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Published: February 24th 2006
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First View
These are the towers from where the bus dropped us off. This is the last time we saw them until day 8. Yes, yes, backdated again. It´s hard to catch up, as our whirlwind schedule provides scant opportunity for trips to the internet cafe. As for current events, we are in Bariloche, Argentina for two days followed by (hopefully) a trip to Pucon, Chile, to climb a volcano. But that will wait for another time. So, where were we? After getting our backpacks ready and gathering the necessary food, it was off to Parque National Torres del Paine to hike the Circuito Grando, a 143 km trek around the best features of the park. Since there are still no pictures posted, I can´t actually show you what it was like, but you can look up pictures in any number of places. The bus went to the park with a quick stop, at which the Patagonian wind first reared its head, rocking the bus while we sat and waited to continue on to the park. After a four hour bus ride, we paid our entrance fee of $10,000 Chilian pesos ($20 per person), after which we quickly hiked over the nearest ridge as the park´s namesake, the Torres del Paine, were visible in the cloudless sky, which is somewhat rare as the weather in
Same as Before
This is the same view point, with a wider viewing angle. A few glaciers are visible, but nothing like later on. Patagonia is notorious for being poor. Once we had our fill, we caught a quick shuttle to the start of our hike. A few years ago, a careless hiker burned down 20% of the park, and the effects of these fires were obvious on our shuttle ride. Fortunately, the remainder of the hike showed very little in the way of fire damage, so at least we didn´t have to hike through any additional burn areas. The first day was very short, with a 4 hour hike that quickly replaced views of the Torres with mixed grassland and wooded hillsides, along a turquiose river for the second half of the hike. It was a very nice, if unspectacular day, capped off with an unspectacular campsite, Camp Seron. On the plus side, Sara was able to observe several species of birds up close (IDing birds is Sara´s new hobby on the trip), including Crested Caracara, which are a bit of a mix between a hawk and a vulture. After a sunny morning, the cloudy rolled in for the afternoon, with a light sprikle. This would not be an uncommon occurrence. After a good night´s sleep, we awoke ready for a long day
Lago Dickson
The view from campsite number 2, with the Dickson Glacier plunging in on the far side of the lake. of hiking with heavy backpacks. The packs at the start of the trek were about 60 lbs for Matt and 35 lbs for Jill and Sara, well over the 20% of body weight the the park service recommended, though we were all of the opinion that the 20% rule was so you would rent the tents at the individual campsites or stay at the refugios. Not for $40 per person per night! It was bad enough that the campsites were $7 per person. Anyway, the second day began with a steep climb which led to great views of Lago Paine, a turquiose-gray lake filled with glacial sediment, with glacier covered slopes all around. The remaining 5 hours of hiking involved reaching said slopes, which became a bit monotonous until we reached the Dickson Glacier which was a huge mass of white spilling out of the mountains above us. This would be our goal for the remainder of the day as our goal was Camp Dickson, on Lago Dickson. From near our campsite, we could seem the glacier spilling into the lake, it was an amazing site. Sara had another fun night IDing birds, as well as watching the horses at
Glacier Grey
Coming over John Garder Pass, know for bad weather, we are treated to a windless and cloudless day, looking across 4 miles of glacier. Amazing. camp, including a young colt.
Matt is tired of typing in the smokey internet cafe, so I (Sara) will take over.
Ok, so at Lago Dickson the next morning, Jill woke me to say that there was a rainbow over the glacier and indeed there was. The lake was beautiful dark green as well with a dark rock pebbled beach. We hiked out to head for Campamento Perros which was a bit of a climb with great views behind us of Dickson. When we reached the lake and glacier Perros, it was so windy that it almost knocked us over and made us really scared for the next day when we did the extremely exposed, infamous John Gardner Pass. Campamento Perros was really cold and windy but the lively, warm camping shelter with two friendly Canadians and English women more than made up for it. Also, I had a craving for pickles which I got so that was awesome. The next morning, the sky was cloudless and there was no hint of wind, an absolutely perfect day to expèrience one of the best parts of the hike, the John Gardner pass and beautiful vistas of mountains and Glacier
Glacier Grey, Part Dos
A second view of the crevass covered glacier. Grey. But first the bogs... There was miles and miles (at least it felt like that) of mud, mud and more mud. It didn´t help that I could not fit my feet in my boots and thus had to take my ill equipped, somewhat worn (at least now) New Balance shoes for 8 days of trekking!! I temporarily lost my hat in the careful stepping through the bogs but we all made it through the bogs without losing any gear. It was a steady climb through skree up to the pass but the trail was well marked and we had been judiciously eating so that our packs would be lighter. It was worth the effort! The view from the pass was wonderful and I satisfied another craving I was having at the top of the pass (a cheese and mustard sandwich). However, the downhill was very steep and not so fun. We were sliding in the powdery dust and cursing the Argentine NP service for not installing switchbacks. We decided to go past the first free campsite and go to the next so we could catch up a bit and do some extra side trips later. It seemed a good
Cuervos del Paine (Horns of Paine)
On day 5 of the hike, the Cuervos del Paine came into view. To the left of these was a glacier covered peak, with ice crashing into the valley every so often. idea at the time but after 2 hours of climbing up and down steep slopes including two 20 foot ladders (with a pack) which was pretty scary. We arrived at Campamento Los Guardas, tired and hungry but otherwise in good shape. This camp had a wonderful mirador (lookout) of the tip of glacier grey and you could hear pieces of ice breaking off at night (Jill thought they were thunder and that is what it sounds like).
The next day we hiked an easy hour in the rain to Refugio Grey and had our first junk food fix - papas fritas (potato chips), Fanta, and ritz crackers - which cost the same as a campsite in the pàrk but was very worthwhile. It rained steadily as we climbed through the forest but it was beautiful, especially the foxglove. We reached Lago Pehoe Campamento for lunch and we took advantage of their extremely nice cooking shelter. Lago Pehoe is the most beautiful aquamarine color and we had the fortune that it stopped raining and the sun came out. Then we dried our gear off in the light wind and headed for another free campsite, Campamento Italiano. The next morning was cold
Valle de France
This was a valley that only Matt hiked. Very spectacular, though no more so that the rest of the hike. and Jill and I were not feeling up to a 4 hour day hike up the valley so Matt set off without us. I took the time to look at birds, pig out and curl up with For Whom the Bell Tolls in the sleeping bag. Matt loved the day hike but we were still feeling lazy so we headed to the next campsite only a few kilometers away, Alberque los Cuernos. On the way, we sat on the pretty rock beach by Lago Nordenskjold and skipped rocks. The best part about this campsite were the hot showers which we were allowed to use since there was not a separate banos (bathroom) for campers and refugio customers. I was like a new woman after that shower!! The next morning we headed for the pinnacle of our hike, Campamento Torres and the towers at sunrise!!! It was a fairly long and steep hike but we punctuated it with a stop at Alberque El Chileno, for more Fanta, pringles and what we thought were donuts but were really chocolate cookies. We also met a very nice, experienced hiker and climber named Lorenzo who we had seen every day of the hike but
Torres del Paine
We woke up early on day 8, at 5am, hoping for a spectacular light show. Well, this is all we got. Still, just the see the 4000 ft of vertical rock was amazing. hadn´t talked to before that day. However, the night and sunrise view were somewhat spoiled by a noisy group of Israelis who talked until one in the morning. They were also inconsiderate enough to bring their guitar and play music at 5:30 am at the sunrise viewpoint. Unfortunately, the sun was blocked by the clouds and the towers didn´t turn red but they were beautiful nonetheless and were not blocked by clouds themselves. We sped down the mountain, paid way too much for lunch, bid a fond farewell to Lorenzo, and took a very dusty bus back to Puerto Natales.
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