After leaving Torres del Paine, we drove north through Argentina on Ruta 40 to get up to El Chaltén and the famous Fitz Roys, arriving on Friday, Feb. 6th. While Torres del Paine is the top spot for tourists, the Fitz Roys is a close second. The peaks are jagged and light grey, and are actually the peaks used on the Patagonia brand logo. The drive into El Chaltén, on a clear day, is a gorgeous one, as you get to stare at the Fitz Roys most of the way. This post will feel similar to the last one; how many pictures of the same rocks can one family take! But, again, the peaks are too beautiful not to. It was rainy when we left Torres, but there was a perfect weather window in El Chaltén. So we sped up our itinerary just a skosh to hit the good weather, meaning we skipped visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier, as we had had our fill of glaciers at this point.
Thanks to Osman for lending us his drone to get these van shots.
The town of El Chaltén is nestled in a valley right at the base of the Fitz Roys. That makes it special because there are many hikes you can do that start right from the outskirts of town. And there are cliffs bordering the town that look popular for rock climbers. El Chaltén, while still having lots of tourists, felt more authentic than El Calafate for whatever reason. Like the hippy younger sister. It had lots of good restaurants and breweries, with a strong hiking/climbing vibe. And apparently the fall colors here are amazing, so it's on my list to come back.
On Saturday, we did the hike to the Fitz Roys Mirador, which is very accessible, medium difficulty, and family friendly.
On our way, we saw the red-headed Magellanic woodpecker, which lives in the old growth forests of Patagonia. It was huge, more than a foot long.
Once we reached the Mirador, Drew and I continued on to Campamiento Poincenot, which is at the base of that green foothill you see me hiking towards in the picture below. Our plan was to camp overnight at Poincenot, then get up at 4:45am the next morning and hike the remaining mile and a half up that steep foothill to a lake at the base of the Fitz Roys in time for sunrise. We were certainly not the only folks who had this idea. Many others also start hiking from the trailhead at 1am or so to accomplish the same goal without camping overnight. So, it's popular, but for good reason. Drew and I had originally booked our campsite for Tuesday, but the weather on Tuesday would be rain all day. Luckily the campground allowed us to change our booking to the preceding Saturday which was perfect weather. The boys and G&G went from the Mirador around the loop to Laguna Capri, and then back down to the vans.
We made it up in time! Pre-Sunrise back across the valley.
The Fitz Roys in pre-sunrise grey.
Pink with the first rays! The sunrise was really amazing because there were clouds across the valley, so the sun's light would get blocked at times as it was rising. So not only did we have changing colors on the rocks, but different portions of the rocks would get shaded or colored depending on the location of the clouds.
Sun's up!
Yellow!
Back to normal grey with high noon sun. Drew and I circled around to Laguna Capri as well on our way down.
While Drew and I were hiking out on Sunday, G&G and the boys went to the Salto Waterfall. Looked fun and super easy to get to. Thanks again G&G for watching the boys; we couldn't have done any of these amazing hikes without you!
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