Ushuaia - treks

Ushuaia is a very good base for hiking. There´s plenty here for all levels from nice gentle 3 hour coastal walks to not so gentle scree, bush bashing and route finding kind of stuff. We did a bit of both (intentionally and unintentionally).



The first hike we did was Sierra Valdivieso Circuit as described in the Lonely Planet Trekking Bible. Its described as 4 day hike but one of those days is only 1 hour so we decided to lose that day by adding it into the last day. Also we did the hike clockwise altho the book (and most people) do it anticlockwise. This was to avoid having to cross the biggest river Rio Olivia after rain (which we expected). Got a taxi out to the start of the walk, hiked thru the peat farm (just like a bog at home except they have funny drying/stacking shelves and cut the peat in bigger sections) and then followed a cattle track thru forest for the first 90 mins. Crossed the Rio Olivia after that in bare feet as it was sandy and wanted to keep the boots dry if possible. Went well except the water temperature was literally feet numbing - coldest water of the trip so far. After that it was 3-4 hours up the valley Valle Carbajal as far as the valley that comes down from Paso Valdivieso. Most of this was across moors and bogs of spongy sphagnum moss which is fun and bouncy for awhile then just pretty tiring as the pack weighs down on the body from all that bouncy walking. Also had to circumnavigate big areas of felled trees which is caused by the north american beaver - 64 pairs were left go from a farm in the 60s, have now multiplied and gone forth (a bit like the bible told Adam and Eve - didn´t know beavers were catholic tho) and damaged large areas of valley with their dams and tree felling. These little fellas can seriously chew down some big trees and their dams are really impressive ( I think Cork Corporation should have borrowed some for the building of the tunnel under the Lee cos some of the dams were definitly bigger, longer and stronger). At about 6pm decided to set up camp before the uphill climb to the first pass the next day. The sky was closing in, the wind picked up and we thought that was going to be a very wet night. Instead it blew itself out and we had a pleasant altho disturbing night sleep as we camped on that sphagnum moss and no matter which way we slept always felt like we were sleeping with our heads on the down side of the hill!


Next day we packed up lazily and headed up the hill towards Paso Valdivieso. Got lovely views over Valle Carbajal as we climbed and the vegetation got more alpine and sparse. Passed the Laguna Paso Valdivieso and over the pass where we spent a little time sitting on a big hill admiring the stunning view over many lakes, mountains and forest. There was a couple of glaciers too but not very big ones. Its also pretty cold in this area - mostly cos the wind is just freezing all the time. Lunched at Laguna Capullo before heading up towards Paso Mariposa. Described as a steep pass above a rock and scree filled basin we headed in the direction the map seemed to indicate. It should be noted also that the topo map for this region is farcical - its a satellite image (1:52000) but doesn´t have contours for many areas - hahahaha a topo map with no contours - seriously I do not jest. The LP 1:170000 map with contours was more useful. Anyways after about an hour of up and up and trying to figure out which part of the ridge/mountain ahead was a pass we just went for the most obvious and hey presto we were wrong. It was a cliff with a snow topped edge on the other side. Very impressive views (which we watched for about 30 seconds before the wind got too cold to bear) over a huge area of Tierra Del Fuego. Found a slightly more sheltered area back down the scree slope for a quick map/compass reconsult then headed back over towards the area we had seen another potential pass. We should have lined the pass up with the valley that was perpendicular to it - might have been easier to find! Also had to shout at the 2 Israelis who either were following us or had the same instructions as us to head back. Dunno what they did tho cos think they were also having a little spat. Found a pass which had incredible views altho a pretty steep downward slope. The rocks on the top were amazing as shaped into wafer thin slices from I presume continous snow/frost/wind action all year around. Slithered (and cursed) our way down the steepest part then it was easy going to Laguna Azul after that (which was stunningly beautiful). As we looked back up the valley we figured out we had basically just climbed over the ridge of the mountain and missed the pass completly as there was a much easier pass further south. Ah well thats hindsight for ya. From there we had a rough bash down (and occasionally back up) a steep ridge as far as the Rio Torito where we camped in a lovely sheltered area near the Salta del Azul (waterfall). Loads of beaver handiwork in that area again but really fantastic day of walking over 2 high passes and well above the treeline most of the day. The weather was superb too (well for that region) so once again counting ourselves very lucky.

The 3rd day walked up the Rio Torito to its source to Paso Beban East and West (which were so freezing cold). This was a long hard slog probably 4-5kms uphill to the passes. Its a relatively easy walk tho altho have to avoid more beaver dams plus some very boggy areas. The area approaching the passes is all scree and exposed and the view from the first pass isn´t great. The view at the far side tho over to the Paso Beban West and down the Valle Beban and onto the Three Picos is very good thou. Once again it was freezing at the top with a really sharp wind blowing so we didn´t delay. The descent out of the second pass is down steep chute of shale/slate but tremendous views of mountains, side valleys with glaciers and nothing else. As we descended into the valley and looked back to where we came from the pass itself just looks ridicouosly steep (but its not since I managed to get down without screaming in fearof heights even once). It was much easier to navigate thru these passes as there was only one option! From there we headed back into the main valley where the Rio Beban flows, followed the river flats for awhile (dodging more beaver dams) and found the little refugio Bonete(hut). The walk out from there was easy enough althou the last hour was a slog along a 4wd track. Managed to get a lift back to the edge of town after 2 minutes of hitchhiking and then a bus from there.


All in all a superb walk over high alpine passes, beautiful forest and moor walking and even tho it lacked the tremendous drama of the previous walks the actual route finding, wilderness, lack of people and walking itself was much more enjoyable. Would highly recommend this walk but saying that we were very lucky with the weather and got no rain at all. Would imagine it would be miserable and very hard work in less favourable conditions.

The next trip we did was a day out to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. This is a really pretty area with walks for all levels. We went on a sunday so it was full of daytrippers but still managed to not met that many people on the walks. There´s a camp ground out there too which is nice but pretty packed. Also feeding the wild animals here seems to be the norm - not sure the national parks in Aus or NZ would be so impressed. The first walk we did was to climb Cerro Guanaco (1092m). It started at Lago Roca (sea level) which is shared between Chile and Argentina and meandered along the shoreline for awhile before ascending steeply up a ridge for about 2kms. Just before the edge of the tree line there´s a really nice lookout. We kept going from there out of the trees and from there its about 2kms across a boggy bit and then onto slate scree with a very good track all the way to the top. The views are immense. All the way to Isla del Navarino, the Beagle Channel, back towards Chile and into Ushuaia as well. Itsvery exposed tho and we even got a shower of snow which was so light the wind was blowing the flakes up the mountain. Were tempted to stop for lunch at the top but it was too cold. Going down retraced our steps back into the wind so we were pretty frozen for awhile. Really nice walk which took about 3 hours.

From the bottom we headed back along the Sendero Costera which is along the coast thru lots of forest with lovely views. Meanders up and down a few little hills and is about 8km in length. Met a few very tired people on that part all of who asked us how far more was left to go ;) Lots of birds like steamer ducks, comorants etc as well.

The only down side of the trip to the national park is the cost. Its 35 pesos (about 8eur - you would get a good meal out for this) per person on the bus plus 30 pesos (7eur) into the park for foreigners. Its only 7 pesos for argentians - imagine if we did that in Europe or Australia! Lets charge the Argentians 20 euros for a pint of Guinness the next time they come to bet us in rugby - see if they like that!!. Its not like there´s any facilities aside from a few tracks and a good clean toilet block. A night camping probably makes the expense better value. The bus is a complete rip off as well as the park is only 12kms outside of town. Our bus company never turned up for the return trip so we ended up sitting in the cold for about 70 minutes until another bus company took pity on us and brought us back. We should have hitched!! We did attempt to get a taxi out there in the morning but they wanted to charge us 250 pesos - hahahaha!! He kept saying "Its only 80 US" - obviously lots of rich tourists come here, pay for everything in dollars and think this is a bargain.

There´s plenty other day walks and over night walks as well from here. Plus you can make the trip to Puerto Williams which is very near (but stupidly expensive US$110 each way per person). We should have done a bit more but combination of sleeping in, hassles with flight changes back to europe (I hate Iberia now) and laziness held us up a bit. Would defo recommend this area tho and probably enough to keep ya going for 10-14days and thats just on hiking.