Huemule Circuit & Perito Moreno Glacier – Patagonia: Multi-day Hike

28/02 ~ 05/03

Argentina

Tues (28/02) – Huemul Circuit

This was my second attempt at the Huemul circuit after our permit fiasco last time! At least I knew what to expect on half of the first day.

At around 10am, I left El Chalten towards the national parks building at the start of the trail. They asked me of I had the right equipment, including a topo map and harness, which I had. After pointless paperwork, I was registered and set off.

My trail runners were pretty torn up, and I had a rope and duct tape combo job on my right one, in hope it will hold up. I had my beastly crocs in reserve if they failed! I ended up wearing the crocs this day anyway, as I knew it was easy and had many marshes and river crossings.

The weather was not great, consistent drizzling rain for the most part. The rain even turned to snow briefly on the top of the hill. I passed the point where we has gotten to in the group before we had to turn back. It was amusing to see, and relieving to know I had no problems this attempt.

I made it to the first campground early, at around 2pm. It was early still, and I was the first there. I considered moving on to the next camp, but when I went outside of the protected camp site, the wind coming from the pass (aptly named – Pass of the Wind) was so strong I couldn’t even walk.

There was a well sheltered area, and i decided to camp. I met four Brazilian/Argentinian young travelers and had dinner with them over conversation. They we nice, but inexperienced.

Wed (01/03)

I left around 9am along with a Canadian guy who just happened to leave at the same time. I put on my taped ‘repair’ job trail runners and set off. We passed some amazing folded and faulted rock strata along the way.

We walked for and twenty minute before coming to the first zip line – crossing a fast flowing river over a gorge. I attached my harness and safety line and hooked them to the pulley. I then let the line take my weight, testing to see if it held, before pulling myself across the line hand by hand.

Never daring to look down, I found myself needing to use more and more strength as the line went uphill. I found a foothold and instantly felt a rush of exhilaration in making it across (alive!). It was scary, but fun!

I then watched the numerous people gather at the river below trying to wade in and cross, realising that it was too far and deep from the recent rains. None of those people made it across, it was just the zip liners in the end.

We climbed for a bit before reaching a glacier that we needed to traverse. I finally had a use in Patagonia for my microspikes! I put them on and had the freedom to walk on glacier airport issue. The Canadian guy had to carefully step and I often lent against him so he wouldn’t slide.

It was incredible to be able to hike on a glacier for free, and with freedom to do as I please. I ventured around some of the nearby caverns, bit they became very deep. After about half hour I made my way back onto the trail and took off the spikes.

Climbing up the pass was windy and wet, and the trail was hard to follow. Knowing where we had to get to, we made our own path there. By the time I got near the top, my makeshift repair job had failed. My trail runners were useless. *sigh*… out come the crocs! Well, aside from that 1-2km stretch, it looks like I’m hiking the Huemul Circuit in crocs!

Near the top of the pass the rain turned to snow, and the wind died off. It was quite beautiful to walk in the light breezy snow fall. Over the pass was when I saw one of the most spectacular views of my life. The endless glacial ice field of Los Glaciares National Park, the third largest ice field in the world. Even with the poor weather, the view blew me away.

After proceeding down the western face, we followed the glacial lateral moraines alongside Viedma Glaciar. This was one glacier protruding off the main ice field that we’d be hiking past later. Our campsite was near a small lake and shelter.

We arrived at a similar time to threw other hikers – an Argentinian, French and UK who were there to assess the trail as part of their business in hiking guiding. I chose a fairly protected site in a trench with a stone wall (that I further built upon), and ventured above for some other views of the area.

We had dinner in the weatherproof shelter, tomato pasta with lentils and parmesan for me, and discussed the amazing day of hiking. Later on the young guys I met on the first night also arrived and joined us away from the rain in the now somewhat crowded shelter.

Thurs (02/03)

I set off at around 9am with the three tour guys and the Canadian I met from the start. We had to proceed south  following Viedma down to the lake. However, toward the end was a steep pass to go up and down. Thankfully, the weather was clearing and was much nicer.

The climb up the pass was once again windy, to the point where you took steps in the wrong position, but manageable. The top of the pass offered great lookouts over the top of Viedma glacier and its terminal face.

The way down was one of the steepest climbs o had encountered to that point. A sandy path through dense low lying beech – good and bad in different ways. Very easy to roll an ankle on the roots, but offered branches to grab when slipping. One part involved climbing down a rock face with a rope.

I went first and had Canadian guy throw the poles down from the top in front of me so the didn’t impale me. The third one ricocheted off the rock and hot me square in the nuts – ‘faaaark!‘. The Canadian guy offered apologies whilst laughing at my expense – the bastard!

We made it down the bottom, thankful to see flat ground. I knew of a campsite off the trail that I was recommended a few bays up the peninsula, opposite the glacier, and we camped there. It was a great spot with a bay containing chunks of ice that had broken off Viedma. We ate dinner by the sunset and chilled out before it became too cold.

Fri (03/03)

A beautiful day it looked to become. There was no rush leaving our beautiful campsite, but we eventually parted ways from our spectacular view. The rest of the way back was following the lake back towards the north and hitching back to El Chalten.

The walk was straightforward but took most of the morning. The final obstacle was the second zip line – much different than the first. This one was over a wider section of water and was much closer.

To get across, you had to climb on poles to attatch and detach. The line was not as sloped downward, which made it more complicated to pull your weight across. When it was my turn, I attached myself to the line and went across in a similar manner to the first zipline we did. However, the upward climb made it very strenuous with a heavy pack on.

I wish I had of taken it off and hung it separately by this point. When I got to the end and couldn’t swing my legs around to the pole due to the awkward weight of the pack. I had to take it off, and have the Canadian guy grab it.

After that, I could turn easy and detach. It wasn’t until after that I saw the the guys come across with ease by hanging their pack separately between their legs – smart! Sometimes it’s best not to go first 😛

We walked the final part, and arrived at the car park at the end of the trail and were greeted by a family eating lunch. At this point, only the Canadian guy and myself had arrived, and the family offered us sandwiches with freshly carved roast beef and salad – ‘thank you so…. *OM NOM*… much… *NOM NOM*‘ I barely finished the sentence veggie devouring the magic they offered us. We attempted to offer trail mix in return (kind of as a joke), as a gesture of thanks.

The Canadian guy went to the bathroom at the same time as the other three tour guys arrived. They had a lift waiting and had a spare spot. They waved me to take it – I did in guilt, leaving the poor Canadian guy alone.

We ended up all meeting at a brewery for beers that night anyway (planned on the trail) and had some laughs about our trip on the Huemul Circuit. It was my final day in El Chalten, as I had an early bus ride out, so I left early.

Sat (04/03) – El Calafate

It was about a four hit bus ride to El Calafate. The only thing to see here is Perito Moreno Glacier. I booked into a hostel called ‘Bed and Beer’ – fantastic name, which had me sold right away. Was good fun and we even had a fire out the back behind the bar.

Sun (05/03) – Perito Moreno Glacier

Today I went on a bus to the glacier. The bus cost about $40AU and the park entrance was $50AU! ‘Holy shit‘, I think to myself. ‘It better be one hell of a glacier!‘.

It was.

The glacier was gigantic, reaching 70m from the waters surface, and spanned the entire view. The peak was only about 50m from the front viewpoint. I spend hours gazing at it in awe, as pieces broke off in office building size chunks. It cracked and groaned throughout the many hours I spent there.

It is the only glacier on the area that is not receding – moving forward around 1-5 metres every da.It breaks off a similar amount  every day, keeping it in roughly the same position all the time. We witnessed a huge office-size building piece collapse off the front, creating a 50m splash.

Trip Summary

The Good:

• Huemul circuit and it’s challenges and diversity
• Zip lining for the first time!
• Freely walking on a glacier (no tour)
• Perito Moreno glacier and it’s constant moving and breaking

The Bad:

• Trail runners busting open
• Expensive to visit Perito Moreno glacier

Note: My next post was meant to be on Punta Arenas & The Dientes Circuit hike on Isle Navarino. Then after, on Ushuaia and Beunos Aires. However, i didn’t have time to create this post and i ended up losing my images later in my travels.

~ Check out the next part of my adventure hiking from Mexico to Canada on the ‘Pacific Crest Trail‘ ~

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