Patagonia - Day 11 - Tuesday, January 7th
Coming to you live aboard a transfer shuttle headed to El Calafate from El Chalten, Argentina. We conquered Mt Fitz Roy today!!! 15.4 miles, 3,400’ elevation, 8hr-10min - perfect weather! (We made a great call flipping our days to assure sunny skies over Mt Fitz Roy). It was a really great hiking day - tough - but scenic and very rewarding.
Today wraps up the final hiking day on our trip. My legs are thankful - but I’ll miss the tremendous scenery and incredible people I’ve met on this adventure. It’s weird - I run and exercise all the time - but I haven’t backpacked continuously for a while. I do day hikes often, but rarely do I hike several days in a row. It’s crazy how sore you can become altering your workouts even a little bit. However - it’s equally amazing how your body can adjust and become comfortable with the new normal. Just like on the Appalachian Trail - if I continued to hike 15+ miles daily - my body would eventually adapt and I wouldn’t be so sore each day. The body is pretty incredible.
Today Greg and I hiked with Michael and Doug. They had a guide so we sort of went ahead and met up at the amazing lake atop the final climb, with Mt Fitz Roy in the backdrop. Michael beat all of us to the lake - he was strong today. The guide stayed with Doug - really helping him navigate the very technical downhill that came after the lake. Mt Fitz Roy is the iconic peak in Argentinean Patagonia - and we were lucky enough to see it in perfect weather! The views today mimicked the views we were able to experience on the Tower hike at Torres del Paine - absolutely spectacular!!
We got back to our hotel about 3:30pm. We cleaned up and went out for an early dinner - as Greg and I are taking this shuttle and will only be arriving into El Calafate around 9 pm.
Tomorrow (Wed, Jan 8th) we have a glacier tour setup - to see the famous Perito Moreno Glacier. We’ll have a few walks throughout the day - but nothing too serious. I’m looking forward to sitting back and just enjoying the scenery.
Thursday we’ll be flying back to the US - ultimately arriving midday on Friday, Jan 10th. Here’s to taking it all in and making the absolute most of the time we have left in this amazing part of the world!
We made it to our hotel in El Calafate- a nice place but the Wi-Fi in the room is pretty weak - so it’s 10:40pm and I’m down in the hotel lobby finishing up the blog and checking messages. Just about ready for some nice shut-eye. Goodnight from Patagonia!
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