Tuesday: The small town of El Chalten is north of El Calafate on a second huge glacial lake in the region. This town is the end of the road and people go there to hike then turn around and go back to wherever. The town has hotels, hostels, restaurants, a few shops, and a great ice cream shop!
We did two long days of hiking here which is more of Parque Los Glaciales. Day 1 was 24k or around 13 or 14 miles to get close to a huge stone peak called Fitz Roy. We rode a bus to start at one trail out of town and took a different trail down which ended in town This was my favorite hike because at one point you come over a hill and these huge rock peaks are pointing to the sky with clouds whisping by. It was magical because it was a surprise.
It snowed for about 10 minutes and that was pretty cool but nice when it got sunny again.
The second day was 10k up to a viewpoint above treeline, then an easy 10k down. The view was Fitz Roy plus some thinner torres (towers) of rock that were so impressive. From our high lookout we could also see a glacier, some lakes, and 360 degree views, so worth all that uphill hiking! We saw fossils in rocks near the top from lake plants and tiny fish. They have found dinosaur bones in the mountains too.
Hiking down we saw this big owl sitting within 20' of us on a branch. He watched while we took photos. This is the largest of their 3 owls called nakuriku. we also saw huge woidpeckers and yhis cara cara (hawk) up close. Sweet!
Thursday: Now we bus back to Puerto Natales, Chile to see a cave where they found bones from a prehistoric giant sloth and to visit a penguin colony.
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