March 26

"The longest journey begins with a single step, not the turn of an ignition key. That's the best thing about walking, the journey itself. It doesn't matter whether you get where you're going or not. You get there anyway. Every good hike brings you eventually back home: Right where you started." - E. Abbey


It has been a crazy six days since I last wrote. Since our last campsite and layover day at the lake below the glacier, we moved a total of 23 k to our spot right now. During our first move, I hiked with Liz, Taggart, James, Marcello, and Devin. Had a quick hike following a small river - lots of thick bushwhacking. Arrived at what we believed to be our "x" (final point of destination) at around 3 pm only to find no I-team and no other hiking groups. After triple-checking our location, we fully believed we were at our intended point of destination. We ended up spending the night alone and speculating what could have happened to the other groups. We scouted early the next morning and discovered that we had made a huge mistake - we were actually 4k away from the true "x" and we needed to get there by noon before they sent out search teams. We packed up camp and hiked quickly; thankfully we ran into the search teams before they split up to do multiple day search expeditions. We were greeted with smiles of relief but there was definite tension in the group. I think the group was honestly worried about us and "emotionally frustrated" to hear that we had made a dumb navigation error. Everyone got a good night's sleep after a long day and woke up around 6 am to push 9k (what turned out to be 11 k) to our next "X" (we were pushing towards our re-ration spot so we didn't miss the gaucho). I was LOD with Jack, Kate, Natalia, and Chris as my team. Knowing the steepness of the terrain, I decided to push my group up and over a ridge instead of potentially getting cliffed out by the river. We hiked tirelessly all day, slowly bushwhacking our way up the ridge, dodging steep drainages and impassable fallen trees. As we rounded the ridge, the hours slipped away as we continued to traverse. The sun began to fade and we made the decision to get to the river ASAP in order to avoid walking and scrambling our way down the extremely steep terrain in the dark. Our bodies were tired and sore and group morale was at its lowest. Jack fell (caught by a scraggly little tree) and thankfully was only bruised - if not for that tree, he would have fallen a long, long way down. We got to the river only to discover a 30-foot wide cliff that stood between us and our last 2 k to our intended "x". We scouted the river but our exhausted bodies advised us to wait until morning to cross.
In the morning we tried to go up and over but couldn't pass - way too cliffy. We scouted the river again but couldn't find a safe spot. My heart and mind racing - what do I do in this situation? We are stuck. I tried to keep my cool but succumbed to emotion. Tears fell (mainly due to fatigue and frustration). We literally could not move forward towards our "x" and our bodies were low on energy due to minimal food. We decided to stay put in hopes of the search teams finding us. We built a big fire and hung our brightest possessions (jackets, tarps) in the trees. Around 2 pm, we heard the faint yells of a search team. We began to yell back, hearts beating with adrenaline. The absolute best moment - seeing Yuri, Brett, and Dalio on the other side of the cliff, hiking down through the trees. They were excited and relieved to see us and we were ecstatic to see them. They helped us cross the river but even with their help, Natalia almost went swimming down river. With almost no food in our stomachs and our bodies weak, we hiked the remaining 2 k to the "x" and then pushed an additional 4 k to the re-ration spot where the other groups had already gone.
I have never felt so physically exhausted in my life. We scrambled down to the river, guided only by our headlamps. We were greeted by two horses and the gauchos who brought us dinner for the night. We heard excited yells from amigos across the river at the campo. We crossed the river the next morning with help from a team of gauchos on horses. The group greeted us with hot drinks, biscuits, and pancitos as my frozen body hobbled towards the tents. So happy to see the entire group together, I missed them in the 2 days we were apart.
Had a beautifully relaxing days at the campo. Lots of maté and campfire time. I was elected one of the three LODs for our final 3-day ISGE (Independent Student Group Expedition). The group: Scott, Liz, Marcello, and Devin. Booyah! So happy. So thankful for this place. Going to bed smiling tonight.