Skip to main content

Cerro Castillo

Kiwis call the Tongariro Crossing the worlds best one day walk.  I've only done half the crossing but the half I didn't do would have to be very special for the Tongariro Crossing to surpass the climb to the Mirador Cerro Castillo.


The full Cerro Castillo Circuit is a 3 or 4 day trek.  We did an abbreviated version that climbs up from Villa Cerro Castillo to the Cerro Castillo Glacier lake.  It's 7km each way from the trailhead or 8km from the village where we started.  The total climb was around 1000m.  It was an expensive walk - about $55 for the three of us but well worth the money spent.

Our only regret was that a few clouds obscured the mountain top when we arrived at the glacier lake overlook for our half hour lunch break before turning around, however considering the very still conditions and lack of rain (always an issue in Patagonia), we couldn't really complain.

On the way down we did an extra 1km detour to see some nice cascades.  All up about a 6 1/2 hour journey covering about 18km.

Some pictures...
Sam and Elise crossing one of the scree slopes high on the mountain

The bluest lake I've ever seen below the hanging glacier

Inconsiderate hikers blocking the scenery


The valley of the Ibanez River

A view of a bit of the range over the forest
Sam earned 2 ice creams for this hike. And an early night for all.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inca Trail day 4

This was the day we would arrive at Macchu Picchu so we awoke with a keen sense of anticipation.   To celebrate the last day on the trail, somehow the chef had whipped up an enormous cake which was served after breakfast.  After a discussion with Marco about the likely weather over the next two days we agreed that it would be best to tour Macchu Picchu as soon as we arrived in mid afternoon rather than wait until tomorrow. Marco assured us that this would mean less crowds and better weather (he was right). We could see the backside of the mountain above Macchu Picchu in front of us as we started out.  Unlike the last two days, today was mainly downhill.  We would have to descend about 1,000 meters and judging by the first part of the morning walk, most of this would be on steep and slippery rocky steps. After alternating descents and traversing along steep hillsides through cloud forest and bamboo groves we reached the ruins of Intipata. Intipata was a very...
2 comments
Read more

Vatnajökull National Park

Vatnajökull National Park is a must visit destination for any tourist to Iceland.  It's also one of the most inaccessable.  The main reason for this inaccessability is that much of the National Park is taken up by the enormous Vatnajökull glacier.  So you can't just drive in and walk around.  To see the interior of the park (the glacier) you need to make special arrangements - like taking a tour in a Superjeep. We booked a Superjeep tour for our first day at the park which was cancelled due to the inclement weather... However the next day we were definitely ready to see as much as we could and fortunately the tour was back on. Our tour guide was Hungarian but very well informed and we learned a lot about Icelandic culture as well as glaciers and volcanoes. The Jeep we were in had been made by the driver (and some friends) and consisted of part of a Chrysler with another van's back end bolted on and modified engine and gears.  It had 54 inch wheels w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Iceland's wild east coast

The east coast of Iceland attracts a fraction of the tourists and has a fraction of the population of the western side.  It really is the place for a remote getaway.  The hosts of our farmstay near Egilsstadir moved from Reykjavik to get away from the system and the hectic Reykjavik scene 😊.  Their farm certainly epitomised the word remote.  Samuel loved the farm, especially playing with the two very friendly and intelligent farm dogs. As with much of Iceland, one of the best ways to spend the time is just driving with plenty of stops for photography - in fact it's hard to make much progress in some scenic areas as the urge to park the car and whip out the camera every few kilometers is overwhelming.  This was especially the case on the one long day we spent driving from Egilsstadir to Hofn.  We started our journey on yet another overcast morning and almost immediately headed down a rough back road off the ring road in search of a waterfall.  We...
Post a Comment
Read more