Tierra Del Fuego (TDF) is one of the remotest places in the world.  It also has many gorgeous lakes and beautiful snow-capped mountains to see.  One place that combines both of these qualities is Largo Fagano (LF) which is also the largest lake on the island.  It is on the other side of the mountains north of Ushuaia.

LF is 645 square kilometers (about 249 square miles).  The lake runs east-west for about 98 kilometres (59 miles).  The lake occupies both Argentina and Chile with the largest part of the lake is in Argentina.  A map showing Lago Fagnano is shown below.

On of the things I wanted to do on this visit to Ushuaia was to take a 4×4 tour to LF.

There are a number of agencies that offer 4×4 tours to LF.  I purchased an all day tour that picked me up at my hotel about 8 AM in the morning, and dropped me off at their office downtown Ushuaia on Ave. San Martin about 4 PM in the after.  Lunch was also served.  The major reason I wanted to take the 4×4 tour was to see more of Tierra Del Fuego.  This bog posting will be divided into 4 parts:

1. 4×4 tour route to and around Lago Fagnano,
2. The off-road 4×4 part to Lago Fagnano, and the drive along the lake,
3. Lunch and the scenery around the sportsman’s lodge, and
4. The return to Ushuaia from Lago Fagnano.

4×4 route to and around Lago Fagnano

LF is on the other side of the mountain range from Ushuaia to the north.  Depending on who you read, it is between 90 to 100 kilometers (54 to 60 miles) from Ushuaia to LF. To get there we had to cross the mountains on Hwy 3 (AKA the Pan American Highway).  Below is a map showing the route to and from Ushuaia across the mountains.  Once we crossed the mountains, we would leave Hwy 3 for the off-road 4×4 part of our trip.

Two mountain ranges are crossed when leaving Ushuaia to reach LF, and we also pass the smaller Lago Escondido.  Just past Lago Escondido, we left Hwy 3 for the off-road 4×4 part of our tour.  The map below shows the off-road 4×4 part of the tour.

A narrated sequence of photos below shows the 4×4 part of the tour.

Ushuaia on Hwy 3 to the 4×4 off-road departure

At the summit in the second mountain range, we stopped for photos.  Above on the left was the top of the climb from Ushuaia.  On the right is the start of the descent to LF.

Just below the summit was Lago Escondido, and off to the north was Lago Fagnano.

Of course, I had to have my picture taken.  On the right are some rock layers of rock showing the different geologic activity that has occured in Tierra Del Fuego.  In fact, LF runs along the Magellanes-Fagnano Fault Zone.

A few kilometers past the summit, we left Hwy 3, and began the off-road part of the tour.

The off-road 4×4 part to Lago Fagnano, and the drive along the lake

Our trip from Hwy 3 to LF was on a jeep trail that had various degrees of difficulty.  Some places we would have to hold on to stay in your seat.  We had to forge water in some places.

The top right picture above show one the the areas desolated by beavers.  In 1946, a few beavers were brought to TDF from Canada.  Now there are over 200,000 beavers.  TDF has not natural predators to help balance the beaver population.  I also so many other desolated areas caused by the overpopulation of beavers.

Some of the adventurous members of our tour were allowed to ride on the top of our 4×4.  In the lower right photo above, we some of the tour members on the

It too about a 45 minutes using the trail we followed from Hwy 3 to reach the south shore of Lago Fagnano.  In the lower left above is a photo showing our approach to LF.  The 4×4 trail along the south shore of LF is shown in the lower right.

We stopped for a few minutes upon reaching LF.  Also, at this point the members riding on the topside of the 4×4 had to return to the inside.In some locations there was either not a trail along that lake the was usable by the 4×4, or the water was too deep.  The photo above shows a place where we had to leave the lake.  We would return to the lake at the first opportunity.

Snow-capped mountains are on both the north and south sides of LF.  The photo above shows the mountains and the north side of LF.

A 4×4 trail runs along most of the south side of LA.

Here we are entering LA after the 4×4 trail had stopped.  Our guide, having been over this trail many time, is just starting to enter the shallow water of LF in the photo above.  Just around the bend in the lake we would meet the 4×4 trail again.

We were in the water with the 4×4 in the photo above.We are just returning out of the lake here in the 4×4.  While we were maneuvering slowly in the lake, we did have the keep the doors closed to avoid getting wet.

This is a view looking back from out route along the south shore of Lago Fagnano.  This was the furthest point we would reach on Lago Fagnano.

Lunch at the sportsman’s lodge, and the near-by scenery

There actually a large number of camps / sportsman’s cabins on the southern side of LF.  Most of them are are used by fishermen.  If you are interested in fishing for trucha (trout in English), there are several agencies in Ushuaia that can arrange a trip for you.

We were to have lunch in this cabin.  It was actually quite cold, so the tour guide and helper had to warm the cabin, and get our lunch ready.  While lunch was being readied, I took the opportunity to get more photos of Lago Fagnano, and the surrounding snow-capped mountains.  A narration of lunch and views while I was waiting for lunch follows.

Our Land Rover looked really lonely with no one to talk to.  Actually, this is first time I had been off-road in a Land Rover, and was quite impressed.  This was not your soccer mom’s Land Rover.  This was a real off-road vehicle.  I was quite impressed.  Especially, when we were making our way through the lake.

We all went inside to get warm.  I was in TDF during the first week of November.  This is during the spring there, and since it is  only about 1,250 miles to the South Pole, it can be quite cold.  It took awhile for the guide and his helper to get the inside of the cabin warmed up.

It was also a day where the sun came out, went away, and then came out again.  During one of the appearances of the sun, I took the opportunity to take some photos of LF.  The view was stunning, and I think you can see that from the view above.  In this picture we are looking at the mountains on the north side of LF.

This is a view of the sportsman’s lodge from the lake.

It took about 90 minutes to get out lunch ready.  Being in the outback, we had our meal on plates cut from a log.  It was kind of cool.

Beside the guide and his helped, there were 7 people in the tour group.  I was the only gringo.   Of the other 6, a man and his wife were from Spain (Barcelona if I remember correctly), a married couple from São Paulo, and two other guys from São Paulo also.  I did my best to communicate with them in either Portuguese or Spanish, but now and then would have to lapse into English, but not very ofter.  The real problem I had is that Spanish and Portuguese are very similar, and not being a certified translator, I would find myself speaking Portuguese when I should have spoken Spanish, or the reverse, speaking Spanish when I should have spoken Portuguese.  We managed to make it through lunch without them laughing at me because of my bad language skills.  I actually find it a lot of fun to be able to take with people in a language other than English.

We had Argentine steak, salad, fresh bread, and wine for lunch.  In the lower left above, you can see the improvised heater.  It actually worked very well, and we were able to remove our jackets during lunch.

After lunch, the sun reappeared, and I we outside again for a walk down to the shore of LF to get some more photos.

There was a dock by the lake, and an outlook to see the beautiful scenery.  This view is looking north across LF.

Another view to the north from the overlook above the doc.

This is a view to the east.  Earlier, we had come around the peninsula in the 4×4.

This view is looking to the west towards Bahia Bombilla.  It is near the middle of LF on the south shore.

It was not getting towards 3 PM in the afternoon, and was time to return to Ushuaia.

Return to Ushuaia

Our guide and helper reloaded the Land Rover, and we got in, and started our return.

The is the view as we left the sportsman’s lodge.  We had a small uphill climb to reach the return road.

The return to Hwy 3 was on a well maintained dirt road.  It only took a few minutes to return to Hwy 3, and another 60 minutes to get back to Ushuaia.  We were dropped on Ave San Martin in downtown Ushuaia about 4:30 PM.

This was a great trip.  I took it to see the interior of TDF.  I will return again someday to see other parts of TDF.  This was my second trip to TDF.  The next day I left for warmer spots to the north to visit the Cataracas de Iquazu.

For those that are interested, I take all of my pictures with a Nikon 1 J3 camera.  I have been very happy with this camera, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a light weight take takes great pictures.  During a day gathering material for my blog posting, I also find that I need more that one batteries.  So if you normally take a lot of pictures, make sure that you have a large number of batteries for you camera.

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