El Pitriquitrón

The town of El Bolsón is surrounded by what seems like a hundred different peaks. Jagged ridge-lines overlook the town, and snow-covered peaks loom in the distance. It's impossible not to be awed.

We've spent much of our week in El Bolsón climbing up some of the smaller mountains. We visited the Cabeza de Indio (Indian Head), which looks like a man's face carved into the mountain (similar to New Hampshire's Old Man in the Mountain). Cerro Amigo (Friendly Mountain) was a quick 30 minute hike up; we almost felt like we didn't deserve to see the awesome views of the mountains and town below.

We decided to ask the local experts about the best hike in the entire town. Their answer? "Todos" (all). Hmm. "So what's the best of the best?" 

And they pointed 2,284 meters into the sky to here:

"Cool," we said. "What's it called?"

"El Pitriquitrón."

"And where's the trail?"

"That way." Pointing.

So that's where we decided to hike that day.

Tom pointing to the wrong mountain.

We ventured out on Monday, in the late afternoon.

We walked about a mile or two from town, and began a long, steep walk up a dirt road. After about 4 1/2 hours of walking, we finally reached the trail head.  (Fellow travelers: Be smarter than us and find a ride to the start of the trail head. A cab costs about $30 USD. We, of course, learned this once we got to the top, hours and hours later.)

Tom and a new friend

Rachel, shielding her eyes as she assessed how much further she had to walk

One more break...

From the top of the dirt road we walked another 45 minutes up to a peaceful little refugio (similar to a simple hostel). We spent the evening there, eating pizza, talking with other travelers about their experience with the climb, and getting some good recommendations about other places to visit in Argentina.

Scouting for birds

Note the wood-burning stove

El Bolsón, far, far below

Stairs to our beds in the attic 

Morning

In the morning, we got up early and started our 2 1/2 hour climb (further) up the mountain. The hike was beautiful, and there were times where we felt as if we were on another planet. It was eerily quiet, and the red rocks seemed to be from Mars. Every once in awhile, we'd come across a single footprint (a la Neil Armstrong) in the dirt.

The hike was a challenge. Rachel's refrain for the entire climb was "And more up." Unlike most treks we've done, the path didn't give us much of a reprieve-- it was just up and more up. But the views at the top were well-worth the effort and sore muscles.

Here we are sitting at the top, wind blowing all around us, and views of both Chile and Argentina for miles around.

It was fantastic.

- Rachel and Tom