Victoria + Garrett // Patagonia
Honeymoon Session in Patagonia
To try and sum up Patagonia into cohesive words is probably the most futile effort I’ve ever made. There’s a reason that this area of the world is so infamous, so tenuously explored, so impossible to understand. Patagonia is by far the most rugged place I’ve ever seen. There are some mountains you see and think “wow, I’d like to climb that”, and some that you see and just think “how?!" and leave in disbelief.
Patagonia is only for those brave enough to subject themselves to gale-force wind, unpredictable storms, and impossibly steep climbs over jumbled, jagged rocks — souls like Victoria and Garrett, whose entire story together has been more or less defined by what many adventurers call “type 2 fun”. Between getting tents trampled by moose and spending summers in Yellowstone and Alaska, these two belong in the wild places. I’ve never seen two people more stoked on being pummeled by a windy Patagonian storm before.
We met Victoria and Garrett for espresso and breakfast before backpacking our way up to an alpine lake. The route to this lake requires a 12 mile round trip hike and on overnight in between. We grabbed some empanadas and stuffed them into our packs just before making our way up the steep trail. I would describe the hike there as moderately difficult, but these two tackled it no problem and we made it to the summit in record time.
We arrived at the lake to warm sunshine, and Victoria and Garrett pulled their wedding clothes out of their packs and changed behind some boulders. We picked our way down the jumbled glacial till to the lake and ran around to a little peninsula, following Victoria and Garrett as they ooh-ed and ahh-ed seeing this place for the first time.
Pretty soon a storm came over the mountain and the temps dropped. As the wind picked up and pushed all the tourists out, we were the only ones left. We watched, enamored, as the mountain was suddenly enshrouded by foggy clouds. Victoria and Garrett seemed to be energized by the weather activity, stoked to experience a legendary Patagonian storm.
What an absolutely incredible way to spend a honeymoon. Clinging to each other on a mountain – the mountain you’ve read about in books, seen movies about, and heard legendary stories about – a mountain that's inspired some of the greatest adventurers of our time. I’d like to think its a premonition for Victoria and Garrett. I wouldn't be surprised if later on in life I’m reading a book about these two setting records for their adventures together.
Bonus Adventure in Torres Del Paine, Chile
It just so happened to work out that our travel plans overlapped with Victoria and Garrett again later while we were traveling with friends in Chile. We met up with them on their last night on the infamous O Circuit that circumnavigates Torres Del Paine National Park on the Chilean side of Patagonia. We made plans to get up before the sun and hike to the Towers in the dark to watch the sunrise alpenglow. In classic Patagonia fashion, it was rainy and foggy and sleeting as we waited for some sunshine to hopefully make its way through the clouds. The sun broke through for all of about 5 minutes, which was absolutely stunning. So we grabbed a few quick photos of these two before heading back down the trail.
And a selfie with everyone of course, because all of us were wearing Melanzana sweaters. This type of freezing, wet, early morning sufferfest seals friendships for life, so we had to document it.
Cedar & Pines is an adventurous wedding and elopement photographer duo made up of Nate and Megan Kantor, a married couple living in their Airstream and traveling the American West. They believe in honest wedding photography, capturing the small candid moments to the epic landscape views. They travel to photograph adventure elopements and destination weddings in Colorado, California, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Washington, Patagonia and the ends of the earth.
