Los Dientes de Navarino - Part 2

Day Three: Lago Escondita to Lago Martillo

We woke to random bursts of wall-shaking wind and percussive droplets of unknown density hitting the tent on all sides. I groaned at the thought of yet another cold and wet half day of hiking followed by another afternoon/evening confined to the tent. Backpacking just isn't that much fun when you don't want to be outside! Our ritual oatmeal did little to stifle my whines, but a short intermission in the symphony of weather sparked us into action. Though we were practically pros at packing up by then, it was snowing by the time we ammassed our soaked belongings, dismantled the tent, and began our day's trek.

Pout 

Day 3 brought us over yet another pass, Paso Ventarron. According to the route description, "Ventarron" means "Gale", and the pass was "a very windy saddle". I couldn't help but wonder why the many other very, very windy passes didn't also deserve this name, but Paso Ventarron did not disappoint. Luckily, as we came down out of the Lago Escondita basin, the clouds cleared up and we were able to face said Gale Pass in dry weather.

Farewell to Lago Escondita

Try as they might, the gales of Gale Pass could not throw us of course, and we were greeted by views of an enchanted "Land Before Time"-worthy valley on the SW side. Jeff scrambled up a ridge to get a better view while I huddled in the wind and took in the splendor.

Jeff on Paso Ventarron

Valle Guerrico

As if we truly had escaped a (ice/lava/famine/general desolation)-ridden land to arrive at a luscious valley full of life and hope (five out of five North American beavers agree), the sight of the Lagunas Chevally Basin that afternoon heralded glorious sunshine and vibrant color for the rest of our trek.

Beaver pond with Cerro Clem in the distance

More impressive beaver engineering

We hiked a wee bit further than the 5-day route description suggested and selected a cushy campsite at the far end of Lago Martillo, under the watch of Cerro Clem and the Lindenmeyer range.

Lago Martilla and the Lindenmeyer range

We rested,

A chair made of cushion plant!

We dried out our belongings,

Jeff's pits needing drying, too 

We frolicked a bit,

And we watched the sun fall behind some of the southernmost peaks in the world.

Despite its rocky start, this day has earned a FAVORITE badge for our trip so far. Que bueno.

Day Four: Lago Martillo to Lago de Los Guanacos

With dry gear and the sun finally on our side, we took our time beginning Day 4, and hit the route with steady smiles and lofty outlooks.

The highest pass of the trek falls on Day 4, and Paso Virginia, at 850m, demarcated the beginning of our decent back to civilization.  We could see it from Lago Martillo, and it didn't look so bad. It's difficult to see shin-deep mud and massive erosion from 5k away though, and Paso Virginia was no sweet lady.

Trying to keep some distance and maintain the illusion that we were really "out in it", we hurried past the other group of four trekkers and barely uttered "Hola" to another two. In the lead once again, Jeff did things like 'take bearings' and I followed him.

He was having a blast finding our way, and I was having a blast following him. We only got really lost once in some lenga trees and decieving underbrush. Even then, it didn't take long to get back on course, and pretty soon, the way was obviously up; up through steep, slippery, squishy MUD. This was not ordinary mud. This was the gloppy, character-swallowing stuff of the movies. We tippy-toed on rocks, sidled along roots, and swung up tree trunks to avoid the stuff.

Valle Guerrico. Mud.

But there was no avoiding the stuff, and we arrived at the top of the treeline coated in tierra del fuego, leaving the beautiful, but treacherously muddy slopes of Valle Guerrico behind.

The remainder of Paso Virginia was a really wide saddle of shale that felt unearthly and desolate and opened to the North with views of the Beagle Channel and Lago de las Guanacas below.

Paso Virginia

The Beagle Channel from Paso Virginia

Still no joke, the Los Dientes route then required us to heel-dig down a steep scree slope to reach the Lago and our campsite.

Our descent from Paso Virginia to Lago de las Guanacas 

Paso Virginia from Lago de las Guanacas

We camped at the slightly lower and more masculine Lago de los Guanacos and celebrated our eleventh evening in the tent (out of just 14 days in Chile so far!) with a 1/2 liter of Gato wine (a fast favorite), and a 1/2 kilo of pasta espirales.

Day 5: Lago de los Guanacos to Puerto Williams

Our last day on the Dientes Circuit dawned sunny once again (hurray!), and we got an early start down the trail, excited for the hot showers and a home cooked meal waiting for us at Hostal Pusaki in the small town of Puerto Williams. We got lost in the woods again and ended up on some stock trails (traipsing through stinky mud now), surprising a few cows along the way, but we weren't too far off track, as we stumbled out of the forest onto the island's one road just east of the abandoned MacLean seafood processing plant, to which we were supposed to end up just west.

Patty Pusaki was an amazing hostess, incredibly patient with our terrible Spanish and a maestro in the kitchen. It would've been nice to stay more than one night with her and Theo the puppy, but Argentina was calling and we moved on!