We like to be hardcore, so the day after our 24 km trek on the Fitz Roy trail we set out to tackle the Torre trail. After climbing the hill from town to the start of the track we were on our way.
Views from the Torre trail in El Chalten, Argentina
This trail is well-balanced so we didn’t have too many continuous steep climbs or descents at any point. After about twenty minutes we reached a lookout point for a waterfall and then continued along the path, which follows Rio Fitz Roy to the walk’s objective: Laguna Torre.
All of the water from the rivers, streams and lagoons in El Chalten is safe to drink and tastes delicious.
Much of the track for this hike took us through cool forest and we enjoyed hearing the river rushing by us. We were grateful for the shaded areas because this particular autumn day was unseasonably warm. After about three hours we reached the lagoon.
Laguna Torre, with a view of Glaciar Grande
Despite it being called Glaciar Grande, we didn’t find this glacier to be nearly as impressive as the one we saw at Piedras Blancas the day before. But we stopped to take a rest anyway. I joked that there would probably be some crazy people trying to swim in the water because the weather was so nice. Not more than two minutes later we heard a small group approaching from the trail. One of the guys was making strange grunting sounds and then proceeded to strip off all his clothes and swim out to the whale-tail shaped ice formation seen in the photo above on the lower-righthand corner.
“Rapido, rapido! Muy frio,” he yelled to his friend who was taking a picture. I’m sure it was ice cold!
We saw him later on the trail and congratulated him for his efforts.
“It was hot today,” he shrugged, smiling.
I hate the heat too, but that wouldn’t get me naked in the middle of autumn in Patagonia!
For information on getting to El Chalten and tips for the town, please visit our first post on the Fitz Roy trail.
What’s your favourite naked in nature story?
