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Today was a big mileage day. I calculate that is was a 14 km trek out to the Mirador Maestri, and then another 6 km back to the trail junction (we hiked back from Mirador Maestri via Camp De Agnostini). At the trail junction, we had the option of continuing directly back to El Chaltén, but instead we took the north bound trail up the hill to Lago Hija and Lago Madre. It was 8 km along the Lago Madre trail, which took us up to Camp Poincenot trail. At that trail junction, we did turn downhill and hiked another 7 km to El Chaltén. That's a total of 35 km, or 21 miles. Definitely our longest hike on this trip, but the weather was so pleasant and the scenery spectacular, so it wasn't an exhausting ordeal but rather it was fun. It didn't hurt our efforts that the trails we took were relatively flat. Yes, the first couple of kilometers of trail out of El Chaltén were uphill, but all trails leaving El Chaltén start with a climb. But once we reached the level of the Rio FitzRoy, it was mostly level walking through forest. We stopped for a short bit to admire a big black woodpecker (which I later learned was a female Magellenic woodpecker - only the males have the bright red feathers on their head). Before reaching Lago Torre, the trail forks - we took the route thru Camp Prestadores because it was the more direct path to the morraine. We climbed up the morraine - a huge pile of rock and scree left behind by the retreating glacier. The track out to Mirador Maestri follows the spine of this morraine. The park warns you to expect to expect strong gusting winds on the morraine, but we felt just a warm wind that died away the closer we got to Mirador Maestri. The view at Mirador Maesti is fantastic. The viewpoint gives you a sweeping panorama of Glacier Grande and the Cordon Adela mountains. We were fortunate that the clouds had blown away from Cerro Torre, so we enjoyed a marvelous view of that iconic peak. It was sunny and warm at the viewpoint, so we spent some time out there admiring the view and eating our lunch. It was a bit surprising that more people didn't make the hike out to the Mirador considering what a wonderful day we had. We hiked back along the top of the morraine, pausing to look back on occasion and admire Lago Torre and Glacier Grande. On the return trip, we took the route through Camp De Agostini, just to see what scenery would look like on the other trail option. The Camp De Agostini trail follows the Rio FitzRoy, which drains from Lago Torre. At about 2 PM, we were at the trail junction - we had the choice of continuing directly back to El Chaltén, or we could go north and see the Lago Hija and Lago Madre (Daughter and Mother Lakes). Since the weather was so nice and we weren't tired, we took the lake trail. It was uphill to reach Lago Hija, but the trail was in a shaded forest. Along the way we saw a male Magellenic woodpecker, with his brilliant red head. Lago Hija and Lago Madre looked like blue gems on the beautiful sunny day. Their waves sparkled from the sunlight, and they looked so serene and peaceful. There are a couple of nice viewpoints, including a spot where FitzRoy can be seen behind Lago Madre. By 4 PM, we reached the junction with the Camp Poincenot trail. From that point, it was a 7 km jaunt down to El Chaltén. We were back in town just before 6 P.M. There were cookies and a pan of apple crumble cake wait for us at lo de Tomy in our apartment. It was yet another great day on this great vacation. Panorama Photos
MapsThe map of our hike 
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Click on any thumbnail to begin the slide show at that photograph Lago Torre Photos
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