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El Chalten: Laguna Los Tres hike

We started our visit to Patagonia with a bang. The Laguna Los tres is a 14 mile hike with elevation gain of close to 3500 feet – this is one of the difficult hikes in Patagonia, if not the most difficult. After minimal to no exercise on the 34 day cruise, this felt daunting. But, we pushed through and did it.

This was a group hike with our guide Lucas and one more couple from England.

We started at Rio Eléctrico. Mountain peaks were covered with clouds and we kept our fingers crossed that we will see Mt Fitz Roy today.

It was pretty hike with good views throughout. The hike started with uphill climb of about 1000ft and then settled into undulating trail with constant ups and downs.

Clouds still covered the tall mountains, but we started seeing clear sky’s in patches and the sun broke through.

Could see at least some of the peaks of Fitz Roy range

Eventually we got to a spot where we could see the hanging glacier. It was so pretty that we stopped there for a while. As we watched the glacier, there was a loud thunder and a portion broke off and created an avalanche. I tried taking a video but as happens always, Murphy’s law struck and my phone froze. Oh well, I am glad I saw it though.

Getting tired, but we still had the main climb left

We crossed a small bridge here that allows only two people at a time

On the bridge
Just loved this tree. Autumn on the way
Mayuresh wondering what he had got into. This is half way up the last push

The climb started soon after and it was brutal. The footing was bad, climb was steep (1200 ft in 1.3 km), and we were out of shape.

The rocks were interesting
Eventually we could see Fitz Roy and we were thrilled that the sky was almost clear

The views are amazing and the glacier lagoon makes for a pretty picture.

We learnt later that the cloud plume from Fitz Roy is iconic where it looks like Fitz Roy smoking
Relaxing finally in this beautiful place

I hiked down to the lake and the smoky plume was gone too

At the lagoon
Needed a picture for posterity.
We saw this red fox at the top stealing sandwiches
Condor in the sky

After our lunch we headed back.

One final picture before heading down

Coming down was harder for me. The footing was terrible and I saw few people fall. With my terrible balance, I was sure I would do the same. I climbed down so slowly that Lucas, our guide, asked me why I can’t walk down normally like going for a stroll!! Ha Ha!

A lake on way back, with Caracara birds and beautiful mountains we had just visited
Another view on the way back
And the last one. Since it took us so long, we actually got this shot with sun behind Fitz Roy

A hard hike, but we did it. At the trailhead we decided we were done and took a taxi back to the hotel instead of walking the 15 minutes it would have taken us.

That was it for us and we took shower and went for a well deserved meal.

We had survived. Could we walk another 12 miles the next day?

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