So we waited out the bad weather in Puerto Natales (where we were blogging from last)and things were looking good to start on the Monday, but the campsite websites weren't working. Always something. We waited until they opened Monday morning and booked them in person, with some small provisions. We decided to take the evening boat that night and spend 5 days and 5 nights on the trek. We cruised the back way into the park which was quite scenic, but a bit cloudy.
We decided to take the vehicle near the start of the trek before taking the boat, so we wouldn't have to do it after finishing. We met an Irish/Slovakian couple who were great to hang out with. We shared stories with them as we headed on the shuttle back to the boat launch. We took in some amazing views from the boat, but it was crazy windy and there were a few rain showers.
Windy boat ride with the Cuernos mountains in the background.
After half an hour, we were at the starting point: Paine Grande. We checked in and set up the tent as close to the hill as possible because the wind was howling. We figured out our trekking stove and got some supper ready.
Most of the people in the cooking hut were jealous of our food. We decided that we weren't just going to eat instant noodles the entire time like some do. Even though we would have a lot more weight, we thought that eating good food while hiking that much was definitely worth it. Our suppers consisted of pasta/rice/instant potatoes as a starch made with a powdered sauce that only needed water to make (some of which was quite good). We would add a bit of dehydrated mushrooms or a bit of onion to the sauce with some cheese and either sausage or bacon. Lunches were pre-made wraps of meat/cheese, peanut butter/bananas, Nutella, etc. Plus some trail mix and chocolate. Breakfast was usually a pre-made boiled egg and some granola and some dried fruit. Compared to most, we ate quite well.
It was a blustery night in the tent with a bit of rain, but we awoke to one of the best sunrises I have ever seen.
The clouds literally looked like they were on fire.
After enjoying that, we packed up our stuff and started our journey which was pretty close to 100 kms.
The W-trek is so named as it is the shape of the hike.
It is the most popular of the hikes in the park, but as we were doing it late in the season there wasn't nearly as many people as in high season. There are a number of other hikes in the park, but this one is supposed to go by the most spectacular spots there.
Our start was a bit tough. The wind was just howling into our faces, sometimes catching us off balance with our packs on. Once we got into a rhythm though, we were able to make some ground.
Lunch break
Bright blue icebergs from Glacier Grey
The scenery was great as you can see.
It stayed windy until we got into a bit more sheltered area closer to Glacier Grey.
After the first 10 kms or so, my left knee was starting to get a bit sore which worried me. The only other time it has bugged me was when we did a lot of hiking in New Zealand over 4 years ago. I had a knee brace in the car, but that wasn't going to help me with this hike. Also had some extra strength anti-inflammatory cream....in the car. Ugh.
We made it to the campsite for the night at Grey. It was much more sheltered than the last which was nice. We set up the tent had some food and decided to head up to the lookout which was another 6 kms away to look at the southern ice field and Glacier Grey. Roberta lent me her hiking pole so I could have two and to help with my knee.
We were rewarded with some amazing views. By the end, I was tired and quite sore which was definitely worrying me a bit, since this was only day one of five. We had some supper and talked with our fellow hikers and hit the hay. Sleeping was much easier that night after hiking around 20 kms.
I woke up and couldn't really feel any pain in my knee which was encouraging. We decided to switch backpacks as mine was more heavy, to try a decrease the strain on my knee. Of course I didn't want to, but someone else had my best interest in mind. I continued with both trekking poles as well, but Roberta found her "wizard stick" that she would carry for the rest of the trek. I also used the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit soundtracks to get me going while hiking. Don't knock it until you try it!
We talked to our fellow hikers once again at breakfast and heard quite a few mouse stories. Some people hadn't got the memo to store their food in the trees as the mice have gotten a lot more aggressive at finding food with winter coming. There were a few stories of them chewing right through tents and multiple bags to get to food. Luckily enough, we had heard before and had our food slung up in the trees.
We hiked back 11 kms to Paine Grande taking in the sights once again then around the front side of the mountains. It was another blustery day, but the sun was out and the temperature was decent so there was no complaining from us.
The wind tunnel
It was around 7 km from Paine Grande to the Italiano campsite where we were camping for the night, so we hiked about 18 kms that day. The views around the front side were quite awesome as well.
My knee held up very good that day and the every 12 hours of naproxen seemed to be doing the trick. The last bit seemed to go on longer than expected, but we arrived to the campsite unscathed.
Above is the end of the forest fire that happened in 2011, when a wild camper didn't put out his fire properly. It burned a large section of the park.
This campsite was run by Conaf which is like our Parks Canada and was free. There was a little shack for cooking food and not much else, but it provided shelter and that was all we needed. It was another night of eating and enjoying the company of our fellow hikers including people from all over the world.
The next morning, we woke up to beautiful blue skies and no wind. I felt like today was going to be a very special day and told Roberta that morning that I thought we would remember the day. We were set to hike up the Valle de Francis up to the Britanico lookout which to many people we had talked to, the best part of the hike. The first part was by a large mountain with many glaciers.
We had been hearing the rumbling through the night before and now were able to see the large chunks of ice coming off and crashing below. It was quite amazing with the sounds and all the fall colours around.
Grabbing some water from the stream- all water in the streams was drinkable.
As we walked, I picked some of the most colourful plant stems I could find. The place was absolutely magical.
We made to Britanico in awe. There were sharp mountain peaks in a bowl around us.
The only opening was the valley we had just walked up. Amazing. We stayed up there for a bit and I braided the stems that I had collected. Took a bunch of photos and talked with many people we saw up there. We decided to head back down. About 400 meters from the lookout, I had a spotted an opening on the way up that looked very much like the lookout but not quite as high. There were a bunch of large rocks as well where I knew we could get some privacy. I coaxed Roberta over there with some story and told her to close her eyes. I started playing our song on my phone, brought up the picture of The Ring on my phone and got down on one knee. Then I told her to open her eyes.....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment