El Chalten

Our base for various hiking, cycling and kayaking activities for the next few days.

View of Fitz Roy from town

A 1.5 hours bus ride to the lake. Does a brief rest stop with a scenic view point of the mountain.

500m ascend to a scenic lunch spot

Collected our bikes at the kiosk. 16km from Lake Desierto to Laguna Condor Refugio. The gravelled road made it much harder than anticipated.

Taking a break from the bumpy ride to enjoy this small waterfall.

Right next to the river and Condor lake. The small hut was totally immersed in nature. Which we could say 1 more night here.

Wood fired forest hot tubs, the closest you get to a japanese onsen. We did not do the 2nd part of river plunge into 4 degrees waters.
Dinner in the refugio comes with great mountain views.

Starting at the Rio Electric river, a 9km trail to Pincenot Camp

Various viewpoints for the East face of Fitz Roy

This is a supported campsite, and Sock's first outdoor camping experience. Definitely organic, LOL, comes complete with self-composting natural toilets and fresh mineral stream water from glaciers.
Only 50m to the riverbank with an excellent view of Fitz Roy.
We woke up early but the clouds were not cooperating, while we got the clear view of the peaks, the sun did not break through the clouds to cast its golden rays today.

A slightly off-trail trek to get a shot of Fitz Roy with the waterfall in the foreground.

We were initially having 2nd thoughts on whether it was worth the "detour", another 4km in and 4km out. Glad we did it, the view of the lagoon filled with ice bergs and the stony beach makes a good lunch spot.

Chance upon this rare male duck (Merganetta armata) which is endangered. It is such a strong swimmer and was feeding and navigating the strong river rapids easily.
Spanish name is Pato del Torrente.

On our descend back to town, the Magellanic Woodpecker (Biggest woodpecker in the world) finally decided to show up.

Another worthy mention when it comes to grilled beef.

Due to some mis-communication, our driver went to the wrong boarding point, By the time it got figured out, the group was already in the water and we could not join then. Sad