The road chose me

This is now framed on my wall:

Dan & Jeep 1080 photo mosaic (Click for full size)

-Dan

A looooong time ago, in a faraway land I spoke to a guy driving a Google Street View Car (the ones with all the cameras on the top). I’ve wondered ever since if they snapped a couple of pics of the Jeep at that gas station, and finally sat down and found them.

Check it! – not only the Jeep, me as well. This might be my favorite photo of the trip yet!
(it’s worth zooming in one step)

View Larger Map

It looks like the Jeep is right on the join between two photos, so it’s kind of blurry.  Moving south on the highway there are 3 or 4 more similar snaps, though they are from further away and more blurry.

I know I passed one on an open stretch of highway in Alaska too, but it’s going to take a while to find that one.

-Da

I spend a couple of relaxing & sunny days camping in El Calafate where I meet Sonny, a backpacker from Lithuania traveling around as part of a photography contest he won. Sonny’s also a serious mountaineer and we talk for hours about some of his bigger summits in Turkistan (7500 meters!). We team up for the hiking circuit around the mighty Mt. Fitz Roy (3405m) and equally impressive Cerro Torre which is notoriously hard to summit.

Laguna Torre by night

Sunrise at Laguna Torre

Over the course of three days we hike around the entire area, from Laguna Torre, up to Laguna De Los Tres and the extreme northern limit of the park, before doubling back on ourselves, hiking most trails more than once. We’re up every morning before sunrise for photos and fall into bed late at night after star photography. On the morning we plan to rise at 4.30am for shots of Fitz Roy I can’t summon the courage and roll over, back to sleep. Sonny enjoys the famous “red flash” sunrise all alone, before we hike over 15 hours for the day. Dedication.

Laguna Torre

Cerro Torre (3102m)

Highlights include swimming then sunning ourselves on the pebble beach at Laguna Hija and eating ice recently calved from the active Glacier Piedras Blacas. Although we hear the glacier cracking and moving, we can’t see any action from our vantage point.

Mountain reflections

Thinking hard**

Breathtaking mountains deep in Southern Patagonia. Does it get any better?

The famous "Red Flash" sunrise**

Cerro Torre

-Dan

** These photos are taken by Sonny, using his very tricky Leica camera. Checkout his photography blog to see his amazing photos.

I’m out hiking and camping in the wilderness right now, and can’t seem to find time to sort through the hundreds of photos I’m taking.
Here are a few of the mountains I’m now spending time in…

The views around here are impressive

The road chose Jeep?

I’ve switched back over to Argentina, and am still enjoying a great run of sunny days and mountain-cool nights.

Ready to get back into the mountains

Windy roads & mountains

-Dan