Miles to go: Back from the woods, smelling like sweat and bananas.

Well, after 5 long days out in the middle of nowhere, I´m back! And what an incredible hike it was...5 days surrounded by jagged mountains, glaciers, and crystal clear mountains streams. It seriously doesn´t get any better.

Here´s the summary:

Day 1: Crossed the Chacabuco in the rain (I got the unenviable task of going first, which meant that I went in up to my waist before we decided we needed to find a shallower spot to cross) after being dropped off by Luigi around 9am. Stopped briefly to change back into our boots, during which time Jon managed to squash the two bananas that were in the front pocket of his backpack. Swearing (and hilarity for Mack and I) ensued. What a start. From there, we followed old gaucho trails/bushwhacked up the El Aviles valley past gorgeous waterfalls and awesome mountains, one of which was (no joke) red. Jon also managed to squash the two avocados in his backpack. Nice work, Jon. Spent a freezing night camped right along side the river.

Here´s the view from near our first camp. Mack informed me, as we were hiking, that just about everything in the US pales in comparison to what we were seeing. Guess I don´t have to take that trip across the country after all...

Day 2: Continued up the El Aviles Valley, spending most of the time walking along the wide, gravelly valley floor. Climbed over a low pass with a sizeable boulder field and down into Valle Hermoso right as the sun was about to set. Valle Hermoso (Beautiful Valley) was, unsurprisingly, pretty damn gorgeous. It was also a welcome relief to arrive there after a pretty long day of hiking.

Here´s looking east up Valle Hermoso.

Some of the glaciers on the west end of the valley.

Day 3: Hiked east up Valle Hermoso under cloudy skies in the morning. Spent a lot of time bushwhacking through dense woods littered with debris before opting for the wide, open, gravelly valley bottom. Arrived at Lago Verde around lunch time. True to its name (they´re so imaginative down here), it´s toothpaste green. Hiked over a low pass and into the next valley over, then onward toward Lago Jeinemeni. I, once again, had to serve as guinea pig/water rat, and got to cross the river connecting the two lakes first. Thankfully, the water was only up to my thighs this time. Less thankfully, it was friggin cold. And windy.

Mack and Jon walking down the valley toward Lago Jeinemeni.

View from our camp on evening #3

Day 4: Followed a pretty clear trail up the San Antonio valley, crossing a small stream 20+ times (thank you, sandals). The trail wound through mature deciduous forests and would have looked decidedly New Englandish if it hadn´t been for the imposing cliffs on either side of the valley. Reached the top of the valley where there were several lakes of various shades of blue/green/brown, then camped a little ways down the other side.

Day 5: Continued our hike down the other side of the valley (called La Leona). Followed a pretty clear trail and arrived on bluffs above the Chacabuco around 3pm, significantly earlier than we expected. Hiked down, crossed the river, waited about half an hour, and then got picked up by Pablo.

Morning on our last day, looking down the La Leona valley.

Our view down to the Chacabuco...almost done.

Jon crossing the Chacabuco in his brightly-colored underpants.

So that´s the brief run through of the trip. Overall, it was the longest and most remote hike I had been on, and an incredibly rewarding experience. The scenery was mind-boggling, and the fact that I was so far from humanity was surprisingly difficult to grapple with. As I think I´ve mentioned before on here, growing up in the northeast has led me to the assumption that there are usually other people/roads/etc within 2 miles, even if there´s no evidence of them. So being out in such remote valleys, where the nearest major ´road´was at least ten miles away and the nearest person even further, was a fascinating intellectual exercise. Thankfully, all went smoothly.

I´ve talked more than enough for now, so here are some pictures!

The condor, from our hike up Tomangito (before we left on our big adventure). It was amazing to be so close to such a huge bird, particularly when we were standing on the ground and it was flying.

View from the top of Tomangito, looking down toward the estancia and the Chacabuco Valley. What´s incredible about this picture is that you can barely differentiate what elevation things are at--in case you can´t, we were really high up (my tired legs can vouch for that)

The estancia! On the way back from Tomangito.

And here´s the pygmy owl that we saw. The fact that I can take a picture like this with the tiny zoom lens on my point and shoot is testament to just how close we got. For scale, this little guy is about the size of a softball.

Beards!
And here, because all the moms were waiting for them, are pictures of our phenomenal facial hair growth.