This is what happens when you misread the trail maps.
It All Started In Buenos Aires, Argentina
Imagine this: you land in Buenos Aires at 8 in the morning after a 15 hour red-eye flight and you have another flight leaving to the Argentinian Patagonia at 6:30 in the morning the next day. At the same time, you are meeting one of your best friends, who had been backpacking with his buddy for the past three months. Today is the last day of their time together, so they want to celebrate with a good send-off.
Parties in Argentina don’t start until 1 AM, which means they go until 4:30 AM, giving us just enough time to go back to our hostel, pack up, and get to the airport for our 6:30 flight. It’s a perfect plan and I would not let my lack of sleep ruin a good time.
“You can do this, just sleep on the plane” I tell myself, as I sip my first drink.
The rest of the night was filled with dancing and celebrating with friends new and old.
The Worst Flight in the History of Flying – Buenos Aires to El Chalten and the Argentinian Patagonia
A normal story would continue the next morning, but this is anything but normal. So, later that night, we returned to our hostel, just in time to pack up our belongings and call a cab to the airport. Not only were we considerably intoxicated, but I still had not slept in about 36 hours. Yet, somehow, we followed our plan to the tee and got to the terminal at 5:00 AM.
And that’s where the real fun began.
As we started boarding the plane, something went terribly wrong. They tell everyone that the flight is delayed and start de-boarding immediately. Mind you, for whatever reason, they did not divulge why the flight was delayed. Either way, we were in the bus on the way to the boarding zone on the tarmac when we heard the news.
And again, for some inexplicable reason, they did not let us off the bus for an hour. The saddest part was, I was too tired to even be angry. Eventually, we got back to the gate, but of course the plane was not ready yet.
More Waiting
So we waited. An hour went by, then two. Three. Four. I started to lose count.
As the hours passed, I desperately fell asleep on the floor of the airport, using my backpack as a pillow. Sadly, this was not my first time sleeping on an airport floor and, with my luck, will probably not be my last. Oddly enough, the only other time it happened was on a trip with this same friend. I’m not superstitious, but I do think its just a bit sus.
Anyways, we were supposed to land in Patagonia at 9:00 AM and take an 11:30 AM bus over to El Chalten, but by noon, we were still stuck in Buenos Aires. It wasn’t until 2:30 PM that we finally get back on the plane. Shortly after, we finally arrived in El Calafate just in time to catch the last bus to El Chalten which got into town at 10 PM.
But, again, this story is not over yet.
Arriving in El Chalten – The Calm Before the Storm
When we got to town, almost everything was closed except a single grocery store. Reluctantly, we went in to stock up on food for the next day’s adventure. Then, we had to walk a mile to our hostel, since there’s literally no public transportation in El Chalten that late at night. By 11:30 we had checked in to our hostel, eager to rest up before our 13 mile hike the next day.
Early the next morning, we woke up and hit the trail hard. What’s cool about El Chalten is that the trailheads are located right in town, so you can just walk from your stay right to the mountain.
After a few hours ascent, we finally reached the famous view of Mount Fitz Roy, the crowned jewel of the Argentinian Patagonia. It was incredible. Crystal clear blue alpine lakes. Large glaciers descending from the mountains. Thousand foot spires jutting up from the landscape.
I was in awe.
Laguna De Los Tres and A Landscape Photographer’s Worst Nightmare
However, Mount Fitz Roy was nowhere to be seen. It was hidden beneath a layer of clouds…a landscape photographer’s worst nightmare. At this point, there were two options: stay until sunset and hope the clouds dissipate or go back to the hostel and get some much needed rest.
As a photographer, there was absolutely no way I would choose option 2. Plus, after all we’d been through, I would not go home dissapointed. So we waited. And waited. And waited. But Fitz Roy never came out. When the sun began to set, we decided it was time to move on and returned to town just as it got dark.
The following day was our last full day in this area of the Patagonia, and the forecast called for clear skies, which is rare in Patagonia. We had planned a trek to the other famous viewpoint, Cerro Torre, and noticed there was a 1.5 km connection between the Fitz Roy hike and the Cerro Torre hike. Theoretically, if we got up early enough and walked quickly, we could easily do both at once.
The Day-hike of All Day Hikes – All of El Chalten
Again, we woke up early and hit the trail. It was a perfect day outside. Not too hot and not too cold with clear blue skies. Only, we forgot sunscreen; yet another bad omen in our journey. Luckily, we were able to ask another guy on the trail to borrow some and he agreed to help us out.
It was one of those short interactions that make traveling so special. And although it may seem tough at first, trusting in strangers’ kindness is one of the most valuable things I’ve learned as a solo traveler.
Anyways, we made it to Mount Fitz Roy early that morning and were gifted with an unobstructed view of the mountain. We spent a short time taking in the full majesty of the mountain and then headed down to the next hike.
But when we got to the connection, we learned that we had made a massive mistake. What we had thought to be a 1.5 km connection, was actually a 7 km trail. And again, we were faced with two options: just go home, or go on the trail anyways. If you couldn’t tell already, we did both.
After powering through that 7 km we reached the next trail only to learn that we still had 5 km more to hike to reach the lake. I was not happy. And neither were my feet, who were screaming at me to take a break. But honestly, we had come this far, and nothing was going to stop us now…not even our own obstinance.
Arriving at Cerro Torre
When we arrived at Laguna Torre it was even more magnificent than I had imagined. Not only did the mountain look incredible, but the lake had giant icebergs jutting out from the water. Of course, you can only see the tip of it, but I imagine this one was big enough to sink the Titanic too.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have that much time to spend here either, since we needed to get back before dark. But at least we’d leave with a story to tell and many amazing views to share through photos.
Back at the hostel that night, sleep came easy.
In total, it was a 13 hour day of hiking in one of the most rugged places on Earth with a total of 24 miles logged.
Retrospectively, we easily could have just backpacked this loop, but we didn’t have the proper equipment and planed terribly. Even as a seasoned traveler and hiker, you can’t know everything. And sometimes things just don’t go your way.
However, I still look back on that hike fondly. It’s the type of adventure that you tell everyone you meet (or share on the internet) and teaches you a lesson. Not to mention the incredible scenery we got to witness because of our happy accident. I guess that’s why I wrote this post. So you can avoid making the same mistakes I did. But more importantly, so you can realize that even if everything goes terribly wrong, with the right mindset, you can have an adventure that will last forever in memory.
