My last day in Patagonia and I had one last excursion to make. This one sounded a little dodgy to me: just hike to the bus station and catch a 3 hour bus ride to the little town of El Chalten, hike on some trails near El Chalten, and then catch the bus back to El Calafate again. To me it all sounded a bit vague, but I was game.
Now today’s forecast was truly meant to be pretty awful! Heavy, cold rain. What was I going to do? Well, the bus tickets were already paid for, so I might as well just go check the town out. Peering out my window and another early pitch black start of the day, I could see that it was snowing quite heavily. It was beautiful, but it probably meant that the trails would all be closed. I overheard some fellow hostellers mention that there were only a few trails open when they had gone up a few days earlier – and that was after only a few inches of snow.
I trudged out to find the bus station and find my bus for the three hour ride. The three hour trip became a four hour trip due to the very slippery, snowy driving conditions. Some parts of the road were still completely snow covered and others were only open in one lane. I hadn’t realized it while I half snoozed in the back of the bus, but they snow was actually getting deeper and deeper! Along the way we were treated to scores of llama cousins along the roadside, driven out of the mountain snows looking for food.
By the time the bus got to El Chalten it seemed clear to me there would be no hiking today. I hopped off and started walking out into the snow to find that it was seriously deep! At least the snow seemed to be stopping and that rain never materialised. I trudged around town looking for a coffee shop or some place to keep warm, as well as the national park office to see what their advice would be. I finally realized, remembering from what I had read before being bussed out there, that the national park office was actually supposed to be out around the entrance of the town and the bus was supposed to stop there on the way in. The bus didn’t bother stopping because the snow was too deep, so I decided to hike back out to chat with the rangers anyway.
Just as I headed up the driveway, around lunchtime, a pickup truck full of rangers pulled out and stopped to say ‘hi’. They said they would be back in an hour but that they had just cleared a trail that I could follow if I was interested. Of course, I thought I had to at least check this trail out.
The trail was hardly discernible from the rest of the snow, mainly due to the lack of visual contrast in the bright landscape, but it did appear to be there – stamped out with their snowshoes? I followed it to see where it would take me. No getting lost today! Every other direction just led into snow that was too high to walk through, so I just kept following the trail as it climbed up on hills, through a small pine forest, and then up onto a big cliff on a small mountain overlooking the town.
It was very deep. Maybe 3 feet?! But it was so exquisitely beautiful! A total winter wonderland, and I was so lucky to be the first hiker of the day (besides the rangers) and have the opportunity to see all the heavy snow blanketing the trees, bushes, and gorgeous landscape!
After a few hours up in the snow and going photographically ballistic (again), I returned to chat with the rangers about the park. The official measurement of snow came to 60cm (2 feet) they said. There were other hikes to do, as well as climbing and all sorts of other outdoor activities, but most everything was closed. There was the possibility of hiking 3kms out the north side of town along a road to see a big waterfall, but when I toyed with that idea I wasn’t too impressed with the slipperiness of the roads or the annoying traffic – and I needed to eat, anyway, so I hunted for a cafe. It was not easy to find one as the town was mostly shut due to the late tourist season and snowfall, but I did finally find a place to hang out for a few hours before my bus was due to return.
I did meet a local guy who had trekked out to the waterfall this morning who said it was beautiful and would have been worth it. Oh well!
But anyway, another amazing day! Three in a row!
Uh oh, the last time this happened to me, something really bad happened the following day. Hopefully my luck will hold out this time!
