Massive trekking with a Couchsurfing group: 10 people made it to the Celeste Lagoon.

Since I understood how Couchsurfing worked for casual rides, I used it until my last day in Ushuaia. So far, I had always organised trips with up to three people from the app, but then I saw that there is a section to organise outings further in advance. There, people suggest different types of activities to do as a group, such as going for walks around the city or going out at night. But on one occasion, I saw that someone had suggested a trek to a lagoon that I hadn't visited, and it seemed like a good opportunity to go and see it with someone else .

This trek was about the one to Laguna Celeste. This hike was indicated as being of medium difficulty, with an estimated duration of 8 hours and 12 km round trip. In this part of the application you can confirm your attendance to a walk, and for this weekend outing, there were 11 people confirmed. We had agreed to meet at noon in the city to go in different cars of the participants and luckily, almost everyone was on time.

We split up between the different vehicles and drove to the start of the trail, about 25 km from the city of Ushuaia. We were relaxed about the timetable because there was plenty of daylight in the summer in Ushuaia, so we started the hike at a leisurely but safe pace so that the whole group would be united. We were a very diverse group with different levels of mountain training, but we wanted everyone to make it to the end.

The trek to Laguna Celeste has wonderful views because all the time it passes through incredible corners of the mountains. It also passes through different panoramic points where you can see the whole valley and also the effects of the beaver forests in the landscape of Ushuaia. As soon as the hike started, the trail had quite a steep positive slope, but as there was no snow at that time of the year, the difficulty was not so high.

Of course, the idea of keeping the group together didn't last that long. As the walk progressed, some fell further behind us, while others quickly overtook us. I decided to form a group with two other girls and it was with them that I walked the whole way. One of the girls even walked only a kilometre and decided to turn back when she saw that the climb was so steep. Those are the risks of big groups, but it was still fun.

This trail has several interesting things to see: the Celeste Lagoon where we were going, the Alvear Glacier, above the Celeste Lagoon, and on the other side, the Alvear Lagoon. The trail to Laguna Alvear is a detour from the road to Laguna Celeste, which if I had been alone or with less people, I would have taken the trouble to go and see, taking advantage of the fact that I was there. But as this outing was more for Couchsurfing recreation and not so much for the mountaineering ego, we only went as far as the lagoon we agreed on.

After a little more than three hours of walking, we finally reached the Celeste Lagoon. My small subgroup of three was in the middle of the group and once there, we expected to see four other girls who had gone ahead of us, but they were not there. There were other people who had arrived before us, but no one we knew. This seemed strange to us, but we knew they would show up sooner or later.

About half an hour must have passed, when these four girls appeared behind us. It turned out that they had got lost, because they hadn't correctly followed the small stone turrets on the road. Luckily, they realised that they had taken the wrong path before they went too far. About fifteen minutes after them, the missing group of three appeared. Finally, we all arrived safely at the lagoon.

Once we were all together, we took the opportunity to have our lunch and rest for a while. This lagoon was very beautiful, with a very contrasting light blue colour to the surrounding mountains. It was also accompanied by the glacier behind it, which added a little more charm. In addition, you could see a lot of small waterfalls coming down the mountain, and even a perfectly cubic shaped rock. That was very rare.

As all the snow had melted and the pass was clear, it was possible to walk around the lagoon without any problems. We were able to get up to a high point, where we had a good view of the whole lagoon. We also saw another small lagoon on the side, which is probably part of the main lagoon. I always like to find a high point to get a better view of the landscape, and this place was perfect for that.

After that crowded Couchsurfing trip, several of us continued to see each other on subsequent trips. In fact, we all already knew each other but separately, as we had used the app before. Of all these people, there were some travellers and some locals, so we were able to exchange with them their experiences of what it's like to live in Ushuaia on a permanent basis. I loved this outing and the trekking experience as a whole, and above all, I'm glad that we all (or almost all), managed to complete it ❤️.

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