Christmas at the end of the world.

We parted ways with Cory in Puerto Natales as she headed north to El Calafate, then Buenos Aires and eventually North Bay for Christmas. It was great to have some company for a while, and Cyd really enjoyed catching up with her friend after many years. We headed south to... the end of the world. When you travel in Patagonia, you see the phrase "El Fin Del Mundo" everywhere, and it often feels like it. Patagonia's position as the southernmost land on the planet (excluding Antarctica) is a big part of the marketing for the area.

Ushuaia, Argentina calls itself the southernmost city in the world. Puerto Williams, Chile is south of Ushuaia across the Beagle Channel on Navarino Island and disputes Ushuaia's claim.  Although it would be hard pressed to call itself a city, Puerto Williams is a registered municipality, so perhaps the southernmost town in the world would be a fairer statement. Then on the east coast of Navarino Island and slightly south of Puerto Williams is the fishing village of Puerto Toro. They settle on the "southernmost permanently inhabited community in the world." With the competing claims of Ushuaia, Puerto Williams and Puerto Toro we visited all three just to be safe.

First we hopped on a bus to Punta Arenas, Chile for a few days. Punta Arenas is the largest city in Patagonia with a population well over 100,000. It is a flourishing port and tourist hub with old downtown mansions leftover from the Patagonian wool boom.

December 23rd was my birthday. While we spent Cyd's birthday in September dealing with snowstorms and floods in Utah, I got to spend my birthday on the high seas. We boarded a ferry at 6:30 pm for a two hour ride across the Strait of Magellan to Isla Magdalena where we spent an hour in the wind and rain hanging out with 120,000 Magellanic penguins. The island is pretty much completely bare, and completely covered with penguins as far as we could see. They hung out in their burrows with their babies, conducted important looking debates in small groups, and purposefully strutted around the island as only penguins can. They were smaller than we expected - one of 17 species of penguin, Magellanic penguins max out at about 30" tall - but just as cute as we'd imagined.

Penguins everywhere you looked.

Patagonia - Torres del Paine

When we first started making plans for an extended visit to South America, Torres del Paine was the first place on our itinerary. It's also on most "best hikes in the world" lists. There are numerous trails to hike at Torres del Paine, but most people do one of several options that include a trip up to the Mirador (lookout) de Las Torres. Many people do it as a long day hike, while many do it as part of the popular "W" trail (named for its shape) over 4 - 6 days. We weren't travelling all this way to take any shortcuts, so we planned 10 days to do the full Paine Circuit, about 130 kms of mountains, lakes and glaciers.

Torres del Paine is just north of Puerto Natales, so we had to cross back into Chile. At our request, Cory had brought down some dehydrated backpacking meals for the trek as this type of food is almost impossible to find in South America. Chilean customs are notoriously picky about allowing food into the country, so we let Cory be the mule and carry the meals in her backpack. We all sighed with relief when she managed to convince the authorities that dehydrated camping food was no threat to the integrity of the Chilean agricultural system.

Puerto Natales has all the same amenities as El Calafate - lots of accommodations, restaurants, outdoor stores and tour companies. It is more affordable and somehow manages to escape the touristy feel of El Calafate. It felt like a real town that just happened to be the gateway to some of the best hiking in the world. We quickly completed our food shopping when we arrived in town, enjoyed some great beer and burgers at Baguales brewpub, then headed to the park the next day.

Looking back at Refugio Las Torres on Day One.

Patagonia - Perito Moreno Glacier

To give ourselves a bit of a rest between the Fitz Roy hiking and our longer Torres del Paine trek, we decided to hang out for a couple of nights in El Calafate and visit the Perito Moreno glacier. The glacier trip had all the things we dislike about over popular tourist attractions - busloads of visitors and expensive entry fees, transportation, food and gift concessions. Of course there are very good reasons the Perito Moreno glacier is so popular. It is one on the most active and accessible glaciers on the planet and was definitely worth putting up with the crowds and high costs.

The view of the glacier from the parking lot.

Patagonia - Fitz Roy

I couldn't say exactly when I first decided that I wanted to visit Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, but I was in my teens and enthralled by a National Geographic article on the area. The photos were stunning. This was years before I knew anything about the Yukon, and I had no idea there were places on the planet that were so powerful, raw and beautiful. It took me over thirty years, but I finally made it down for a visit in late November.

Chile to Argentina

Previous short trips to Latin America had left us with just a few words of Spanish, but travelling for six months in Spanish speaking countries gave us the opportunity to build considerably on the little we remembered. We wanted to take some lessons early in our trip, and decided to spend a week taking Spanish lessons for 3 hours every morning in the small city of Puerto Varas.

Chile - Wine, Surfing, and Hiking

The first few weeks in South America were fairly quiet by design as we eased into a completely different kind of travelling. The US was easy. Having the car and trailer allowed us to go where we wanted, when we wanted. Our bed, kitchen, dining and living rooms were all contained in a 16' trailer attached to our car. We spoke the language reasonably well, although I never did manage to master "y'all."

Landings

We had about two weeks between the end of our Grand Canyon hike and our departure to South America. That seemed like lots of time when we looked at the calendar, but once we left the North Rim everything seemed very rushed. The last big "destination" on our US tour was Zion National Park in southern Utah.

The Grand Canyon - Rim to Rim

The Grand Canyon gets over four million visitors each year, but only ten per cent of visitors venture below the rim, and less than one percent make it to the bottom of the canyon. When I realised that hiking across the canyon was an option, it definitely seemed like the thing to do. Unfortunately October is the most popular month for hiking in the canyon and multiple attempts to get a permit for a rim to rim hike ended in failure. We did manage to get a permit that would allow us to hike from the North Rim down to the river, then back up the same trail. But when we got to the South Rim, I couldn't help but stop by the Backcountry Office and put our names on the waiting list for a last minute permit for a rim to rim hike.

Sunrise at Mather Point.

Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona

The same storm we miraculously survived in Utah dropped about 6" of snow in the high mountains of the Maroon Bells area which is a day's drive from Moab. It wasn't likely to stay, but it left us with two bad options. Head over right away and suffer through hiking and camping in wet snow for four days, or hang out in Moab and wait for the snow to melt. As much as we liked Moab, we had to be at the Grand Canyon by October 15th, and had lots of places to visit before we got there.

Nevada and Utah.

After finishing our JMT hike a few days early, we thought we were in good shape for the next hike on our itinerary. We were heading for the Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop near Aspen, Colorado. It's a four day hike that is reputed to be one of the best hikes in Colorado, and that's saying a lot. There are four passes over 12,400', so given the elevation and our now anticipated start date of October 1st, we knew we'd be pushing the season a bit.

John Muir Trail

After a day off to recover from our Half Dome hike, we were ready to tackle the longest hike of our US trip. The John Muir Trail (JMT) in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, is considered by many to be the premier long distance hike in North America. It runs about 218 miles from Yosemite Valley south to King's Canyon National Park and Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the continental US. Dogs aren't allowed on US National Park trails, so we planned to spend 11 days doing the section of the JMT that runs between Yosemite NP and King's Canyon National Park - about 100 miles including the access and exit trails. That was the plan.

Half Dome

I think it's fair to say that government agencies and departments generally like to play it safe. Liability is a dirty word, and "risk management" can often rule the day. After hiking - and surviving - Half Dome, I'm happy to say that Yosemite National Park is the exception to the rule. As Cyd and I stood at the bottom of the cables on Half Dome, I couldn't help but say, "I can't f***ing believe they let people do this!"

On to Yosemite

After seeing the redwoods on the coast, we headed east into the mountains of northern California. We'd had cooler weather with a few clouds on both the Oregon and California coasts, but that all changed as we moved inland. It was 37 Celsius by the time we'd driven an hour and for the next 10 days, we got a taste of what most Californians had been experiencing for about 3 years straight. Sunshine, hot temperatures, and the constant threat of forest fires.

Whitehorse to California

Camping has always meant canoe or backpacking trips for us - even car camping with our tent felt like a guilty luxury. We briefly considered just using the tent on the US part of our trip, but in the end decided that sleeping in a tent for  2 1/2 months on the road with the dogs wasn't a good option. Actually, I briefly considered tent camping, and Cyd quickly decided that wasn't an option.

Paddling the Hart River

In between working on the house and getting packed and ready to leave our home in Whitehorse for 9 months, we managed to fit in an 18 day canoe trip on the Hart River in the northern Yukon. For non-Yukoners, this involves a 4 hour drive north from Whitehorse to Mayo, then a 30 minute float plane trip north into Elliot Lake. The trip down the Hart to Canyon Creek on the Peel River is about 300 kms (mostly north), where a float plane takes you back to Mayo. By the time the float plane picks you up at Canyon Creek, you're not too far from the Arctic Circle.

Canoes are strapped on for the flight to Elliot Lake.

Rafting and hiking with Kate and Jordan

"The Nozzle" is the first drop on the Tutshi River. The river narrows between large rocks as it drops about 6 feet down. The nozzle isn't quite wide enough for a raft to fit through.

As we scouted from shore our guide explained that we would have to hit the chute on the exact right line and then lean hard right as we rode up onto the rock on the right side of the nozzle. Failure would almost certainly result in the raft flipping. My niece Kate took it all in and announced, "I think I'm going to poop myself."

Eek...I'm blogging.

I've read lots of wonderful travel blogs...fantastic photos of incredible places, thoughtful insights into local customs and cultures, and poignant personal stories of intrepid travellers. This isn't one of those blogs.