Laguna Negra Traverse - Day 1

 On Tuesday, Scott and I started out for a three-day hike.  The first day was a relatively short (but steep) hike to Refugio Lopez.  This is a pretty popular day hike, but our plan was to stay at the Refugio as we were connecting to another refugio the next day.

We had a little bit of a bus snafu (meaning, the bus didn't stop to pick us up despite frantic waving), so we ended up taking a taxi to the trailhead.  We immediately started climbing, climbing towards Lopez.  The trail does not waste any time taking you upwards.

Along the way, we enjoyed great views of Lago Nahuel Huapi (the lake below) and the surrounding mountains.

Once we reached the hut, we arranged for our sleeping and eating accommodations.  Since this is a popular day hike, the hut was not as crowded as our last one.  Most people do not spend the night here.  This hut seemed to be in a little worse condition than most of our other hut experiences.  But, hey, a warm place to spend the night on top of a mountain is still pretty great.

We enjoyed our spaghetti dinner (and Scott his Isenbeck) and got well rested for our big hiking day the next day!