Tierra del Fuego National Park
There are a few truly distinct marathons around the world, known for course or location instead of simple popularity, e.g. The Antarctic Marathon, Kilimanjaro Marathon, Great Wall Marathon, etc. We just happened to be in the right place, at the right time, for the southern most marathon, called “The End of the World Marathon.” It was fun to see the runners, but made our approach to Tierra del Fuego National Park just a little more challenging.
(This next picture is for you Anne.) On the way to the park we drove past the southern most golf course in the world… so if you "hit it long" does the ball fall off the edge of the earth?
The Tierra del Fuego national park offers many differing levels of trekking and climbing. Today, Marijn, Lotte, and I set our sights on the Cerro Guanaco Trail that culminates in a 973 meter summit. Given that we are basically starting at sea level, a 3,000+ ft climb is not a bad day’s effort. With blue skies and an Acigami lakeside start, we were eager to "turn right" and see what the mountain had to offer.
There were many climates to trek through. The thickly forested section gave relief from the penetrating warmth of the sun.
River crossings only pointed to the water fun to be had in a only a few kilometers.
Above the tree line, the boggy beginning of an alpine portion of the climb challenged our perceptions of stability. For the most part, every soggy step eventually met a level of firmness that allowed our steps to continue in "plunger motion" fashion.
This doesn't exactly look like firm enough ground to walk on/through, but even a step in the water covered footfalls provided enough support to keep boot uppers above the liquid seepage line.
The slow plodding eventually led to a completely different textural path. We had successfully transitioned from water logged bogs to arid uphill scree.
The only thing to do was attack the incline, which fortunately turned out to be more of a gravel path than actual slip rock trekking.
The trail to the summit and vista point lent itself to more of a "Planet of the Apes" backdrop than the final steps of an Tierra del Fuego summit.
Despite the building breeze and falling temperatures, Marijn, Lotte, and I were happy to soak in the "End of the World" views across the Beagle Channel.
Working our way off the precipice, we decided to eat lunch near the top of the mountain. Literally moments after sitting down and digging into our bags, the local friendly "Zorro" dropped by for a hopeful treat. He was actually large enough to surprise and make us question a relocation, but we held a watchful eye and finished a light lunch.
Returning to the now familiar bog lands, it was interesting to notice the naturally seeping oil deposits from millions of years of suspended decomposition activity.
Relaxed from bog trodding experience, I managed to step deeply into a mud pot, lacking the supportive peat bottom. This meant grungy water climbed up to the top laces of one of my boots. Not wanting to meet the same fate, Lotte stepped even wider that my original path with easily twice the outcome. One of the things that is so awesome about Lotte was that she simply laughed off the misfortune and we shared/compared the muddy damage. (Lotte's feet pictured because her contrast was simply much better than mine.)
By the time we returned to the lake, the southern hemisphere was cooking up a barometric change, with an obvious result only a few hours away. Marijn, Lotte, and I had experience, in a single day, most of the environments Tierra del Fuego had to offer.
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