jumping in puddles...: honeymoon dia 39

called a cab for a ride to a trailhead this morning. 20 minutes and some bumpy roads later and we were at a random spot of a road with a gate. i guess this is where we go then?

we walked a road for a short while, paralleling the creek coming down from our destination glacier’s lake – laguana de los tempanos. the road was lined with thousands, if not millions, of buttercups. a fine way to start out a day. and the creek had a nice montana feel to it as well. the only downside was the muckiness of the trail in spots (compounded by my decision to wear sandals this day to prevent blister pains).

we crossed the creek using some cute ladder bridges, and the trail begins to climb steeply along a ridge. the forest here had the largest trees we’ve seen in patagonia and the crisp morning air made the hike feel like an autumnal excursion. like normal, carrie motored and i did my best to keep up. an hour or so later and we reached the lake. unlike most of our patagonia hikes, crowding was not an issue here.

we sat for a bit, explored the lake’s surroundings, and then decided to head up to a ridge to the west of the lake. some people take guided trips to walk on the glacier and up to the nearby summit, but we didn’t have the gear for that option – hence the ridge decision.

it turned out to be really enjoyable. super lush mosses and lichen covered the rocks surrounding us – the kind that when you step on it, it feel like you’re going to sink in forever. i picture these kind of plants essentially being the “start of life” for other plants.

also super awesome was this nice spiky ball of a flower that smelled like a blend of a pina colada and vanilla candles – except way fresher and purer. downwind of the flowers, you could smell the scent consistently for minutes upon minutes. quite a treat!

now, on the ridge, we rambled for awhile. great views of the glaciers on either side of us along with dozens of tarns left behind by a the receding ice. one of the tarns was so bright from the glacial silt that it seemed there were lights on inside of it.

enjoyed the top for awhile, knowing that we had some time to complete the rest of the trip and get back for the taxi pickup.

we took a different route down and walked around the topside of the lake to explore the many tarns where we saw a group of climbers that were somehow turned back on their attempt at the summit. not sure how. we dropped down the lake outlet to where we picked up the secret hidden high route trail to the valley east of us. quite a nice route actually, and it definitely beat going back down our trail for an hour and connecting at the trail junction for laguana encantada.

up and over we went. then down to the lake. we ran into a solo british hiker that was not very impressed by the “lagoon.” not sure what her deal was, but we enjoyed it, even with the clouds and light rain hitting us. it was interesting to see all the beaver dams on this lake and the destruction of the nearby forests. apparently, the beavers here were introduced from canada and are a real nuisance. reportedly, you can find them on the menus at the local restaurants too. earlier we had spotted one in a little pond. the little guy even slapped his tail on the water for us.

we hiked out and rested sore body parts in the creek (my feet, carrie’s IT band). made it back to the taxi pickup location where there was no taxi, and waited for awhile. like an hour. eventually called for one since it was clear our cabbie wasn’t coming.