The Atacama Desert is much more varied than we thought, with lunar landscapes, volcanoes, wetlands and lagoons with lots of birdlife, including flamingoes. We climbed the 5,600 m Volcan Lazcar and would love to return to bag 6,000 m Volcan Pili.
Torres del Paine National Park in southern Patagonia is a fabulous destination for trekking. The main attractions are the Valley Torres del Paine, Valley Frances, and Glacier Grey.
We had five nights in the park and really wanted to backpack the Grande Circuit (a full loop around the massif including ascending the two valleys). The shorter “W” just wouldn’t cut it, so it was the “O” in five nights!
Escaped the crowds on the August long weekend by hiking into Mamquam Lake in the southern part of Garibaldi Provincial Park. Mamquam Lake is just 11 km beyond the super-popular Elfin Lakes, but is a relatively rough trail due to a washout on Ring Creek. There weren’t many people on Saturday night and we had the whole lake to ourselves on Sunday night. Fabulous!
A metre of snow in the campground, but glorious weather for the Canada Day long weekend at Garibaldi. An extra bonus – too early in the year for the crowds and the bugs. We spent two nights at the lake and had a great day hike up to the base of the Black Tusk.
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