Advertisement
Camping Crew
Ads, Me, Alexis & Jamie Before I go on there is a big gap in my blog, which I will update later on. For those of you who have been receiving Ads blog you will be right up to date.
Strange title I know but it´s so true, it will all become clear. We have just got back from doing a 5 day trek around Torres Del Paine National Park (Chile). Here´s further info on the park for those of you interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torres_del_Paine_National_Park
Met a lovely couple in Ushuaia, Jamie & Alexis and we ended up doing this trek with them. So the four of us headed off last Friday (17th) to do the W walk, which is 76km in total ( didn´t know this at the start)!! So off we set on the 07:30 bus, laden down with all our camping gear, not sure of what was ahead of us.
Day 1: 4hrs hiking to Glaciar Grey
On arrival to the park we jumped on a catamaran which took us across Lake Pehoe, to the start of the trek. Journey lasted approx 25 mins, it was heaven as we were warm, dry and received a free hot chocolate and biscuits...yum
Cosy Camping
Warming up our cold toes!! yum! Needed a sugar boast for the big trek ahead of us. So after being pampered for nearly half an hour reality hit us, the weather had turned and the clouds and rain came in! All was good though, had the waterproofs on and we were full of beans ready to tackle the 4hrs hike ahead of us up to Glaciar Grey.
We made it in one piece, if not a bit sore from carrying our super heavy big backpacks, which were laden with all our gear! Very proud of our first day trekking, we tackled it in 3 1/2hrs. Well done us, it was mainly down to Jamie ( Mr Super fit) setting the pace, thanks Jamie. Saw some fantastic scenery along the way, however, due to the poor weather the views were limited. It was a brilliant campsite, situated right near the Glacier, big lumps of icebergs would often come floating by! Doubt there´s many campsites like this in the world. Needless to say it was freezing.
We did have a saving grace, at most campsites there were Refugio´s. These are cabins offering beds, hot food & SHOWERS and general shelter from the outside elements. Being
Happy Campers!
Check out the iceberg in the distance! tough campers (or maybe mad would be the correct word), we pitched our tents and didn´t cave in to the luxury, which was only metres away. We did buckle after our super tasty chicken pot noodle and seeked refuge in the refugio for an hour or so. Couldn´t resist the log fire, sat round it playing cards and thawed out. Unfortunately, we were kicked out at 9 and had to head back to our cosy tents...not!!
Day 2: 6 1/2hrs trekking
What a cold night!! So glad the sun was shining today, we could really see the full glory of the glacier, wow it sure was stunning. After a bowl of hot porridge we set off to tackle day two. Having sunny weather sure made the walking much more pleasant, if only we didn´t have 10kgs of gear on our backs! Heading into ´Valle Frances´ what a great name! It was a tough day, but made it to campsite Italiano in good time. This time it was down to Ads, after his tuna sandwich at lunch he went off like a duracell bunny none of us could keep up with him!! To enter this campsite we had to
Dodgy Bridge
Max two people at one time! cross a high rickety bridge, only two people allowed on it at a time! No refugio at this campsite, so we had to battle with the outside elements, another cold night ahead of us. We were in bed by 7:30 feeling cold and tired. Not the place to come if you want to party!
Day 3: A very long trek trek!
Yeah, woo hoo bring it on......for the first part of this trek no backpacks, heaven! It was a real steep climb over boulders for the 1st section, so it would have been a real struggle with heavy bags. It was a wonderful valley, every 20 mins or so you would hear an almighty noise like a crack of thunder. This was glacier ice falling off the mountain side. What an amazing sight. After a long hike it was back to the campsite for a quick bite of lunch. Then onwards and upwards to campsite Los Cuernos. It was only a 2 1/2hr trek there so not too bad, harden trekkers now. Mmmmm well we think so! Walked along the shore of Lake Nordenskjöld for a short while which was a relief as it was a flat surface.
We were all pleased to see a refugio at this campsite, another evening sitting in the warmth drying our damp clothes and warming up our toes. I had food envy, people staying at the refugio had roast potatoes and meat. We were on night three of super noodles, yey! First night of sleep were coldness didn´t wake me up, slept in several layers plus my hat and gloves!
Day 4: 7 1/2hrs trekking
Woke up to a fantastic sunrise, there was a wonderful red glow on the mountain tops. It was a really wet and windy night, so we were very surprised crawling out of our tent to see the sun shining. Backpacks on and off again, it was a long and hard trek ahead. The last part of the trek was super tough, tackled a really steep hill that went on for over an hour. We were really starting to feel tried so had to let our fellow trekkers ( Jamie & Lex) go ahead while we took a more steady pace. Feeling rather drained and desperate to see the campsite, everyone that walked pasted us we asked ´how much longer?´ To which the reply
was 25mins, after the 4th person we asked we though this was the never ending trek to nowhere! Finally we saw a sign saying 1min to the campsite woohoooo!
No refugio at this site, but we didn´t care just so glad to have made it. Pasta in a pot for dinner, what luxury grub. We did have chocolate and sweets for desert :-). Another late one 7:30 lights out....wild camping or what!
Day 5: 3 1/2hrs trekking
Boo boo boo, this was one of the highlights of this trek, getting up to watch the sunrise on the Torres Del Plaine. Guess what, the sun didn´t want to come out to play. Rain and low cloud was upon us. Still, we crawled out the tent at 06:30 and hiked up the steepest part of the whole trek. Ads was really struggle as he wasn´t feeling too great. Great teamwork though, eventually we made it up to the top. It was worth it as the clouds lifted and a small patch of sunlight hit the bottom of the towers. We didn´t see the famous red glow, but a wonderful rainbow appeared. Typical of me...what do I forget to take
with me? My camera, d'oh! Ads had his to hand so not a major problem. It was a hard trek down back to the camp. Had a quick brekkie then off we set for our final decent. Jamie and Lex went ahead as Ads really needed to take it slow, and we didn´t want to hold them up. I was such a wonderful girlfriend and carried his heavy camera gear, now had 15kgs on my back! Felt like a sherpa and looked like a bag lady!! We made it down in time for the last bus back. Even had 30mins to spare for a well deserved drink in the plush hotel, heaven.
It was a fantastic trip, brilliant company (thanks Ads, Jamie & Lex), amazing scenery and a great achievement to hike 76kms in 5 days up mountains over rivers, through boggy paths and clambering round boulders. However, think it will be a while before we tackle another long hike, not sure my feet could handle it!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.116s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0699s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb