Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina
by Dr, Fumblefinger
El Calafate
Our adventure in Patagonia is just beginning! We’re going to start visiting and exploring those places people travel thousands of miles to see. El Calafate may be a pretty little town, but no one comes to Patagonia to see it. Instead, they come here to experience the magnificent landscapes of the Andes, the vast Patagonian ice fields, and the vast barren steppe.
The Perito Merino Glaceir
The main Patagonian attraction close to El Calafate is the Perito Merino Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Glaciares National Park entrance is about an hour’s drive west of El Calafate. You’ll drive mainly near the shore of Lago Argentino, the majestic Andes coming ever nearer.
Flooding of the Largo Argentino
We saw a few guanacos and lots of different birds along the way. Although at highway speeds, it’s challenging to appreciate types of birds. As you enter the park, you’ll see dead trees extending quite a distance up the hill from the lake. This is the Rico branch of Lago Argentino. The Rico floods when the Perito Merino Glacier blocks the flow of water from this portion of the lake. This causes it to be flooded for up to weeks at a time, killing the vegetation. The ice dam ultimately breaks, levelling the water, but the trees and shrubs are done for. Flooding of the Rico branch continues intermittently but unpredictably and of uncertain duration. Still, it would be amazing to see the ice dam break and the flood of water pouring out of the Rico branch!
It is another 35 km drive past the park entrance, most of it along Lago Argentino’s Rico Branch coast, and we get our first breath-taking view of the Perito Merino Glacier (at the Curva de Los Suspiros). It’s a beautiful drive through Patagonia’s native trees and vegetation, with stunning views of the Andes and their ice and snow caps. The glacier is impressive, especially as you’re viewing it from above. It’s incredible how massive it is! The Patagonian Icecap straddles Chile and Patagonia and covers about 600,000 hectares. It’s the world’s third-largest freshwater reservoir (only Antarctica and Greenland are larger).
Cruise Boats and Ice Calving
Perito Merino is just one of the 365 glaciers in this icefield; it has a front that is 5 km (3 mi) long and is up to 74 meters (240 ft) above the lake’s level. It has a total ice depth of 170 meters (560 ft). The glacier covers 250 sq km (97 sq mi) and is 30 km (19 mi) in length.
As you descend from the first view observation point, you approach the shore of the Rico branch of Lago Argentino. Here there’s an optional cruise you can take. The cruise boats bring you directly to the glacier’s face or as close as the captain thinks is safe.
For an hour, you slowly cruise along the glacier. This cruise was smooth with great views and a fresh glacial breeze — delightful and is a highly recommended activity. The Perito Merino Glacier is famous for its fracturing or calving of icebergs. Therefore, your chances of seeing large blocks of ice breaking off and crashing into the water are excellent. The cruise gave us a very smooth ride, although crowded. The water level view of the lake and blue glacial ice were very special to see and study. A few short video clips of what this was like follow to help you better appreciate the experience.
Exploring on Foot
After the cruise, our group boarded our van and drove to the nearby visitor centre. We purchased a nice (surprisingly fairly priced) picnic lunch and headed towards the catwalks so we could picnic while enjoying views of the glacier from above and face on. While it had been cloudy in the morning, the afternoon had perfect weather. The sky had cleared, and we were treated to some of the most spectacular glacier scenery I’ve seen in a long time.
After lunch, we explored the catwalks, requiring a significant amount of climbing up and downstairs and a decent amount of hiking. A good workout, all to the rumble and thunderous crack of the ice mass we were there to see. We did see the glacier calve several times, massive chunks of ice falling into the water and throwing up waves that were at least 100 meters tall! Optional walking tours of the glacier are available, but I’ve done that elsewhere and didn’t have the time for this visit. If this interests you, count on a full day just for that.
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