Sitting by the river in Pampa Linda and slowly finishing my book. We are in the land of no signal, internet or electricity. So I’m patiently reading an old book, and waiting for the slow passing clock to hit 4 in the afternoon. That is when the road opens and all the tourists will start going back to Bariloche, from Tronador. It has been a beautiful day so far, not too hot but still sunny with a bit of breeze swishing through the trees above me and the sun is gently kissing my sunburnt cheeks. My legs are tired, but I am not feeling exhausted. I slept for a long time. Looking back now, we slept over 9 or 10 hours every night of our trekking. Let me tell you, Lopez to Pampa Linda wasn’t an easy one, but it sure was beautiful.
“Don’t go, you’re crazy” Well, I should have listened.
The night before we took off from Bariloche, my mom and I got ready, packed our backpacks and charged the cameras. Of course, none of our expeditions ever got un-documented! It was also our friends birthday, he was hosting
Read more about my adventures in Bariloche!
Around 7 in the morning, it was time to go. We started our adventure in Bahia Lopez on a very hot Sunday, and the idea was to get to Pampa Linda in five days. Even though the beginning of this week’s weather report looked good, sometime on Wednesday or Thursday, there was snow on the forecast! We kept that in mind, but it didn’t stop us from going, it only made us prepare ourselves a little better if things go South. For such great trekking, we were surprised how little people we ran into, on the way. We basically enjoyed very calm people-free trails, swimming naked in crystal clear waterfalls and quiet camping spots all the way to Pampa Linda!
Getting dropped off by my uncle in Bahia Lopez made it official, we are doing this.
And I’ve been dancing all night to the mixes of cumbia and reggaeton. “Good luck”, I hear….thanks, I will need that! We took the Palotinos trail up to Pico Norte and then to Pico Turista. The beginning of that trail is beautiful and the views are the best, in Bariloche – within the one hour reach… You can see Tronador and Capilla (both very well known to my grandad). But when the rocky part starts up top, you’re regretting you’re decisions that morning. I certainly did.
The labyrinth of moving rocks might not even be that bad, but count in the classic Patagonian wind from the West and you’re done. If that’s the way this trekking goes, I’m not playing this game, my tired hungover self tried to talk me out of it. Of course, nothing seems as bad when you look back at it the next day, does it? Thankfully my brain is programmed to focus on the good stuff, in that case – the best moment of my first day is finishing a big bowl of shitty pasta and calling it a night, after those 12 hours of zombie walking. We slept for 14 hours! #Blessed
One of the benefits of CBD oil is that it helps you sleep, trust me on this trip, we did not need any!
The second day, our attempt to get up early fell in the water, as expected, but we didn’t mind! The hard part was over… at least what we thought?
You have to understand that this vibrant trekking, from Lopez to Pampa Linda isn’t a particularly well known. So going into this wasn’t something that we knew how it’s going to go! Then again, most of the adventures with my mom start that way. The trail was going up and down and up and down and up and down. The second night’s landing was Laguna Cab, and seeing it 6 hours before arriving at the little lake didn’t help our motivation when we had to drop down over 400 vertical meters into a river valley and then gain all of them back again. Which is why it felt so good when we got to the lake and gave our hurting feet a nice bath in the warm water. The mosquitos almost made it impossible to enjoy our tuna rice with mushrooms and sundried tomatoes, so we started a bonfire.
We also met some lovely trekkers at Laguna Cab. Two girls, an American and the British one found each other while backpacking around South America, joined an Italian hiker who lowered his pace and changed the plan of doing the trekking in 3 days, so he can hike with them.
In the morning of our 4th day we woke up to a clear blue sky, next to a crystal clear waterfall, but its water was much colder than before we fall asleep to her sounds.
As soon as we got to our camping spot the night before, we took a swim in this secluded oasis. Our views are absolutely fantastic. We are based under Laguna Kreton and we think this is the best camping spot so far. The weather forecast was wrong, yet again. There isn’t even a cloud in the sky. Yesterday was beautiful. We both agreed that the 3rd day of the camping was the most interesting one, with views that even top the classics of Chalten. (Keep in mind, that is coming from me – I love Chalten and standing under Fitz Roy takes my breath away each time).
This is why I think Patagonia is absolutely gorgeous.
I think it’s good how the best views are the ones that you get in the middle of this adventure! So you have no chance of half-assing this! You need to do the whole thing. We walked the whole day on these huge granite blocks, crossing patches of what was left of springly melted glacier, passing forgotten waterfalls shaped like slide (where we took a swim), and sketchy mallins, which I learn not to pass unless I’m wearing flip flops! Thank god for the spare socks, right?
Normally, this trekking takes about 5 days to complete, those who do it in 3 almost don’t have time to stop and enjoy the views mother nature provided for us!
But still, on our 4th day of hiking, we took our sweet time getting ready in the morning, because we had in mind we are going to camp at Laguna Ilon. We weren’t in a hurry, why would we be? This day, was the shortest of all. It turned out that it didn’t take us much time to reach the lagoon. After 4 hours of pleasant breezy walking, taking long breaks at Laguna Jujuy and having lunch at the highest point, next to the icey cornes, we were there! So were the insects, that followed us all the way over to the other side.
The campground was full of people! Over 50 more tents, with fellow hikers, did not look appealing to us! So the last minute decision led to completing the trekking in 4 days. We lowered down to Pampa Linda, with a great idea of hitching a ride back to Bariloche! We make it to Pampa Linda in only 3 hours! The sun is still out and we pass our friend’s hotel to sit down by the road. And to wait for a car, that will pass by and pick us up, on their way home. Tired and hungry, our shoulders hurt from the weight of our backpacks, which despite the big dinners, still hasn’t changed, ready to sleep in our own beds tonight. I am so happy, I’m singing songs about beer and pizza!
“I can eat all the pizza in town”, I screamed.
But nobody showed up. It wasn’t until 10 in the evening, when we
If you’d like to read more about our climbing trip to the desert, CLICK HERE.
So, Lopez to Pampa Linda. This trekking is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful Patagonian hikes I’ve ever done! Yes, camping under Fitz Roy or Cerro Torre is majestic. But this one is very special – might even be one of the most beautiful ones in the world! Walking through Patagonian forests full of larch, beech,
I’m also glad, I will never have to do it again!
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