The Fin del Mundo National Park is on the western side of the Tierra del Fuego island, where Argentina gives way to Chile. It is impressive that Argentina managed to annex this small part of Patagonia at the time that they did. No wonder people like Perito Merino were so respected by the Argentinian people, it must be one of the more contentious land grabs in the history of the continent.
Once at the park we took the Costanera route along the coast, where we got our passports stamped at the most southerly Post Office in the world. All a bit of a gimmick I suppose but very fun.
The route wound in and out of clear-watered inlets before passing into heavier forest where we climbed a few hundred metres over to the central crossroads within the park. We'd made good time and decided to push for the Cerro Guanaco which is the top highest trail in the park.
We stopped off at Lago Roca, named after a General who played a big part in the discovery/settlement of this region.
Weather rolls in and out at high speed here, so we took the photo opportunity very seriously.
The hike from the Lake to the top had three main stages. Steep forest, flat bog, then moraine like drag up to the top. We were unsure of time restrictions so we pushed hard, arriving at the top somewhat dishevelled.
Only later did we discover that this 'hill' is only 3 metres shorter than Scafell Pike, so perhaps we should have taken it a bit easier on the way up!
The upside was we could take our time on the way down, obligatory core exercises followed.
Several woodpeckers let us stand within 5 metres of them! (But I forgot the memory card for big camera today which at this point in particular was annoying)
A big day and a lot of walking. We need to check the GPS but we think this was our longest day of the trip.