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After a decent breakfast at the hotel, we loaded our packs into the van and rode 15 minutes to the park entrance to begin our trek. We’ll be flatland hiking for three days and 37 miles(60 km) to get to expedition base camp one at Plaza Argentina. I say flat, but we’ll be climbing about 6,000 ft over the three days to get to base camp at 14,340 ft(4,370 m), with most of the gain on he third day. Luke kept calling the trek “flat as a pancake”. Apparently 6k ft of gain is flat to him.
This day was pretty mellow, though we moved at a decent pace stopping once every hour for water & food breaks. Even though we were at 9000 ft, it was still very hot so we were in shorts & shirts. You can imagine our surprise when our guide Martin pulls out a full water melon from his pack on one of our breaks! It was pure goodness after a day of hiking in these temps.
Like Kilimanjaro’s Shira camps, it was incredibly dusty so many of us chose to put our buffs on to act as air filtration. I have to say, buffs are among the best inventions ever. They make you look like a total badass, and they have the side benefit of being super useful!
After about five hours of hiking we arrived at our first camp – Pampa de Lenas at 9,200 ft(2800 m). Shortly thereafter our mules arrived carrying our gear, herded by the Gauchos(the mule dudes). It was sometime around here that Craig(pictured above) mistook their name as Gwapos – a nickname that stuck around for the entire trip. These guys are tough – sleeping under the stars despite it getting cold at night, and carrying around giant knives strapped to their backs.
Nestled in a valley surrounded by gigantic mountains stretching a mile above the camp, it was truly a beautiful location. You just don’t see this kind of terrain in the US. We got a demonstration on how to set up our tents for the first time. We’re using the standard Eureka tents IMG uses everywhere.
Dinner(for the veggies, Alison & me), was cooked butternut squash loaded with melted cheese. It was surprisingly delicious. Being vegetarian, I always have to worry about my caloric intake on climbs since we can burn 5000 calories a day, especially at altitude. Looks like that won’t be a concern on this trip though. IMG always has great food!
Planetary Muffin Expeditions 