Remembering the mountains

I was thinking about the mountains in South America today - we were describing our trip last winter to our visiting relatives (my dad and his wife).
They were spared the digital version of our "slideshow" from the trip, which actually would have been quite nice; I would have enjoyed it!

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Queulat National Park (another hike)

A magical park in Chilean Patagonia, along the Carretera Austral, is Queulat National Park.  

The hikes, views, etc. were all wonderful: the link takes you to previous posts.

Here are a few images and thoughts around our last hike before we moved south.

We had looked for this trail before, and hadn't found the trailhead (the road was REALLY challenging), and our lodging was at the base of the road. It climbed up over the pass, full of gravel, deep ruts, and slippery patches -- a bit daunting, actually. We'd been glad to go back downhill the previous day.

But, after a young park ranger told us, yes, the Enchanted Forest trail is still open, we measured mileage carefully (again) and finally found the trail head, amid the rubble of road construction.

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Argentinian Patagonia

In the Argentinan side of Patagonia, the drier vegetation (because of the rain shadow effect) is evident.

We drove along a lot of gravel roads (really rather remote and seemingly untraveled) in this part of our trip.  There wasn't cell service (even if we'd had "smart" phones along). And our other wireless devices...

But the landscape was amazing, expansive, and incredible.

near Esquel, Argentina (view from the "the Old Patagonian Express")

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Queulat National Park

I'm trying to find time to get back to our trip to Patagonia, among way too many distractions.

Here's an view of a wonderfully powerful river, below the hanging glacier in Queulat National Park, in Chile, off the Carretera Austral.

It's a wonderful place.

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Queulat National Park

This is a wonderful national park along the Carretera Austral in Chilean Patagonia. I've already posted an image of the hanging glacier (spectacular!)

Along another trail, the Bosque Encantando (Enchanted Forest), the moss diversity (and that of other bryophytes) was nothing short of amazing.

along the trail in the Bosque Encantado

admiring bryophyte diversity

another hanging glacier photo

the river below

my traveling buddy

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Carretera Austral and Queulat National Park

I've gotten totally out of sequence (travel-wise) with my postings, but here are some wonderful images that evoke the experience of Chilean (Northern) Patagonia along the Carretera Austral.

Hanging Glacier in Quelat National Park

The hanging glacier is a stand-out hike (in Quelat National Park).  The fiord stretching from Puyahuaipi and beyond is spectacular, too.

Near the Posada Quelat

A finch accustomed to handouts

boat in Puyahuapi harbor

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Chilean Patagonia and the Carretera Austral

Jumping around in our travels again, here are some images from a hike in Chilean Patagonia (off the Carretera Austral, a historically gravel road now being regraded and paved through much of its length.)

The Chilean side of Patagonia is much wetter than the Argentinian side, so the vegetation is a LOT more lush.

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Ruta 40 (Argentina)

Jumping ahead in our travels, here's an image on the Argentinian side, from our journey back north on Ruta 40, a legendary north-south route, stretching from far north to south in Argentina.

Ruta 40

It's largely paved now, but we bumped along some pretty remote graveled roads from the Chilean border crossing (without much other traffic) to finally get to Route 40.  Somewhat unnerving, actually!

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More waterfalls

 Waterfalls are on my mind; not only did we see a lot of them over winter break, but my gardening companion is currently sending off his talk descriptions for scheduled programs about waterfalls and wildflowers (hmm, I always get to "review" them before they go).

Here's the same amazing waterfall (with feral Colorado lupines in the foreground) with my gardening companion.  Maybe it'll be a publicity shot?

TS with waterfall

The light on this one was better, but taken unawares.

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Ruta de Siete Lagos

All of the seven lakes were perfectly blue.

After flying to Bariloche, we headed north on the Ruta de Siete Lagos, a truly breathtaking circuit.

Argentina is a (VERY) large country -- it was a two hour flight to Bariloche from Buenos Aires.

The first lake was amazing. My companion had to take a swim (in the very cold water).

The surroundings were quite arid, but filled with interesting plants.

The cushion plants were really interesting (to us botanists, at least).

unusual cushion plants (adapted to arid/alpine conditions)

The first waterfall of many!

Part of an alternative route took us over gravel roads, just a taste of what was to come.

My traveling companion

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Bariloche, Argentina Lake District, Patagonia

View from Cerro Campanario

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