The newly marked trail starts only 15 minutes from the Lodge where a small arrow sign directs us to the right.  We will make the 16 km loop counterclockwise – hopefully running into the suspension bridge after 5 kms. Some of the group have decided they will turn back at this point, to make it a 10 km day. Others will decide when they get there.

See Helen’s bright blue jacket?

The lakes are spring fed. This one is quite dry but still has water. Others on this trail are completely empty of water.

The grasses are slowly recovering after decades of sheep farming. Now the tufts blend together and the variety of species is increasing.

Small steps to enormous vistas!

Hans in his Chilean Patagonian garb (every day!) has an emergency first aid kit on his belt; lots of extra supplies for us in his Chilean Air Force back pack. He doesn’t add or subtract a layer all day, while the rest of us adjust our wardrobe routinely to adapt to the various winds and temps: coat on, hat off, gloves yes then no, etc.

Glaciers in the distance are the norm.

There is no pollution in Patagonia!

BUT smoke from Cochrane’s 31 different fires blows in just a few minutes – then will switch out the other way!

Monica and Katie are not with us today. Here is John, Helen Davies; Dan Shaw, me and Michael!

Guanacos appear in the grasses moving in different directions than the prevailing wind.

Three in the group turn onto a road to meet up with Hans who runs back to bring the van. M & I trek on!

This is a brand NEW suspension bridge – that will connect the trails… AFTER we cross it through terrific winds, we find CLOSED signs on the other side! The trails are still incomplete. We DO walk across it – so scary!

The Baker River below is beautifully turquoise and milky from the glacial silt.

MP on the other side!

This sign means only 1 more to go! Looks pretty good to me!

Magdellena Penguins on Magdellena Island off the coast of Punta Arenas, the farthest southern city in Chile. Here for a short season of nesting, the penguins coexist with a few thousand gulls who keep to their own section of the shoreline. The penguin behavior is fascinating. They are sitting on eggs (either the males or the females) in their holes; they are cleaning out the burrows with a furious sweep or they are guarding and protecting their “nests”.  Their looks to each other say it all! What a busy life! Humans are only allowed to visit for one short hour at a time.

These llama like cameloids are flourishing in the Chacabuco Valley or Patagonia, Chile where sheep farming is no longer competing for the grasses.

The guanacos keep a community order that is fascinating to watch. Each member of the herd has a role. One of the males becomes the “sentinel”  on the lookout for predators, usually from a hilltop. The mature females give birth every other year. The mothers stays with the baby while aunts and uncles bring up the adolscents. The younger males argue with each other as to which one is the strongest in mock fights and serious chases. As the season progresses, the arguments become life changing – one will dominate the herd and the other male will be kicked out of the group to find his own way….these wandering guanacos are known as “the bachelors”.

The Lodge at Chacabuco Valley, Patagonia Park, Chile is a uniquely Patagonian experience!

The interesting aspect of this new national park of the country of Chile is that several facilities were already built by Kris and Douglas Tomkins in order to make the landscape an attractive tourist destination. Even though their intent was and is to “rewind” the area, they understand that the place has to be sustainable.

The Lodge is one of 3 types available in the park. It has only 10  rooms in two buidings.  It is made of reused and recycled materials and the basalt rock that is quarried on the property.

Built less than 10 years ago, the rule is no shoes inside! so as not to wear out the re-purposed floor surfaces.

The walls are decorated with black and white photographs of local scenes and local animals.

The first pictures were taken by Helen Davies; the second pix are by Dan Shaw. Many thanks to them for savoring the story.

This is the “bar” in the library.

A corner of the living room in the lodge.

The large common dining room is in a separate Main House. Food here is delicious. The vegetables come from their own small efficient garden.

Our rooms are along this hallway – some are doubles, some are bunk bed triples.

This small piper club airplane brings in supplies, takes employees in and out for their well earned time away from the Lodge.

The boat captain is right at home. He maneuvers through the waters never touching the stones or rocks that are especially soft. He motors across the lake if its blowing less than 50 kms/hr! We have waited over two days to visit since Lago General Carrera was full of white caps last week.

In the second picture below, there is a kayaker on the water.

More pictures from the Marble Caves – it was very cold and early morning crisp air. The rock formations look more dramatic in the pictures. I snapped away with my IPhone X – amazing camera! The whole tour takes an hour, but it was 3 travel days to get here!

Reviewing pix of penguins from Patagonia. This is Magdellena Island with rows of penguins on the top of the ledge and families of sea lions. We are allowed an hour to walk through the colony of nesting couples tending their burroughs for two months at this time of year.  The daily boat trips can easily be cancelled because of poor weather. Pick the early morning trip which is usually calmer seas.

You can see these guys bumping up to the edge of their territory on the Island of Magdellena. Just incredible to have been there in person.

On our last day of the Patagonia tour, we stop for an early and very chilly boat ride across the huge Lago General Carrera to see the Marble Caves – recently noted as a must see by the NYTimes (I would recommend this trip to only the heartiest of travelers!). It takes at least 3 days of travel from Santiago to get this far south along the mostly unpaved road that extends to the southern reaches of the country. We learn from excellent guide that the soft marble is still forming. It is not hard enough to carve. Water is making the most beautiful patterns in the striations of the rock surfaces. Luckily the water is calm today. Our first attempt, the winds whipped up such white caps, that the local coast guard closed the lake. Puerto Tranquillo on the Caratera Austral #7, a hi-way that bisects Patagonia, Chile from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas.

Entering Cerrito Castillo Patagonia Chile — at Reserva nacional Cerro Castillo.

The goal is to return in 21 years to this sign! I am standing in Argentina with Chile behind me…..it is also an area where the regional species of rheas like to graze (they look like a small ostrich.)

The sign is in a stretch of 100 KMs in either direction that is completely uninhabited, except for a small military outpost on the Chilean side and a customs house on the Argentinian side. There is no bus service here, unlike most road systems in these expansive countries.

The views are completely uninterrupted in all directions for our days long exploration that includes a stop at the Douglas Tomkins Look Out – a place that he loved and his wife, Kris Tomkins has continued to develop as a wild and open natural wilderness.

Our hikes go as long as we want them to! Here with John and Helen Davies, Dan Shaw, me and Michael Pulitzer. We are covered up in the face of stiff but exhilarating winds.

Puma Watch!

11 Feb 2019

It was in the morning after our long hike that our guide, Hans, had seen tracks on
the dirt road near our lodge. There a puma had dragged the carcass of a guanaco
(small llama that lives in the wild here) that it had killed. Hans followed where the
puma had dragged the carcass through some brush where he – or maybe she –
had covered it with a mound of tawny thatched grass to hide the smell. Hans was
pretty sure the puma would return at the end of the day.

So as the sun was setting, around 9:30 pm here in the Patagonia plains, Hans took us back to the same mound to wait in silence on a hill across the road
hoping to see the puma return. Would the puma start eating the carcass? We
were a group of 6, as only one stayed behind. We climbed up to a lookout down
wind. We sat in silence without a sound coming from anywhere.

There are no lights here either, so only a touch of sunset was lighting anything.
After about twenty minutes we decided to go down through the brush where the
carcass was. We didnʼt see the puma but did see that the carcass which the puma
had recently uncovered and started to eat. The blood was fresh and had not yet
dried on the animal. We were actually late!

14 Feb 2019

Yesterday on our all day journey back to Balmaceda airport near Coyhaique en
route to Santiago we drove by the site of the carcass of the guanaco. We found it
smaller in size and re-covered with grass (Photo: see the large light colored bell of
grass just beyond and to the right of the white flowers on the left side) I.e. the
puma had returned and started to eat the carcass but disguised it with grass for
his/her next feeding.

(Note the smokey view of the hills – there is no pollution here. This is from nearby
fires. The smoke has blown here and settled overnight.)

Hans, our Chilean guide wearing his Patagonia pride, introduces us to the General Carrera Lake.

Lago General Carrera – the largest in Chile – half of it is in Argentina where it is known as Lago Buenos Aires

It is blowy and cold water, but beautiful. (I am glad we aren’t camping like many of the young travelers who hitchhike along the Carrertera Austral #7) Lake is 580 meters deep (almost 2,000 feet!) and goes forever with islands and inlets and coves. The Marble Caves are tucked away here, too!

The milky river water is full of minerals from the glaciers that pours into the pristine lake.

This is the fire department – everyone is out fighting the fires that are popping up around the lake.

Puerto Tranquillo misses out on any hope of of charm factor! The restaurants we try are just bearable. This place is so removed from the world, it’s amazing there is fresh food at all!

This gas station was open three years ago when we came through – it was the only one with gas then! No such luck this year!

Overgrown corner lot!

Clouds don’t let up – winds keep up their pace all afternoon.

Old vehicles can work as shelter! The blue box car is for the Ministry of Mining.

A Frame restaurant features a second story vista! across Lago General Carerrea

Our hotel is battered by the winds tonight. Glad to have the shelter and the bed! Next time, we might just keep going!

Sign to the Marble Caves. The white X on the blue sign means – NO SAILING!

Police on patrol to make sure nobody goes on the lake!

Beautiful! But Dangerous!!