Day 9
Waking up beside Lago Tranquilo, we watched the fog blow back and forth in the valley for a little while before it finally cleared, revealing the mountains further up valley. Not a single fish jumped in the placid lake while we pumped water for the day.
Once ready, we headed up valley and were in constant wonder at each turn which revealed another hanging glacier, waterfall or valley-spanning lake. Though a cloud free day would have offered uninterrupted views, it was more thrilling to catch peaks and icy walls as they emerged for a moment and then disappeared again into the mist.
After an hour and a half, we arrived at a small two-building guide facility built on the lee side of a massive, fresh moraine constructed by the Exploradores Glacier. We went to the information center and paid 12,000 pesos (~24.00, US dollars) for all of us. This fee helps cover the cost of maintaining a well constructed set of boardwalks and boulder staircases that lead up to a grand mirador atop the moraine. After climbing up the hill for about 20 minutes, we saw an ok view that overlooked a glacier with some mountains and ponds. My mom felt that is looked like a dirty mess. A field of stranded, gravel covered ice, melting away into silty ponds does not inspire quite the same as the azure blue starkness of a hanging glacier. Instead, my dad thought that this place was more reminiscent of, while on a hike, stumbling upon the corpse of a partially decayed cow or whale. Part sad, part intriguing, but nothing you would look to for inspiration.
My dad and I (Wells) decided to go to the glacier while my mom and sister went back to Jules to prepare food for lunch. We started by going down the fresh face of the moraine which was steep but not to hard, then we got to a mini forest where there was a trail that went through bushes etc... Coming out of the mini forest we arrived at a sort of hilly, rocky place where you could see little places where the ice was. After that section there was the bouldery place where there was tons of huge medium and small boulders that would sometimes shift under your weight when you were walking. My dad said that the fact that this was a ridge of its own and composed of only one type of rock (while the rest of the debris was many different lithologies) suggested that this might be a pile of landslide debris that the glacier delivered to this point. Then we were finally at the white ice of the glacier which was very hilly with tons of places where the water would flow into a cavern in the middle of the ice (moulin). Speaking of water if you ever go up there, make sure to bring a water bottle for the super delicious water that you can find in little streams or pockets of melted ice.
After taking some photos we went back to Jules and were greeted by a lunch of rice, sausages, carrots and onions. After about 1 hour and 45 minutes of driving we got to this cool abandoned rodeo on the outskirts Puerto Tranquilo and ate more rice, sausage and garbanzo beans for dinner. Thanks Dylan!
Day 10
With steady drizzle, a great Go Westy rainfly keeping the tent dry and a high quality cellular internet signal, we dedicated today to catching up with over a week of blog-backlog (7 posts in one day!). Plus, when is the next time you get to spend the entire day in your car, in an abandoned Chilean rodeo ring (media luna). I kept thinking Jules was like a bull that had outlasted even the last of the gauchos.
