A Walk in the Woods

For the past week or so, we've been hanging out in San Carlos de Bariloche (or Bariloche for short), a small city a few hours from the Chilean border. Though the town itself is lovely (albeit a bit touristy), the real draw is the great outdoors. Bariloche is pretty much surrounded by the Nahuel Huapi National Park, and every street, hostel, and restaurant has an amazing view of stony mountains and crystal clear lakes.

We went for a long hike one cool, sunny day up the side of Cerro Catedral. Our dialogue for most of the that day went something like this:

"Wow."

"Oh wow!"

"That's gorgeous!"

"Wow!"

And so on.

So, clearly words can't do this hike justice. Instead, here's a picture tour of that walk in the Andes.

The start of the trail

Mountains

Oh look! Furry little flowers!

Yikes. Not flowers. Tom's leg is all prickly now.

We turn a corner and... awesome mountains

From left to right: Rachel, Tom

Tom's favorite picture

Flowers and hills

The path

More path

The timer took too long to reset for a proper photo

Me, conquering the mountain

Me, climbing, climbing

And a view of the lake 

Tom, ahead of Rachel (as per usual)

Berries on the trail

Hauntingly beautiful white trees

We turn again, and we're in the forest

A forest with awesome views

Mist over the mountaintops

Tom hikes along

And poses for a picture with the trees

While I keep on walking...

Sunlight through the trees

Small waterfall at the end of the trail

Cool wheat-like plant on the trail

And our hike ends at the gorgeous Lake Gutierrez

-R