Monte Tronador &
Paso de las Nubes

Argentina
3 days in Februari, 2011

First a day-hike from Pampa Linda up the slopes of Monte Tronador. Then 2 days trekking over the Paso del las Nubes. Most of the trek goes through forest, and it's only at the end of day one that you get to see som long views and other things than forest.


Day 1: Monte Tronador

We hitch-hiked to the Black Glacier

 

The Black Glacier
 

We visited a fantastic café here, with home-baked cakes
 
 

Of course we had to take a coffee here.
 
 

We then climbed up to the viewpoint Piedra Perez
 
 

From the viewpoint we could see this valley to the north...
 
 

...and this valley to the south
 
 

We could also see the black glacier
 
 

Pampa Linda, near our camping
 
 

Our campsite in Pampa Linda
 
 

Day 2: Pampa Linda - Paso de las Nubes

 
 

The walk through the valley to Paso de las Nubes went along a stream through nice forest, with dense vegetation. We saw more wildflowers here than in other parts of the Nahuel Huapi national park, and on the flowers on the photo above we saw our first colibri birds of the trip.
 
 

Crossing the Paso de las Nubes pass.
 
 

View towards the Laguna Frias lake,
where the trek will end the next day.
 
 

The glacier and its many waterfalls on the way down from Paso de las Nubes. This spectacular view was visible from the nearby campsite as well.
 
 

The campsite was almost empty, but there was a staffed tent serving really nice food and wine :)
 
 

Day 3: Paso de las Nubes - Laguna Frias
 
 

After the pass, we followed another valley. This valley was more entertaining to walk in. The dense fairytale forest had some Alerce trees - giants similar to the Redwoods of USA.
 
 

The path often climbed over huge, fallen Alerce trees.
And in this case it went through one...
 
 

 
 
 

The boat arriving at the Laguna Frias lake
 
 
 
 
 

The boat ride back to civilisation was really nice.
 
 

The boat ride finished in Llao Llao,
where we took a bus back to Bariloche.