One of the highlights of our trip to Patagonia was exploring in and around El Chalten, Argentina.  Multiple trail heads just a few minutes walk from the middle of town gave us access to stunning views of Mount Fitz Roy, and the surrounding mountains. With only limited time we hiked Laguna Torre on the afternoon that we arrived, and the following day, we hiked Laguna de los Tres. The following pics are from our hike of Laguna de Los Tres.

The views from Mirador Fitz Roy were amazing.  Climbing up onto the small outcropping of rock, looking out on the range, was an indescribable moment.  One of those moments where Mother Nature grabs you by the heart and blows joy into your soul.  I felt like a kid in a candy store.  I couldn’t stop hooting and hollering with joy.  As a team we were so overjoyed, we took shot after shot of the view.

After crossing Rio Blanco the trail began its final steep ascent to the lake.  The steep switchbacks were made more difficult by the hoards of other trekkers on the route.  Over and over we paused to let descending hikers pass.  Some of us even developed Spiderman like moves to make it through some of the tighter more exposed sections of the climb!

We celebrated our arrival at the lake with cold beer and snacks.  It was such a mesmerizing view we could almost drown out the noise from the hundreds of other hikers.(Literally hundreds of people at the lake)

At the end of the day this was a day hike for the record books.  The scenery was breathtaking and constantly changing, a surprise beyond every switchback.  We had an amazing crew to share it with and I’ll remember those laughs for the rest of my life!