Managed to avoid any lingual embarrassment at breakfast by keeping my head down and making sure I had food in my mouth whenever the effervescent owner passed. Cycled the 400m to the campsite and must have given the impression we had just rolled up after a wild night out under canvas as the equally chatty campsite owner bemoaned the wind (surely not), rain and blowing debris. Every tent was pitched close behind any available tree, shrub, fence or tree stump above 1 metere high. We found a suitable space and battled with the wind to get it pegged down before it took off! Then we set off for an initial exploration walk, despite the weather, and headed for the Laguna Torres where, in good weather, you can see the impressive towers of the Cerro Torre range. We followed the map and set off towards the trail head. It looked as though we would have to walk through the municipal tip until we met 2 Americans walking in the opposite direction shaking their heads. We discarded the map and followed our noses instead. Once discoveredthe path was easy to follow. There had been wild fires 5 years previously (started by discarded cigarettes according to the Ranger) so there was a huge amount of dead wood. Ironically this increased light levels seemed to have encouraged an impressive variety of ground flora and we spent a lot of time taking stopping to admire them. After an hour we reached the view point and read about the vista in front of us. It sounded quite spectacular! We decided to push on and ended up (after a boots off, trousers rolled up crossing of a swollen stream) at the Laguna with a moody view of the Glacier Grande which flowed down to the opposite shore. It was an impressively dramatic, wild place with dark swirling cloud wrapping around the base of the towers. We explored further up the lateral moraine and found a path off through some beautiful woods to a huge 'erratic' boulder in a clearing. Looking back to the towers the cloud was trying to lift, revealing tantalizing glimpses of shining wet sheer walls. As we were looking up, a huge male Condor soared into view and circled effortlessly overhead with the watery light occasionally catching the white banding on the top of its wings. We continued on and stumbled across a trekking camp tucked amongst the trees with satellite dishes and huge solar panels. It seemed incongruous to see multi-coloured domes and huge sparkling white mess tents in such a remote and wild setting. At 6.00 we staggered back into town (after walking a little further than we initially intended) and went to the first Panaderia for cakes filled with dulce! After a coffee and yet more cake we returned to the tent and managed to cook just before the wind and rain started up again. Thankfully the wind was louder than the bad guitar strumming drifting from the nearby cooking shelter, so we managed to sleep well!
Split rock in the woods
Client camp
Another sunny interval
