Best Hike in Ushuaia, Argentina

Follow the Yellow Mud Road

Wildflower filled base of the valley

    While in Ushuaia, the Southernmost City in the World, down near the Southern tip of Argentina, I met quite a few people who were looking for the best hike in the area. Most people knew about the hiking potential in Tierra del Fuego National Park, so bus loads of walkers headed there daily. There were a couple of easier, half day hikes nearby the city like Martial Glacier and Laguna Esmerelda which drew crowds of hikers who didn't want to travel all the way to the National Park. But for a select few hikers in the know, the much less traveled hike to Laguna de los Tempanos and Vinciguerro Glacier was top of the list.

Hiking with new friends

  If you have your own car it is an easy twelve minute drive out of town to the north and east. If you don't have wheels then gather a couple friends and share a taxi for around 200 pesos.  You have to wrap around the mountains bordering the back of Ushuaia. A dirt road takes you to a gate at the end of a village where the hike begins. In late January the first part of the hike was filled with bright yellow wildflowers. A winding river runs through the bottom of the valley which you also share with wild horses, numerous birds, and what seemed to be a mud drying farm. You head deeper into the lush valley until you see a bridge crossing the river.

Made it! Laguna de los Tempanos

  At this point you can see the Vinciguerro Glacier high above you near the top of the mountain. My suggestion would be to not look because at this point it looks very, very far away and nearly impossible that you could reach it in a day. Instead concentrate on the slippery sideways logs that are used to make the trail through a forest bog. One of the coolest aspects of this trail is how many changing environments you end up walking through.

Melting glacial water

  This is when you start to head uphill and where I contemplated switching my rubber boots for hiking shoes. I'm glad I didn't. The trail continues to be muddy until just before reaching the lake. So keep those rubber boots on and keep climbing. At one point from the trail you can see a lower turqoise lagoon thru the trees, and a few cascading waterfalls, before you bust out right next to a little waterfall. This is a great rest area if it isn't raining too hard. The views looking back from here show you just how much elevation you have gained.

  Shortly after this waterfall and a quick climb through a Dr. Suess type forest you emerge onto a beautiful high elevation meadow, filled with yellow grass and with a couple of huge beaver damns. This is an easy place to soak up and catch your breath before the final intense push to the top.

Under the glacier with blue ice

Exploring ice caves near Ushuaia

  A big rocky incline is all that separates you from the lagoon at this point. So work up that sweat and be prepared for a view that very few people get to see. Even for people who make it to this part of the world only a small percentage find themselves in front of the Laguna de los Tempanos. Don't forget to walk around the lake, either direction, to go play on, under, and around the Vinciguerro Glacier. If you search the leading edge of the glacier you may find some deep blue ice caves that you can explore if you don't mind the risk of the cave collapsing at any moment. Weather can change fast up here so be prepared with waterproof layers for you and your camera. And know that it's all downhill from here...which is a whole other slippery mess.

 I had been in ice caves once before at Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska. You can read about that and see photos from a massive ice cave here: http://daimarsadventures.blogspot.com.ar/2016/05/mendenhall-ice-caves.html