1 month in Patagonia?!

Hey everyone!

I'm planning on spending about 3-5 weeks in Patagonia this January. My goal is to get a great overview of beautiful Patagonia. My schedule is very flexible and I'm planning on bringing all of the camping essentials with me.

I have been reading through LP's Trekking in the Patagonian Andes and am feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of treks to chose from so I was wondering if you all could help me pick some of the best ones?

I am thinking that a good strategy would be to do one of the most reputable treks in each area of Patagonia (maybe skip the North/Araucania area?)

Here is what I am come up with so far:
1 week in Tierra del Fuego
2 weeks in South Patagonia (TDP and Fitz Roy area)
1 week for Central Patagonia (I would like to see the Alerces trees) and Lakes District (I hear Nahuel Huapi Traverse is awesome)

How much time does it really take to travel overland? Can I skip Central Patagonia or fly there instead of taking a bus?

Is 1000 $USD a reasonable budget for this?

I do not have very much experience trekking or backpacking for many days at a time but I am in good shape and am quite ambitious when it comes to adventure =)

It is a great guide but as most guides, it is difficult to make the right choices.I think your plan looks very good. To get to Tierra del Fuego, take a flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, or Santago to Punta Arenas. Cheaper than the bus but january is high season and flights often booked so book as early as possible.
What treks are you looking for in Tierra del Fuego? How are your navigation skills and do you have a GPS?
Close to Ushuaia is the Sierra Valdivieso circuit which is amazing and very remote despite being close to Ushuaia. I did that trek 3 times and only once met others there. There are good sidetrips on the trek possible. There are other treks and good dayhikes too. You should do at least one dayhike along the coast of Beagle channel.
Torres del Paine: the circuit is great and easy to do. Around El Chalten are great dayhikes or you can combine the 2 popular ones together as a 2 - 4 daytrek including Lago Electrico. Also some other more remote treks like Paso del Viento are great.
Don´t miss the Perito Moreno glaciar at El Calafate. Despite the crowds, it is simple amazing.
a good option could be to cross from El Chalten to Villa O Higgins, Chile and up the carretera Austral recrossing to Argentina at Esquel, continuing to El Bolson (great Place) and on to Bariloche. Going from El Chalten to Bariloche via Argentina is pretty boring with buses along Ruta 40 or Ruta 3 but be ware that travelling along the carretera Austral takes some time but the scenery is very nice. Around Bariloche are a lot of good treks but the wild landscape of southern Patagonia is more spectacular.
there is a good web for info about this place http://www.trekbariloche.com/
El Bolson also offers some good trekking and the small town has a very good vibe.
USD 1000 is not much but if you spend most of the time camping and preparing your own food it will work. Torres del Paine is pretty expensive but if you bring all your food with you, this isn´t an issue.
You will get more responses posting this in the southamerican branch.
If you need any specific info about treks in southern Patagonia, let me know. I have done most of them.
some good links to other treks:
http://www.jeber.com/Members/Michael/Gallery/450/
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/6327f/
http://tezaur.net/photo/chile/islanavarino/
http://daysontheriver.blogspot.com/2008/01/16-119-sierra-valdivieso-circuit-tierra.html

If you travel overland, it's probably easier for you to skip Tierra del Fuego. The N.Huapi traverse in Bariloche is a fairly difficult trek (extremely difficult if a lot of snow). Laguna Termal and volcan Copahue is excellent. There are also many otther treks (Better treks, I think) on the Chilean side, as you can read in the guidebook.

Skipping Tierra del Fuego is ridiculous. It has the best trekking in all Patagonia if you are prepared for it and have good navigation skills. It is also very easy to connect by plane from Buenos Aires or El Calafate to Ushuaia, or from Punta Arenas and El Calafate by bus to Ushuaia or by a weekly boat Punta Arenas - Puerto Williams. The Darwin mountain range has one of the most amazing mountain scenery on earth and still many glaciars reaching sealevel. It is a very remote area but well worth!

Edited by: Williamsontherocks

I'm also looking into doing a month trek through Patagonia so all this information is gold to me!

El_Colorado: How set are you on January?

Hey guys,

Thanks for the responses. I forgot to add that I would like to spend a couple of days in Buenos Aires either in hostels or couchsurfing. From here I would like to fly to Ushuaia and do either the Dientes or Sierra Valdivieso trek and some day hikes. I'm definitely going to TDP. Not sure if I'll do the whole circuit or the W. Is there a lot on the whole circuit that is not already included in the W or is it more of the same? Definitely going to Los Glaciares too.

Nahuel,
Scheduling a flight might be complicated because I am planning on flying standby with LAN at a discount price. I need to look into that a little more but I would like to fly straight into Ushuaia if possible.

I have decent navigation skills and no GPS. Do you think I would be able to join a group of more experienced people to do one of the Tierra del Fuego treks I mentioned?

Is there a lot in the Lakes District that can only be found there? In other words, would I be missing out on some unique Patagonia scenery if I skipped it? I think I might skip Central Patagonia and use that time to do a quick trip to Machu Picchu instead. Fortunately flights are not much of a cost for me. Still not sure which city I would end up flying out of.

Watkins, I'm 89.7% set on Patagonia in January. =D What about you?

no discount on standby!

The whole circuit is much more rewarding than the "W". The "W" is a marketing creation and much easier to control, manage and explore by the authorities. The first time I went to TDP, the parkrangers adviced me not to do the stretch from the french valley back to Torres because it is not nice and now they promote it as part of the "W". Only for the view from the John Garner pass, the circuit is really worth but you have to add Los Perros and Dickson and the stretches in between.
There are no stanby flights in Argentina nor in most countries of SA. Usually you get cheaper deals booking early. Booking late means often more expensive or no seat avaible at all.
Not much people trek in Tierra del Fuego so it might no so easy to find a group but not impossible either. You can also do the Paso de la Oveja trek, shorter, easier and better marked and you make extensions to other places along this trek. But overall, if you have good anvigations skills it should be no problem to do these treks alone. The Sierra Valdivieso circuit can be done in a different way than described in the LP guide. You see a description of this in one of the links above
Southern Patagonia is more spectacular than the Lake District. The mountains around the Lake District are more similar to the Alps, while southern Patagonia is wilder. Personally I would skip the Lake District if you are more focused on southern Patagonia. But there are good treks, and some well marked and with refugios around Bariloche

Edited by: nahuel

I would suggest you to take a look to Wikiexplora.com, which has a lot of information on trekkings in Patagonia.
Good luck and enjoy

nahuel, thanks for all the info! I think I am just going to spend my time in Buenos Aires and Southern Patagonia- no Lakes District.

Regarding gear, what degree sleeping bag do you think I need for January? Is a -10 bag really necessary (thats what the LP book recommends)? How extreme does my tent need to be to withstand Patagonia weather? What sleeping bag or tent would you recommend?

Also, how long/expensive is the bus ride from Ushuaia to El Chalten?

My personal opinion is similar to Nahuel -- I loved the Lakes District but it's similar to many other mountain areas of the world, e.g., the Alps, the Rockies, etc. Southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego were truly unique.

A good relaxed month for me would be:

.5 week in Buenos Aires
1 week in/around Ushuaia
1 week in/around Torres del Paine
.5 week in El Calafate
1 week in/around El Chalten

Fly from BA to Ushuaia, bus the rest of the way -- fly back from El Calafate to BA or take the bus (Argentine overnight buses are a great experience in themselves!).

If I recall, the bus ride from Ushuaia-Puerto Natales was 14 hours, then 6 hours to El Calafate, then another 5 hours to El Chalten. Can't recall the price, this was 5 years ago.

stopthebus, I like your schedule.

I've been slowly gathering all the gear I need for the trek but am still missing a stove. Can anyone tell me what kind of stoves I would be able to buy in BA or Ushuaia? Or would it be better just to buy my own in the States?

I recall that outdoor gear was pretty expensive in Argentina, relative to the US. I'd get the stove at home.

what fuel is available in Patagonia? I have a stove that takes only white gas (MSR Whisperlite). Should I buy something like the MSR Whisperlite International that uses many types of fuel or will I be fine with only white gas? What about in Bolivia and Peru? My plans have changed since the original post =)

white gas is avaible in Patagonia

Hey,

it seems almost impossible for me to fly to Ushuaia and I will probably have to go to Bariloche instead. Could anyone give me a rough estimate of how long and how expensive it would be to take buses all the way down to Calafate or Ushuaia? I wiould certainly do treks along the way but would like to know the bus times alone just to get an idea

Get a flight from Buenos Aires to El Calafate. That's what I'm going to do. Then I bus to El Chalten. I don't go to Ushuaia though.