Patagonia
Backpacking Eight Months On the Road
By Bus Through South America
By David Rice
Backpacking Eight Months On the Road
By Bus Through South America
By David Rice
Page Twenty Seven
Patagonia
Backpacking by Bus In South America
Eight Months On the Road
By David Rice
Backpacking by Bus In South America
Eight Months On the Road
By David Rice
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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Patagonia David Rice Photop
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