El Calafate and El Chaltén are three hours apart by road. This expedition takes a week to connect them, and that is the point. It goes north across the steppe and over the Andes, down the Baker river to the Pacific fjords and the very end of the Carretera Austral, and comes back into Argentina the way the first settlers did: by boat across Lago O'Higgins and on foot through the forest, to arrive under the Fitz Roy.
Day 1 · El Calafate to an estancia on the steppe
Highlight · A first night at Estancia La Angostura, a working estancia in the middle of the steppe.
The expedition leaves El Calafate northbound for Estancia La Angostura, a working estancia run by its owners, a first night in the middle of the steppe and an introduction to how people live out here.
Night · El Calafate
Day 2 · Cueva de las Manos and Lago Posadas
Highlight · Canyon walls covered with hands stencilled by the earliest inhabitants of Patagonia.
Across the Patagonian plateau to the Cueva de las Manos, a World Heritage site where the walls of a canyon are covered with hands stencilled by its earliest inhabitants. The night is at Lago Posadas.
Night · Los Antiguos & Lago Posadas
Day 3 · Paso Roballos to Puerto Bertrand
Highlight · Basalt walls and sandstone on foot, with Cerro San Lorenzo on the horizon.
Into the Andes through one of the least visited corners of the region, with a day hike among basalt walls and sandstone formations and Cerro San Lorenzo, one of the highest peaks in Patagonia, on the horizon. Then west into Chile over Paso Roballos and down to Puerto Bertrand, beside the Baker river.
Night · Carretera Austral
Day 4 · Caleta Tortel
Highlight · Some 7 km of cypress boardwalks, bridges and stairways in place of streets.
South along the Carretera Austral to Caleta Tortel, on the Pacific fjords, a village of some 7 km of cypress boardwalks, bridges and stairways instead of streets, protected for its architecture and its way of life.
Night · Carretera Austral
Day 5 · Villa O'Higgins, the end of the road
Highlight · The Mosco valley, home to a colony of huemul, the deer on Chile's coat of arms.
The last stretch to Villa O'Higgins, where the Carretera Austral ends. In the nearby Mosco valley, hills and wetlands shelter a colony of huemul, the Andean deer that shares Chile's coat of arms with the condor.
Night · Carretera Austral
Day 6 · The last frontier, on foot to El Chaltén
Highlight · Across the border on foot, through the forest from Lago O'Higgins to Lago del Desierto.
Walk · Candelario Mancilla to the Argentine border · 3 h
Down one of the eight arms of Lago O'Higgins by boat to Candelario Mancilla, then a walk through the forest to the Argentine border, Lago del Desierto and El Chaltén.
Night · El Chaltén
Day 7 · Laguna de los Tres
Highlight · The Fitz Roy, the smoking mountain of the Tehuelche, from the shore of the Laguna de los Tres.
Walk · Laguna de los Tres
The great walk of El Chaltén, to the Laguna de los Tres at the foot of the Fitz Roy, through forest and past lagoons, glaciers and climbers' camps. The Tehuelche called the mountain Chaltén, the smoking mountain, for the cloud almost always caught on its summit.
Night · El Chaltén
Day 8 · Laguna Torre
Highlight · Icebergs from the Torre glacier adrift in the lake, facing Cerro Torre.
Walk · Laguna Torre
A last walk to the Laguna Torre, facing Cerro Torre, the Adela range and Cerro Solo, through glacial valleys and lenga forest, with icebergs from the Torre glacier often floating in the lake. Then back to El Calafate.
