Patagonia trip

[fleetmack]

Thinking of heading down to Patagonia in March for 10 days or so. Pretty ignorant on the entire area. For those of you who have been there:

1) What would you do if you had 8-10 days in Patagonia?
2) Lodging options? (camp vs. cheap hotel vs. luxury hotel)
3) Anything else you can think of, as I said, I'm quite ignorant here and am just starting the education process...

[Scott P]

1) What would you do if you had 8-10 days in Patagonia?

Are you looking for trekking, mountaineering, rock climbing, rafting...?

PS, if you want to go to Patagonia, it's better to have more than 8-10 days at your disposal. Are you limited to 8-10 days?

[fleetmack]

Trekking, no big time climbing really - just basic hiking, and maybe other sightseeing. We'd probably like a mixture of hotel stays with camping, most likely.

Completely realize that longer is desirable (it is to me, too!). Wish I could pull off a longer stretch, but I can't at this time. I can't swing any more than 12 days total off work, and need 1+ of those for travel on each end as well. Not ideal, I know. I took all of last July off to tour SE Asia already last year, and want to squeeze in another distant trip as it may be several years before I can pull off another..... after that July stunt I'm lucky my boss is letting me take off more than a week in a row the way it is

[Steve Climber]

I never ended up going, but I was planning something similar last year. I was thinking trekking The W, then up to Fitz Roy for a few days...unfortunately, those seem to be the most popular areas, but if you can get past hiking around a bunch of people, it seems like the views would be well worth it. I was planning on combo of huts/camping for cheapest lodging possible, as most of my allowable budget was going to travel just to get there. Have fun down there! One of these days I'll actually follow through with getting there

[ctlee]

There's a trip report by a guy named Zambo who did some backpacking down there--if you go to the trip report page and look under the category "other peaks" and add "Patagonia" to the search terms box you'll see it. I bet if you PM'd him he'd have some ideas. Pretty sweet trip report, too. I didn't reread the report but I think they stayed at some hotels too.

[Zambo]

There's a trip report by a guy named Zambo who did some backpacking down there--if you go to the trip report page and look under the category "other peaks" and add "Patagonia" to the search terms box you'll see it. I bet if you PM'd him he'd have some ideas. Pretty sweet trip report, too. I didn't reread the report but I think they stayed at some hotels too.

Just happened to see this in passing. Thanks for the shout-out.

fleetmack.....we were down there earlier this year. We spent three weeks in both Chile & Argentina. Trip of a lifetime. Here is the TR I did which was mentioned: http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.ph ... m=tripuser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anyways, give that a read and feel free to PM me with further questions. Happy to tell you as much as I know and fill in any blanks about the area.

Cheers!

[pbakwin]

If you only have 8-10 days, yes, do the obvious stuff - Torres del Paine and Los Glaciares. Everyone does the "W" at TdP, and it is world-class for sure, but the Circuito is also really nice. You will see far fewer people on the north side of the Massif. If you feel adventurous, I think it's possible to cross the Massif off-trail via one of the several valleys. Would take some leg work (talking to locals) & scouting, but would give a more intimate view of the range. I've also run up to Campamento Zapata, which is beautiful and has very few visitors compared to the Circuito & W.

Los Glaciares is awesome & all the trails are nice. Plus Chalten is a good base.

TONS more to do in this huge area, but this is a start. This has a few photos, including some from things we did in Tierra del Fuego:
http://pbakwin.home.comcast.net/SA2005/patagonia.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[vusteph]

I went for a month two years ago and did most of the highlights. However I only had a day at TdP because of the fires (I will have to make it back to properly see TdP!).

With 8-10 days Id probably just pick either TdP or Chalten (or Ushuaia, a lot of people I met didn't like Ushuaia but I really enjoyed my time there). I spent 2 weeks in Chalten alone and I wish I had even more time. The trails everyone do in Chalten will take up a couple of days, then add the more less traveled trails, and a trip to the Glacier Viedma, and a day in Calafate to see Perito Moreno if you want (you'll have to fly into Calafate regardless) you'll have a pretty jam packed trip already.

If you're going to TdP you either have the W to hike or the whole circuit. You might not have time for the whole circuit but a trip to TdP is absolutely gorgeous. TdP was so hyped up for me that I was skeptical but once you're there it's really breathtaking.

Lodging, to be honest idk what there season is in March. I went at the height of tourism in January so everything was open. I'd go for one of the smaller hostels (you'll probably have to email as a lot of places don't really have an online reservation system). If you're going to TdP stay at Erratic Rock when you spend a night in Punta Natales, it's a hostel run by 2 guys from Oregon who just loved the place and stayed. They have a meeting everyday about logistics of TdP. And then if you're doing the W in TdP you can either tent it or stay in the Refugio. If you have a chance to do the circuit, almost everyone I talked to that did it said it was incredible. Just seeing Glacier Gray when you come up over the pass is supposed to be ridiculously awesome.

no trip report but here are some of my pics from my trip (kinda a flavor of all things you can see from hiking) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 8b86d706d9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[drwall]

We just got back from the area a couple weeks ago, spent a total of 7 days in TdP and a couple days travel to and from. Keep in mind, from the US its typically a flight overnight to Santiago, and then another half day flight down to Puenta Arenas, and a 4-5 hour bus or transport to Puerto Natales and then to the park entrance. There is a bus to puerto natales and frequent buses between puerto natales and punta arenas. It's a full 2 days in and 2 days out of travel, which makes a short trip tough. I'd recommend a full 3 weeks or more if you want to see more than just TdP, but you take what you can get

We did the basic W trek while in TdP, a guided trek, simply to make a short trip easier with logistics for our last minute planning. We skipped the full north loop simply because we were on a schedule like you, and also jumped over to Mendoza on the way back for a few days of just relaxing. One thing to keep in mind is that the weather is absolutely unpredictable, and will likely change on you if not daily, at least from day to day. We ended up doing some last minute change of plans to get another day in since 2 days in a row were full blown rainouts and we wanted to try and hike to the base of the towers with a decent weather window.

The W trek is absolutely amazing in its own right, and you will leave with some amazing views of mountains, glaciers, and a very unique part of the world. the entire W trek is very well marked out, minimal navigation skills were needed on a very nice trail most of the way. It's also all below 3000 ft, so the hiking was less physical that a day on any 14er here in Colorado. Our long day was around 12-13 miles with around 3000 feet of elevation gained, but the shorter days were 5-6 miles with minimal elevation.

Plenty of ways to make this trip work, but a little planning is necessary if you're tight on time. We got a little screwed by some airline strikes which delayed us a bit, but well worth the effort and the experience!

along the way, camping would be easy to do on the cheap, there are the refugios which have camping, and some with hostel type bunk rooms, or small domes/cabins with reservations. some with showers and facilities as well. Plenty of options depending on how much you wanted to spend along the way.

[jbchalk]

I'll echo all the TdP comments above. A very cool area with just stunning peaks. We just camped at the Las Torres campground (adjacent the fancy Hotel Las Torres) last week for 3 nights and did day hikes. Would have been very cool to do that W loop (and met several folks who did) but we just wanted to make things simple and camp and day hike after having been on the go for 2 weeks in Antarctica. We basically tacked on TdP after returning to Punta Arenas from Antarctica by bussing it to Puerto Natales and then to the park. We hiked up to the base of the towers in snow and fog one day and didn't see a thing but then did the same hike again the next and got some bluebird weather with radiant sunshine. Was absolutely gorgeous. Its a nice hike too - maybe 7 miles and 3,000' vert. Those towers are certainly awe-inspiring, intimidating, and just plain amazing.

Have a great trip.

[Pops921]

I am not sure if the 8-10 days include travel time from the USA, but that is basically 2 days on each end. If that is the case I would pick one either el Chalten or Torres del Paine, it takes a day or two to get from one to the other. They are both gorgeous. Here is the place we stayed a great place we stay in El Chalten:

http://www.hosteriaelpilar.com.ar" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hike to the base of Fitzroy begins out the front door.

[skiwall]

Not to hijack the thread, but I'm planning a similar trip... anybody have reports on fly fishing in Patagonia? We're trying to come up with an itinerary that satisfies my need to trek around and my husband's need to fish every chance he gets!