Trekking To Mount Fitz Roy

I went trekking for the whole day. I started late and before I left the hostel, I took a map at the reception. It said it’d take 4 hours one way to go to the mountain top. I still had time.

It was a nice walk but very hot. I arrived at a cross road. The hikers I met told me both Laguna Capri and the Mirador Fitz Roy led to the top. They suggested the Laguna Capri path because if I took the Mirador path, when I came back, I would miss it. They told me it only took 45 mins to get there so I decided to take their advice. Just as I turned around, I saw the couple I met on the bus yesterday – the American guy and the Swedish girl. So, we joined each other. Travis’s jokes made my entire journey a really fun one! 

We arrived at the first lake – Laguna Capri. The water wasn’t really that cold. It was very warm. But the water was very very clear, just like the lake in Bariloche. On the left side of the lake lay a beach… and people, like the beach in Mar del Plata but with fewer people here.

We then arrived at another lake. It was a small one but it had a very good view of the mountains and the glacier.  I don’t know the name of that lake. Travis and Marie just took off their shoes and got into the water. I followed. The water was freezing cold!!  My feet were numb in the water. There were rocks and sand in the water. I took some photos while I was standing in the lake.

I got out of the water. In fact, my feet felt very good afterwards!

We continued to walk after this break. We talked about different things on our way but most of the time, we concentrated on the walk. They would wait for me and if I asked for a break, they would stop too. Really nice people. Very considerate.

It was very hot.

I was dehydrating.

Lucky that I brought two bottles of water with me.

The path to the top was steep. I didn’t like walking uphill. But I managed to do it. At one stage, a big rock came out of nowhere fell on my leg. Very fortunately it only scratched my leg. Other travellers saw it and asked me if I was ok.

We reached the top.

Finally!

Yeah!

The view was amazing! Spectacular! It was really worth the climb! I loved it. But I wouldn’t do it again because it was quite tough especially the last part – it was steep and full of small rocks and sand and it was burning hot, etc. It definitely wasn’t an easy walk.

We went to Laguna de los Tres which was right below the snowy mountain. Travis dived right into the water. Marie did the same. I took off my shoes and walked into the water. It was another freezing cold lake!!! ‘How can you do that?’ I screamed. They said, ‘just do it!’ (Nike commercial? lol) Nah!

We walked around the top, went to another hill to see Lake Sucia and took some photos and left.

Downhill.

Well, it was better than uphill but still it was hard. My knees were hurting and my legs and my feet didn’t belong to me anymore.

I saw my room mate and his friend who was an Australian guy. We met this morning when the OZ guy came to pick the Austrian guy up. The OZ guy saw me dragging my feet but he kept pushing me. I didn’t like that. Marie and Travis stopped. We took a short break and chatted.

We then continued to walk. Marie gave me one candy as I really needed sugar.

We arrived at the town at 8:15 pm. In total, I spent 8 hours on this. That was exactly what the map said.

What a day!

I loved El Chalten, a place that wasn’t in my original plan.

The southern part of Argentina looked so different.

Backpacking was indeed full of surprises.

Another hiking day awaited me. 🙂

21 January 2013

Use the comparison table below and buy the cheapest ticket to / hotel in anywhere you like. 🙂 By purchasing through this aggregator, you are also supporting my work. Thank you. 🙂 👇🏻