[bobbi]

Patagonia, Part 2 USHUAIA, ARGENTINA 12.17.2012-12.20-2012

taken from airplane

taken from airplane

airport

around Ushuaia

our hotel

seattle connection

mt. olivia

5 brothers

Megellanic Penguins 12.18.2012 did a tour with PiraTour....my understanding is that the company is the only one 'allowed' to have visitors walk amongst the penguins so...

Gentoos also nest here....gentoos build their nest above ground using rocks

pt. williams, chile...most southern town

Story: before heading to Martial Glacier, my friend Blaze, and i had to get some bussing business done downtown after our penguin tour. so from downtown Ushuaia, we made our way towards the glacier. urban hiking at its finest! two women yakking and yakking until i 'felt' that we had gone too far. we continued a bit until we came to what looked like a trail. followed this trail for about a mile + onto a gravel road. oops! i noticed some kids playing in their yard and with my broken spanish, i asked which direction was Martial Glacier. the little girl ran to her house to get her mama. out she came and i once again asked which way to MG and even more important, where the heck am i? she pointed back towards where we came from-that's MG...but we were close to Tierra del Fuego!! WTH! it's almost 5:30pm. no taxi...then a mini bus was coming. stuck my thumb out, the bus pulls over, and after a bit of negotiating, $20AR was enough to take us back. we get dropped off at the MG sign. we laugh at our adventure the road was up up up. road not trail we met some folks walking down and with a bit of spanish i understood that we had a ways to go! getting late now. i stuck my thumb out again ....a gal from Patagonia Tours gives us a ride to the ski lift area. we hiked for about an hour and came to the TH for Martial Glacier. it is now close to 7pm. no time to hike as we have to make our way back down. so near where the gal from PT gave us a lift, i hear a car coming down so out came my thumb ....the car stopped and Blaze and i jumped in - eyes wide open! the guys had Michael Jackson blasting from their cd and the smell of mary jane overwhelmed us! i quickly explained where we would like to go in my broken spanish and off we went....down a long curvy road and a stoned driver ! (the driver actually did great....slow and steady.) finally we made it close to town where i promptly asked the driver to stop to let us out. i noticed the street sign name of our hotel...what luck! the hotel was only 2 blocks away. btw: this is Blaze's first hitchhiking and on that day, we caught 3 rides. Score! *after our hike in Tierra del Fuego-Senda Hito XXIV, i snapped this photo of the house where the family helped me for directions!

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house on the right

Martial Glacier Adventure

'fake trail'

hikers on martial glacier trail

view from upper ski lift hut

view from road

Senda Hito XXIV, Tierra del Fuego, 12.19.2012 yep we hiked from Argentina to Chile

the border!

Ushuaia to Puerto Natales, 12 hours including crossing strait of magellan by bus and 'ferry' 12.20.2012 THE STRANGEST SIGHTING!

ANCESTORS?

this photo was taken on the bus from puerto natales to torres del paine. i was photographing the mountain peaks across the water. when i looked at my photos later, i noticed this capture of what i call....ancestors! as you can see the land can be seen through the ancestors. there were no statues, billboards, or whatever! reflection should come from within the bus are the passengers and no one 'resembled the duo' in my photo!

dog at border-Chile

my confiscated sandwich returned...yum yum

sun

rain

car problems

dust

ferry

dolphin-strait of magellan

bus transfer in the middle of nowhere

TORRES DEL PAINE, CHILE 12.21.2012 -12.26.2012 hike lago grey, overnight at refugio grey 12.21.2012

torres del paine

guanacos

UV warning sign

catamaran for lago pehoe crossing

where's my backpack?

grand paine lodge

laguna los patos

icebergs

story: hiking along lago grey and sometime after the mirador, Blaze noticed that she has 'lost her clip on sunglasses'! after talking of its importance, we backtracked but when we got to the mirador, i decided to stay put and wait. Blaze left her pack to go light in search of her clip ons. along the way, she asked hikers if anyone found her clip ons. nope. after half an hour, Blaze returns with no luck. satisfied that she did everything to find her clip ons we continued our way to refugio grey. maybe a half hour or more later, i hear Blaze sheepishly exclaim that she found her clip ons!! when i asked her where it was, she said, 'tucked in her tank top area'! OMG! WTH!

going down down down

grey glacier

lago and glacier grey

summer solstice 12.21.2012 or end of the world

hike refugio grey to los cuernos 12.22.2012-12.23.2012

refugio grey lodge

going up up up

boxed lunch

bridge before campsite italiano

trail along the lake

our tent site at los cuernos

hike los cuernos to frances valley and back 12.23.2012

beach trail

with family from france

sunset from refugio los cuernos

rainbow from refugio los cuernos

hike los cuernos to el chileno via shortcut route 12.24.2012-12.25.2012

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trail to el chileno

whew! coke, it's the real thing!

refugio el chileno

our tent site

our tent site

other tents

christmas eve dinner at el chileno 12.24.2012

ready for dinner

hike el chileno to base of las torres 12.25.2012

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hikers heading to las torres

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hikers almost to the base of las torres

fin

las torres

jumping for joy

3 condors

hike el chileno to refugio las torres 12.26.2012

W

W

WE DID THE W CIRCUIT

El Calafate/El Chalten/Fitz Roy, Part 2

Fitz Roy

[yaki]

Hi Bobbi! What an amazing trip and experience this was. Such beautiful scenery and the culture too! I look forward to the rest of the report.

[puzzlr]

[Jim Dockery]

Another of my dream spots to climb and photograph. Thanks for the psych and nice photos

[Hiker Mama]

Wow, that looks amazing!

[zephyr]

Congratulations, bobbi! What an experience of a lifetime. So many terrific photos and your weather looked wonderful over all. I love those mountains down in Patagonia--very dramatic. Welcome back! ~z

[marta]

Thanks for the report and the memories. I love the flower pictures! Not too bad of weather either.

[iron]

[ree]

What an amazing trip!!! And you had fantastic weather in TDP!!! Lucky you! Trip of a lifetime for sure. Brought back wonderful memories - thanks! Great pictures!!!

short sleeves and no wind... are you guys photoshopped in there? btw, where are those tent platforms located? I don't recall those. Those penguins are KILLER cute! Their honking noises were hilarious to imitate too.

[IanB]

Very cool looking trip! Thank you for sharing your adventure!

I think this is a Southern Lapwing - though it is supposed to have a thin, grey crest feather. Maybe it is tucked down? (Also, a black tip to the bill and red legs.)

These are almost certainly Magellanic Woodpeckers. (M,F)

My best guess is a Rufous-tailed Hawk?

[Doppelganger]

[BeyondLost]

Wow! Just wow!

[bobbi]

what can i say but....totally awesome adventure! the weather was fantastic thanks all! too many photos to choose..... Ree: the tent platforms were at los cuernos and el chileno IanB: here is another photo. i'm thinking it's the male because i was apparently too close to the other bird (didn't even see it but figured it was close by since the male was very vocal)

Doppelgänger: yep, unsure how the 'ancestors' got in my camera! it's great though! my jump was only highlighted because of the setting

[raising3hikers]

[mike]

Grey Glacier has receded a long way since I was there!