Patagonia Backpacking Eight Months On the Road By Bus Through South America By David Rice |
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Page Twenty Seven
| Patagonia Backpacking by Bus In South America Eight Months On the Road By David Rice |
www.SoftSeatTravel.com
Page 10
Patagonia Hikes
The van had dropped us at a staging area where there was a
campsite but we agreed to hike towards our reserved cabin for our
first nights lodging. I had no idea how far the cabin was but we
struck out anyway for our camp and luckily, after seven hours of
hard hiking, we made camp with two hours of light to spare.
We had five in our group by this time, a German woman, a South
African man, a Brazilian woman and an American woman in her
sixties. We had met earlier on the boat and decided we would book
the trip together although, while we hiked, we each went at our own
pace. That pace would have the young African man way out in front,
me and the 30-year old Brazilian woman a few miles behind, and the
German woman in her twenties and the American woman in her
sixties, trailing far behind. This allowed us each to enjoy the scenery
at our own pace and to try the many side trails if we chose.
We would still meet each night at our pre-booked camp but we
would all arrive at different times throughout the day.
On our first morning I left camp before dawn to climb into the
mountains. I reached the base of the mountain and then climbed
hand over hand up a steep bank strewn with big boulders, hiking
through a light snowfall. . Snow continued to fall while I hiked for half
a day, climbing towards a clearing were I could get a view of the
basin, a glacial cirque surrounded on three sides by steep peaks.
When I finally got to the plateau the snow was so thick I could not
see. I sat and waited for two hours but the snow never let up. I never
did have my view and I reluctantly had to climb back down without
my view to reach the cabin before dark.
Each night the cabin would provide bunks but we would need our
own sleeping bags. We brought some food and we were able to find
water everywhere, either glacial streams that are melting faster then
they have in recent history or at the cabins.
I had brought dried fruits and nuts in my pack and we were able to
buy meals at each cabin were a park staff member would cook in a
kitchen of sorts and were I would get breakfast each day for twenty
bucks.
When you consider that the staff packs in all the food by horseback
and you are miles from civilization in the most exquisite scenery with
lakes and meadows and wildflowers, gnarly trees struggling to grow,
and soaring mountains with snow-capped peaks, breakfast at $20.
was fairly priced.
"God look at those mountains," I would exclaim to no one in
particular during a hike in a moment of awe. Those peaks provided
many moments of awe. I couldn't believe how steep and majestic
they were. Everywhere streams carried water that had been locked
in ice for thousands of years and was now racing through the
valleys and heading towards the ocean to clean it up. In this
remarkable setting, I considered a twenty-dollar breakfast of eggs,
bacon, coffee, and yogurt a bargain.
The cabins are spaced so that a hiker can spend eight to ten hours
going between stops. I would hike eight hours each day over trails,
at times flooded with water, where park employees had built
walkways and at some places suspension bridges across low areas.
The trails are well marked in the 240,000-hectare park but you
could get in trouble if you were not careful. In the high season of
December, January, and February, however, there would be many
hikers to give assistance.
I saw herds of Guanaco, a small Llama, while hiking but no
dangerous animals live in the park as far as I knew. The trails took
some caution, however.
On one trail I walked a knife-edge as I looked down a thousand feet
into an abyss of a valley with water running through it. One misstep
on that trail could have been my last.
The van had dropped us at a staging area where there was a
campsite but we agreed to hike towards our reserved cabin for our
first nights lodging. I had no idea how far the cabin was but we
struck out anyway for our camp and luckily, after seven hours of
hard hiking, we made camp with two hours of light to spare.
We had five in our group by this time, a German woman, a South
African man, a Brazilian woman and an American woman in her
sixties. We had met earlier on the boat and decided we would book
the trip together although, while we hiked, we each went at our own
pace. That pace would have the young African man way out in front,
me and the 30-year old Brazilian woman a few miles behind, and the
German woman in her twenties and the American woman in her
sixties, trailing far behind. This allowed us each to enjoy the scenery
at our own pace and to try the many side trails if we chose.
We would still meet each night at our pre-booked camp but we
would all arrive at different times throughout the day.
On our first morning I left camp before dawn to climb into the
mountains. I reached the base of the mountain and then climbed
hand over hand up a steep bank strewn with big boulders, hiking
through a light snowfall. . Snow continued to fall while I hiked for half
a day, climbing towards a clearing were I could get a view of the
basin, a glacial cirque surrounded on three sides by steep peaks.
When I finally got to the plateau the snow was so thick I could not
see. I sat and waited for two hours but the snow never let up. I never
did have my view and I reluctantly had to climb back down without
my view to reach the cabin before dark.
Each night the cabin would provide bunks but we would need our
own sleeping bags. We brought some food and we were able to find
water everywhere, either glacial streams that are melting faster then
they have in recent history or at the cabins.
I had brought dried fruits and nuts in my pack and we were able to
buy meals at each cabin were a park staff member would cook in a
kitchen of sorts and were I would get breakfast each day for twenty
bucks.
When you consider that the staff packs in all the food by horseback
and you are miles from civilization in the most exquisite scenery with
lakes and meadows and wildflowers, gnarly trees struggling to grow,
and soaring mountains with snow-capped peaks, breakfast at $20.
was fairly priced.
"God look at those mountains," I would exclaim to no one in
particular during a hike in a moment of awe. Those peaks provided
many moments of awe. I couldn't believe how steep and majestic
they were. Everywhere streams carried water that had been locked
in ice for thousands of years and was now racing through the
valleys and heading towards the ocean to clean it up. In this
remarkable setting, I considered a twenty-dollar breakfast of eggs,
bacon, coffee, and yogurt a bargain.
The cabins are spaced so that a hiker can spend eight to ten hours
going between stops. I would hike eight hours each day over trails,
at times flooded with water, where park employees had built
walkways and at some places suspension bridges across low areas.
The trails are well marked in the 240,000-hectare park but you
could get in trouble if you were not careful. In the high season of
December, January, and February, however, there would be many
hikers to give assistance.
I saw herds of Guanaco, a small Llama, while hiking but no
dangerous animals live in the park as far as I knew. The trails took
some caution, however.
On one trail I walked a knife-edge as I looked down a thousand feet
into an abyss of a valley with water running through it. One misstep
on that trail could have been my last.
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www.softSeatTravel.com
david@SoftseatTravel.com
david@SoftseatTravel.com
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