hiking in Tierra del Fuego National Park

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Oh the mountains! Hiking in Patagonia just like I pictured it! After a very restful night in my Freestyle hostel and a great breakfast, a bunch of people from the hostel took a bus to the Tierra del Fuego NP to go hiking. The bus drops people off at various trails, which makes it really easy for those independent travelers without cars. Carla, a geologist from Spain, and I had decided that we would use the great weather (sun and not to windy) to attempt a hike up the Cerro Guanaco Peak in the park. It is a very steep uphill climb, first through forests and tundra and eventually over snowfields to the peak at 973 m. The trail was extremely muddy, in particular in the tundra like landscape above the tree-line, but the vistas and views across the Beagle Channel, Lago Roca and all the way into Chile made up for the streneous hike up the mountain. The last hour or so uphill is straight up through snow, which at times was knee deep, but a lot of fun and although the wind was blowing icy cold, the sun was shining and the views were spectacular! After a short rest at the top, we headed back down and stopped for tea and cake at the little cafe that is part of the campground at Lago Roca. Since we still had about 3 hours until our return bus to Ushuaia departed at 8 p.m. we decided to walk the 8 km round trip hike Hito XXIV along the lake front to the Chilean Border, and although my legs were a bit tired at this point, it was still so worth it. The sun was illuminating the surrounding peaks, the wind caused small waves on the lake, which created a tranquil background noise and just like on the earlier hike in the morning we only saw a handful of other hikers. I hope that the pictures can give you a small idea of how beautiful the setting was.
We returned to the hostel around 9 p.m. and after a shower, pizza and a Quilmes serveca, I was out for the count, dreaming of mountains and lakes in Patagonia!

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