very steep section that may or may not be covered in ice at the moment and 2) I only have one day, which is now half of a day. So it is that I get directions from him to return a direct route back to Bariloche, or, Refugio San Martín where I will find a ride back to town.
3:26pm I start trekking the 18km back to town. It's about the same distance as my trip through the remaining two refugios would have been, except is mostly flat, easy to navigate terrain through the Casa de Piedra stream valley. I am informed that I can do it in 3 hours if I'm not tired. Well, I'm exhausted. But if it's easy hiking I should be all set. If today has shown me anything, it's that I can push myself. There are some pretty stream-crossings going back to Bariloche this way.
4:47pm I don't know what kilometer out of the 18 I'm on. I wish there were markers. The paths are mostly shaded, which is a huge plus for a long trekking day like this. Tried to call Alisa at work to inform her of my likely return time schedule only to have the "Sin Red" error meaning that there is no connection! Of course there is no connection! Where am I?!
6:05pm I arrive at the end. That means I did the last 18k in roughly 2.5 hours. And I have many excuses to not have done it that fast! Here I go, ego tripping already! This sign is such good news to me, I take a picture of it. The horses and car-road that I see here are signs of civilization, so I start on my way, looking for a bus or hitchhike!
6:26pm I catch a ride back to my house with three other very serious trekkers from Bariloche and plop myself down on our futon while Alisa is wonderful and makes me a wonderful stew and rice dinner. We eat to the soundtrack of me regurgitating my day of meeting Australians, Americans, Argentinians, ABrazilians, and so on and the sites and trails I found! I haven't talked much all day due to the different trekking speeds of myself and all those I met briefly on the trails, so I'm ready to tell all!
3 Day Trek, 1 Day
Posted by Unknown at 8:47 AM
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3 comments:
Nate,you are so awesome. Thanks for sharing your adventure. I'm not surprised at your endurance, but I'm very appreciative of your precautions!
Thanks to Alisa for making you a nice hot dinna--as Gaga and Jon might say...
Love Mom
PS I love valleys
p.s. I love trees!
those pictures are unbelievable. good job navigating and enjoying.
wish i was there to trek those routes! does your reporting of distances and times mean that you are getting ready for the ... 'urban epic triathlon' 2009?! heehee. lala will be ready for you.
Mom: the valleys were pretty, that is, when they were open. There were some awesome camping spots that people don't usually use (because it's nicer to camp where there's a lake and a refugio where you can buy food and hang out with most other people) but in the valleys with streams, it was pretty would be relaxing! The dinner was just what I needed! My body took another whole day to recover, with another whole day of good food! haha
Nicky: Trees there are, too! These trekking trips pretty much have it all! About half of the trek was shaded, I'd say. Maybe a wee bit less. But there were these trees and those. A dead forest recovering from a fire awhile back, so mostly comprised of leafless trees and cane! Pretty cool! You and lala would really like these routes: Some Day! My reporting of distances and times means that I'm a Minuteman! haha. Tell Lala to wake up! haha. just keeding...he's a monster. I think Monsters beat the Minutemen.
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