Trip Report: Lake District, Argentina

Tak3r

United Kingdom749 Posts

May 07 2016 20:27 GMT

Villa la Angostura

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27/04/2015 I finally made it to Argentina’s Lake District with Villa la Angostura as my entry point. The lovely little town was covered in Volcan Calbuco’s ash and I enjoyed my lonely hike up to one of the nearby mountains, wandering through the bizarre looking landscape.

It was really weird to see the complete town including all trees, plants, cars and partly even people in the grey-brownish tone of the ash. Things seemed normal though and nobody was bothered by it. I headed out towards the mountains in the north for a nice hike followed by a stroll through the town towards the lovely lake side. Covering 19km in distance and 1500 Altitude meters, it kept me busy for the complete day; see the map for details. The hike was really enjoyable, offering fine views on the lakes before venturing into a forest. The ash here just barely covered the ground, but got much deeper as soon as I started the ascent to the summit. I actually had a hard time getting up at that point as every step forward resulted in slipping back through the ash for half a step afterwards.

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When I made it to the summit, I was faced with another problem: The wind! In normal conditions it would be fine I assume, but I was quickly covered in ash that was blown at me and had to cover behind big stones a couple of times. Ash making it’s way through the forest below was a treat to observe, as was the landscape that was now presenting itself all around me at the highest point. I spent a good hour up there before starting the descent towards the forest, heading back to town on a different route through an even thicker forest.

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The sun provided some great lighting within the forest and pictures can’t really do it justice. It was generally pretty hard to capture the moments there and I hope the upcoming video will provide a closer feel to the experience I’ve had. Following a rough path on my GPS, I arrived at a small waterfall and joined another trek that led me to an open view including another, pretty big waterfall. The landscape itself though is certainly not as impressive as in Patagonia for instance, but it was pretty special to have the aftermath of the eruption around at all time, making this hike pretty special.

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xtorn

4060 Posts

May 07 2016 20:53 GMT

gorgeous photos!

Magnifico

1958 Posts

May 08 2016 00:33 GMT

You're a very talented photographer. Beautiful pictures.

Tak3r

United Kingdom749 Posts

May 08 2016 07:06 GMT

Thanks guys

opisska

Poland8852 Posts

May 08 2016 14:22 GMT

Wat, Bariloche got another load of ash? Unbelievable ... I was there in 2011 shortly after Puyehue covered the whole area knee deep - it was already cleared a little, but some lakes even still hadn't any visible water. Then in 2014 it looked all nice and clean and just two years later we are back to grey hell? I wonder if the forests are just used to this and will live happily though, or if it stars taking its toll on the landscape. Recently, the volcanic belt between 35-40 degrees of altitude has gone nuts.

Dingodile

4135 Posts

May 08 2016 15:50 GMT

I wonder what you are doing if you visited all trips in this world? Maybe visiting all ski/snowboarding mountains?

Silvana

3713 Posts

May 09 2016 01:53 GMT

The pictures are so beautiful! Glad I clicked this blog

Tak3r

United Kingdom749 Posts

May 21 2016 21:50 GMT

Not into snow sports

Tak3r

United Kingdom749 Posts

June 04 2016 18:33 GMT

And here is the second part, took me a while - sorry!

Nahuel Huapi National Park near Bariloche

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28/04/2015 Bariloche was my last proper hiking opportunity for a while with Buenos Aires and then Uruguay as the next destinations. I made the most of the time by hiking for 3 days and 2 nights through the great landscapes of Argentina’s Lake District, scrambling up steep cliffs and camping on the peaks with some incredible views.

The Nahuel Huapi National Park was certainly a place I could not miss as an outdoor lover, though I had concerns that it might disappoint me after all the amazing trekking in both Torres del Paine and the El Chaltén areas. Arriving early on a Tuesday morning, I was on a tight schedule and could only spare time for a 3-day hike with my camping equipment as my flight to Buenos Aires was booked on Thursday evening. Packed up with enough food, I started the hike from Bariloche and was headed towards Cerro Catedral, a famous winter ski resort, but also a great place for hiking during the warmer months.

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The first part of the hike was just following a road, but soon after I would find myself in front of an amazing lake after a fair bit of uphill trekking. There was a hut here as well and the surrounding mountains produced perfect mirror images on the lake. I could not enjoy the view for long as my plan was to find a nice camp spot just for myself somewhere higher up in the mountains. I passed Laguna Schmoll and it seemed like I would get to a higher pass very soon, so despite the fact that the sun was already set and it was becoming dark slowly now, I continued to climb up higher and higher.

Soon after, I reached the path heading towards Cerro Catedral and decided to camp right there, next to a big rock that would hopefully give some protection from any wind that might come up during the night. Setting up my small tent in a fast manner, I was even able to climb up to some of the nearby rocks to enjoy the last bits of sunset colors on the horizon, before finally eating dinner and getting rest. The night was really cold up here on around 2300m, but my sleeping bag had no problems handling the temperature. The next morning offered amazing views as I was higher than the clouds, covering everything around me. I spent roughly two hours for the hike to Cerro Catedral, enjoyed the views there and walked back the same path to pack up my previously wet tent from the night frost.

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I had a very long day ahead, covering a big distance so I could complete the circuit in just 3 instead of usually 5 days. The landscape quickly changed after descending down into the valley and I was now surrounded by beautiful trees with nice golden red leafs. I walked in a fast pace and only really stopped to take pictures or refill my bottle with the fresh river water, allowing me to cover a lot of ground in a single day, climbing up and down more mountains, passing crystal clear lakes and even doing some proper climbing when I decided to take a shortcut to save some time. I actually ended up on a pillar after an hard, but super fun climb. My Backpack too a lot of beating, but luckily it is made out of Kevlar and could deal with all the sharp rocks easily. I think I actually lost some time in the end, because climbing down the pillar again with my heavy load took a lot of attention and shouldn’t be rushed.

I walked and walked until the sun disappeared behind the mountains and was on my way to the peak near Cerro Navidad, Just knowing that it would be very flat, my goal was to set up camp there. As I got closer to the summit, I was astonished by the amazing colors in the sky and all of the sudden, the sun actually peaked out below the clouds for just a few minutes before it would disappear behind a mountain again. I was so mesmerized by this experience, which ranks in my personal top 3 when it comes down to amazing sunsets, that I had to set up my tent on the flat summit in total darkness. I just couldn’t help but wonder to stare at the amazing mordor-like mountain with the dramatic orange clouds above it!

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After another freezing night wild camping on the mountain, I woke up to an amazing sunrise in the morning. The day started with a very steep scramble down towards the valley and I found myself in an astonishing beautiful forest area again, following the stream and enjoying the nature and wild life around me before I eventually made it back towards civilization and just in time to the airport thanks to my Couchsurfing host in town. It’s a shame that I can’t find my notes to this hike anymore to provide more details, but maybe it is actually good that way to keep the text short 🙂 Overall, I had an amazing time in the mountains of Bariloche, even if they really can’t compete with the landscapes in southern Patagonia. But I think there are not many places on our planet that actually can…

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