One of the things they always tell you when you go hiking is "don't leave the trails", and they say it with good reason. When you are in a forest, it is very easy to get disoriented, and even more so when you are in a place where you can't even get a cell phone signal. Even though I was quite careful on this walk, I couldn't help getting a little lost, but that's what ended up making the walk fun. Fun because I finally got where I wanted to be and got to where I wanted to be .

When I came to work at the hostel in Ushuaia, I was very lucky because I was able to make some friends quite easily. With them we shared many treks and good times having dinner together, or playing dice and drinking some wine in the evenings. But of course, everyone has their own interests within their own trip and we didn't always coincide to do everything together. This was one of those days, where we all had different plans for our afternoon and I had to go for a walk alone. My idea was to go to a place not so far away that was on the way to the Martial Glacier, a trail that I had already walked a few days before, but that was on the side of the main road .

Of course, most tourists continue on their way to the beautiful and impressive Martial Glacier, so there are few who detour this way. These trails lead to a number of viewpoints of the city and the mountains, which may not be extremely attractive to passing visitors. But since I was going to be in the area for a few days, I could afford to go for a walk even to these not-so-crowded places. That's what I like most about long stays as I trade work for accommodation .

Since there was very clear signage at the entrance to these trails, I thought the trail would be well marked but that was not the case. After a bit of walking, the trail quickly entered a lenga forest with several trail options to follow. I took it upon myself to follow the one that seemed the most marked, but after a while I didn't understand where to continue. At that moment I thought about whether to keep going or not, but luckily I met a couple who also wanted to go to those viewpoints and who were also a little lost, so the three of us continued the walk together .

I don't know if I would be interrupting their romantic walk somehow, but the truth is that I didn't want to get lost in the forest, so I stayed with them so that between the three of us we could make the decisions to go through the place. This forest area had a few signs with signs warning about the use of snowshoes in winter season and there were also signs about being careful with the ski slopes, which made us realize the main use of this place when everything is covered with snow. In summer, the landscape was quite brown from peat and snowmelt, but surely with all the white blanket this landscape must be completely different .

The first viewpoint we found was Cerro Martial, which by that point was already unmistakable to me. The second viewpoint we had to find was the Beagle Channel. Despite being three heads thinking, we still could not avoid getting lost and started walking along the wrong path. My offline map indicated that we were heading towards a waterfall called Nahiara, something not planned, and although we were not far from there, my companions did not want to continue. I didn't want to continue walking alone in the forest either, so I went back with them and it turned out that the second viewpoint was very close to the first one. It was even marked with colored markers, so we did not understand how we did not see it before .

The viewpoint over the Beagle Channel was very nice and you could get a good view of the city from there. If we had taken out the parts where we got lost, it might have taken us only an hour to get to both, but we ended up taking more than twice as long. The good thing is that with my hiking companions we were together until the end and they offered to drive me back to my hostel. It was a great afternoon walking with improvised friends, and when I finally recovered my internet connection, the first thing I did was to look for pictures of the Nahiara Waterfall so that my walk would not be incomplete .

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Here’s your 2‑day adventure itinerary in northern San Juan with details and visuals to capture the thrill of rafting and windsurfing:

️ Day 1 – Rafting Jáchal River

• Morning: Guided rafting through turquoise rapids, Class II–IV, surrounded by rocky canyon walls.

• Afternoon: Riverside picnic, fishing, or short hikes.

• Evening: Dinner in San José de Jáchal, tasting cabrito and empanadas.

️ Day 2 – Windsurfing Cuesta del Viento

• Morning: Windsurfing lessons or free sailing on turquoise waters with steady winds.

• Afternoon: Kitesurfing or kayaking, framed by desert mountains.

• Evening: Sunset at the dam, then return to Jáchal for a relaxed evening.

Practical Tips

• Best season: October–March for rafting; windsurfing year‑round.

• Gear: Quick‑dry clothing, sunscreen, waterproof camera.

• Base: San José de Jáchal — lodging, guides, and cultural heritage.

If you like hiking and you are traveling in a place surrounded by mountains, you are not likely to get bored. Even if you think you've done everything interesting, there will always be more to do. During my travel days in the city of Ushuaia, I went for a walk almost every afternoon, which allowed me to see the touristy places as well as the not so touristy ones. I liked this because I could have the most classic postcards of the place, but also those that usually visitors do not know. This is the case of the landscape that can be seen from the summit of Mount Susana, perhaps not so well known but worth knowing .

One of the things I liked most about Ushuaia, unlike the rest of the places I've been, is that there was Uber service. This travel platform allows cheap transfers, even at half price compared to regular cabs. Since there are not so many public bus networks in the city, having this option was very useful to get to those places that cannot be reached on foot. Also, there were evenings when I was alone, like this day, so I had to pay for a whole trip on my own, but with Uber it was not so expensive .

After checking where to go, I decided on Monte Susana, whose trailhead is located 5 km from the city center. For this trip I had paid about $5 and arrived in less than 10 minutes, which seemed more than affordable and a good plan for my day. The thing is that in that area I had no signal and I didn't know how I was going to ask for a car to go back, but I thought "5 km more in addition to the hike I have planned, it won't be a big problem" .

You could tell that this mountain was not so touristy from the moment you arrived and all its signage was lying on the ground. At least they left it there and didn't take it down, because I helped myself with that to get my bearings. In the first part of the road there was a path that shortened the path of the cars and had a fairly significant slope, so you gained altitude quickly. Significant unevenness always means great demand for the legs, but this was later compensated with a gradual ascent inside the lenga forest .

Although the path was marked with yellow signs, the trail was not very well trodden so you had to move carefully. In all this stretch I did not come across absolutely no one, which gave an idea of how little visited the place was. When I finally reached the viewpoint I had planned, I sat down for a while to rest, even though I had been walking for just over an hour. At this viewpoint there was a seat where you could sit and contemplate the scenery ❣️.

Ushuaia is really beautiful: the southernmost city in the world began as a small village for the most dangerous prisoners in the country and years later became this incredible tourist place. What amazed me most about this viewpoint is that you could see the entire peninsula where the city's airport is located, parallel to it. You can also see from there what was the old airport, perpendicular to the city. In the early years, airplanes had to take off and land passing over the city and in a much smaller space for maneuvers, which caused several accidents. The new runway looks noticeably larger and now the planes arrive over the Beagle Channel, without flying over the urbanization .

After sitting there for a while, the first person I saw all afternoon appeared, after the Uber driver. It was Patricia, a woman who was also traveling alone because "her husband does not like to travel and she was not going to stay without seeing Ushuaia". We quickly became friends, as with those people with whom there is a good vibe from the moment. We chatted a bit about why she decided to go to this not so touristy place and she told me that it was because 600 meters above sea level seemed easy for someone who does not walk regularly and that was the case, because she got there without any problems .

From the amount of rocks that were piled up very close to this viewpoint, I knew that many people made this place "their summit". When you got to this part, everything looked pretty flat, but if you looked in the direction of the Chilean border, you could see what the real summit was. Patricia also wanted to go to the summit, so we both continued on our way a little further. In this part, the trail was no longer well marked, but there was only one direction to continue ascending so we went and in less than half an hour we reached the real summit .

Unfortunately we could not stay long because it was too windy, but we had good views of the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego National Park and some snow-capped peaks already belonging to our neighboring country. Before going there I had investigated that there was another way down from the mountain towards the park, but with Patricia we concluded that we would go back the "same way". Well, I don't know what happened, but we got a bit lost in the forest and ended up going down a different trail than the one we both took at the beginning. The important thing is that when you are coming down a mountain, whenever you are descending you always get to the street level even if you take a longer path, and that's how it was .

Luckily for me, my new companion was another regular user of the "hitchhiking" mode, so this is what we did to get back to the city. Within minutes of getting off, a man and his son got us to the center faster than we thought possible. This allowed Patricia and I some extra time to stop by a bar for a few beers. It may not have been so fit on our part, but at least we had gotten enough exercise during the day in the Susana Mount .

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