When I was traveling, I was a yes man of sorts. People would ask me if I wanted to do something, and more times than not, I wouldn’t even research the said thing, I would just say “HECK YES.” So when my friend texted me about doing a hike in Argentina, I said “absolutely,” before even researching what I was getting myself into. I had done long hikes at crazy altitudes and felt confident that this trek would be easy!
Patagonia is notorious for crazy weather, and the norm is experiencing four seasons in one day. I had done Torres del Paine before, and felt the Argentinian side couldn’t be much different…right?
Circuito Huemul is traditionally a four day trek that starts out of Argentina’s Patagonia headquarters: El Chaltén. This lovely hike requires registering for a permit, a super simple process, and the best part, no fees! The permit basically indicates to the park guards when you’re starting, how long you plan to go, and if you’re gone after 48 hours of your indicated return date, a search team will go out.
The permit process, was simple, but discouraging. The park guard explained that this trek has two zip line crossings, some crazy windy passes, and some very dangerous elements. The guard tried to discourage us from going because of incoming weather. I thought he was overreacting, but quickly realized as I began the hike, that this trek was no joke. With limited visibility or anything other than sunshine, parts of this hike would have been nearly impossible for the average backpacker (like myself).
But my friend and I had a time constraint, and we wanted to do it, so we rented our harnesses, gathered our food and headed out.
Day 1: Day one is a gentle introduction to the hike. Once passing the registration office for the permit, you’re off into the winding hills of the Huemul Circuit. The first day is gentle on the legs, and is around 10 miles. We arrived to our campsite around 3 pm and had plenty of time to relax, enjoy the sun, and eat a nice meal (we also packed alfajores and began munching on those).
Friendly campers began gathering around our tent and discussing what the park guards had told them. We contemplated the weather forecast that would possibly hit the third day, and the dangers that rough weather would cause. Some of us began wondering if we should combine days 2 and 3 to be safe. These days were notoriously the hardest, but with bad weather the third day would be very dangerous with low visibility.
And it was decided, we would wake up at 5 AM the next day to walk 20 miles of difficult terrain.
Day 2 + 3 Combined:
This day was perhaps the longest day of my life and most difficult. I put my body through physical exhaustion, my brain was challenged with mental strain as I wondered how I could possibly go on, and my heart full as I took in some of the most incredible views of my life.
The day started good, and we quickly approached the task that I feared the most: the zipline. The first zipline was no joke. About 30 feet above a large canyon, the zipline worked from one boulder, upwards to the next. When we arrived, there wasn’t a long wait, and I quickly gained confidence as I saw many people quickly cross the zipline. I was fearful that I wasn’t strong enough to carry my own weight and my backpack’s weight, and I was right.
My friend went first and was doing well, until about half way up the line, where the zipline was headed upwards. Thankfully our first trail hero stepped in, and even more thankfully there was a thin rope attached to the carabiner, and he was able to pull her to safety.
Then it was my turn. I was so scared. I had never done anything like this, and knew for a fact I was not strong. I took a leap of faith and immediately knew I would never possibly be able to pull myself across. Thankfully, another man helped pull me across, and I truly don’t know what would have happened had they not been there. My body was shaking for the rest of the day after this experience.
Following the zipline, I figured nothing could be worse…but I was wrong. The climb after the zipline is a never ending view of stacked boulders, a very indistinguishable path, and super slippery trails. I felt boulders crumble below me, and luckily no one was behind me, because as I stumbled over the rocks the fell feet below me.
This hike gets a little tricky at the point where you walk the on the glacier. I was so thankful to have my friend guiding, because my navigation skills are non existent. But even with her directions, we ended up too far down the path and had to end up rock climbing with backpacks on which was treacherous for my weak little muscles.
Even though this hike wasn’t at altitude, I was in much worse shape than I thought. The first pass, known as Paso de Viento, the pass of wind, was super tough for me. And I could definitely see how impossible it would be with any sort of weather. As I struggled along, we finally made it to an incredible view of the Patagonian ice fields, the second largest in the world. The views really were amazing and like nothing I had ever seen.
Drinking clear glacial water and soaking up the sunshine made for a pleasant next couple of hours. We got to what would be the day 2 campsite by lunch time and enjoyed a lovely lunch of cheese sandwiches before continuing.
Day 3 is known for being a difficult and steep down hill, but even before this point, we were exhausted from climbing a few passes. The path is extremely small and winds whip causing unstable legs. We continued up and down this crazy pass, and I was really losing steam.
At one point I got excited because we had about 3 miles left, but this was the steep downhill. People had expressed this downhill as gruesome, but I really couldn’t imagine it being that tough after so much uphill.
When I say this is the steepest downhill I have ever seen, I am not kidding. I had to hold onto branches to not fall straight down on my butt. At some points it was actually easier to slide down on my butt because my legs were getting so sore. The last 3 miles took us 3 dreadful hours. We had been hiking for at least 9 hours at this point, my feet were numb, and no matter how much food I consumed, I felt so dizzy. There were tears, there was self doubt, there was questioning why I thought I could ever do this.
We finally could see the campsite, and I was wondering when the F*** the downhill would end. When it finally did, I took off my hiking boots, put on my tevas and trudged on. By the time we arrived at the campsite at 9 PM, I didn’t even feel human. But the campsite was truly one of the most beautiful I had ever seen. An incredible view of icebergs with a landscape of beautiful Patagonian mountains, crystal waters, and a pleasant sun setting.
It was my personal Everest and I felt so proud while setting up for camp after that 20 mile day.
Day 3: Day three, or traditionally day four is not so bad compared to the past days. The views are beautiful and there’s not too much brutal terrain, but I will say with 20 miles the day before, my body was completely wrecked making the last day pretty tough for me.
It felt never ending, and when we finally got to the second zipline, I thought we were getting close…nope. By the way the second zipline was a breeze and took no strength (phew).
We continued and continued, I was going at a painfully slow pace, the bottoms of my feet burned, my hips scarred from my backpack, my legs numb, and spirits a bit low. I still tried to absorb the beauty but just had a shower and a bed on my mind.
When we finally reached, El Chalten, I was so relieved and immediately so proud of our journey. After returning our gear, we immediately got burgers and beer and cheers’d to the amazing accomplishment we had just done.
This trek was incredible, challenging, and amazing. I am so happy I did it, despite it killing my body. I can absolutely recommend it, if the weather is good! Doing it in 3 days was severe for my out of shape bod, but the views were truly out of this world incredible!
Whats the hardest hike you’ve ever done?
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