Another day in Ushuaia, Argentina and another outing in Ushuaia, Argentina.
Due to incoming ships, our ship had to leave the dock and anchor in the bay, requiring us to tender to and from the ship and shore. The boat is anchored at one end, which we know because the landscape we see from our balcony continues to change. We’re basically moving in an arc, back and forth. Not a big deal, normally not worth mentioning, but it’s relevant to our tendering experience this morning.
All the Seals were loaded up and ready to head to the shore, and our tender ran into the ship. Hard. Twice. Giving credit to the tender pilot, the ship was moving, and it appeared he was making every effort to navigate away from the ship, but nature worked against him. The ride was fine and we made it to shore, with a tale to tell.
Today’s excursion was titled something like “Scenic Drive and walk”. Both were accurate. We drove about 25 minutes out of Ushuaia through part of the Andes Mountains, stopping at a place simply called “Husky Park”.
No clue what was there (we were hoping to see Husky pups!) or what we were doing. Dogsledding is a winter activity in these parts and Husky Park truly has Huskies! They consider the dogs somewhat wild (we would say domesticated, but maybe lacking some manners?) and we didn’t get to love on the pups. We weren’t there to see the pups though – it was a nature walk that wasn’t a normal nature walk.
From the start, where we were dropped off at the side of the road, there was a trail down a steep slope, and things started to look interesting at the bottom…
We didn’t cross the bridge, because the low-land trail that direction was flooded, so instead, we turned left and headed to the dog-sledding area. As we exited the trail into the park clearing (heading for that geo-dome shown below), walking became really SPONGEY…
Once again we were in a massive peat bog where the peat was 10 meters (30 feet) deep. It’s spongey, and squishy, and bouncy, and is somewhat strange to walk on. They had several areas where they’d cut a foot or two out of the peat, we believe likely for drainage.
Once we left the clearing, we were on-trail which was not at all boggy. There were random tree roots and rocks popping up here and there, certainly not a leisurely walk, but making a very nice and unique quasi-hike.
After a decent little hike, we came to a rocky, elevated plateau, that gave us sweeping views of the surrounding Andes Mountains in the background, with another wet, boggy valley in the foreground.
We continued on through the lower boggy area with many bushes and undergrowth, crossing little ramshackle bridges, using wood-cut stepping-stones across excessively wet areas, etc. until we came to a dirt embankment with lots of dead trees (both upright, still in the ground, and down, laying on the ground) with mud flats and still water on the up-side of the embankment.
This region has a problem with beavers.
Big North American beavers who wreak havoc on the environment.
Over 70 years ago as they wanted to start a beaver pelt trade in the area, so they imported far north Canadian beavers and introduced 25 pairs (couples) into the wilds, letting them prosper and reproduce so they could start trapping and reaping the monetary rewards.
One thing they failed to think through / account for, was that it does not get anywhere remotely as cold in this area it does in the north of Canada, so the beaver pelts were not as thick as the fur is actually quite thin. Therefore there was no market for the beaver pelts, and they soon quit trapping them.
Since there are no natural predators (no wolves, no bears) to thin out or keep the beavers under control… fast forward to current day and there are an estimated 100,000 beavers in the Tierra Del Fuego region. Having no predators also leave these beavers to grow to enormous size (beavers on steroids), that are able to create mass destruction.
Even though they had breached the dam (the wonky board over the rushing water we balanced across, below) and relocated the original beavers, after Covid and no activity on the property for several years, another set of beaver mates have again taken up residence.
Here are pics showing the destruction and desolation they cause from our trek across the dam:
The Chileans and the Argentinians may not align on many topics, but they both agree that the beavers need to be eradicated as they are a horrible nuisance. In addition to seeing the destruction on this property, we saw a lot of additional destruction throughout the day as we drove through the mountains.
After discussing beavers, their destructive nature, and that there’s an artificial vanilla available in Canada that is made from the glands of a beaver (which our guide described as beaver’s ass vanilla), we turned around and headed back down the trail. (Another side note on vanilla flavoring and beaver butts – google at your own risk.)
The walk ended at a dome building that had massive windows on one side, facing the mountains. We were served an amazing apple cake and a hot beverage. So, that ended the walking portion of our excursion.
The rest was driving, with a couple of quick photo op stops along the way.
We continued through/over the Andes, driving past another dogsledding business, a ski lodge and lift, and a couple of restaurant/hotel establishments. The number of businesses is quite minimal and most of the area remains untouched. While it’s summertime here, there is still snow on some of the mountains, so we saw a lot of seasonal waterfalls created by the current snow melt.
The first photo op stop was stunning! The lake and the mountains were breathtaking (despite a few small patches of beaver damaged areas). That stop was our turnaround point, which provided everyone on the bus the pleasure of seeing both sides of the journey.
We stopped for another photo op, which was at a newly opened pull-off. Wow – whoever stuck this on the side of the road did a major favor to those who love beautiful views!
One unique feature seen from this vantage point, which we would not have known without being told, is that one of the inland glaciers is visible from here. We would have passed it off as snow, like the rest of the snow on the mountain.
On second glance, we could see some bluish coloring signifying that it was the glacier.
Since we tendered to shore, we had to tender back to the ship. We were nearing the ship and the wind kicked up, creating small whitecapped waves, pushing mist over the top of the water. Ugh – are we going to smash into the ship again??
There was one big thump, but we safely docked to the ship without issue. We clapped for the pilot, and he clapped for himself as well.
Tomorrow is our last day in Ushuaia, in Argentina, in the Andes, at the end of the world, and the last full day of our “Antarctic vacation where we did not make it to, nor did we see Antarctica”. Bittersweet, but we have about 51 weeks until we’re back here again for another attempt at our 6th continent!