Well I won't be able to get any pics up (I guess I need to make a point to snap a couple with my phone since wifi is plentiful, but physical computers I could dump my camera onto are scarce), but I have some spare time at the Punta Arenas airport waiting for the next adventure so I'll give some thought on the longest hike of my trip.
Overall impression was good - we saw a LOT in 8 days. It wasn't exactly the wilderness I expected, but based on the views I can see why they have taken the effort to build up the campsites. The front side is called the "W" and I expected that to have large refugios and amenities, but even some of the sites on the back side had privately run pay sites with running water and some form of latrine. I won't say I was disappointed, but maybe I was.
We started from Laguna Amarga an did the circuit counter-clockwise. The first couple days were relatively flat thru Andean desert terrain and we logged long miles these days. We took a rest day on day 4 when Billy's blisters needed a break and rested up for the toughest day. The next day we powered through the John Gardner pass and had our first bad weather - a constant drizzle and low clouds that sometimes prevented us from seeing the path markers and unfortunately also the view of glacier grey as we came over the pass. The word of the day that day was "mogado" - wet. The next day was clear however, and while it didn't offer the vista of the pass my favorite memory of the trip is hiking right up next to the massive glacier. It. Is. Huge. It was also fun camping next to it. You would hear a crack every so often and cringe at the thought of another storm before realizing it's just the glacier calving off into the lake, or itself.
After this point we had made it around to the "W". Good thing with food getting scarce (planned) an some larger meals needed to keep going. The terrain turned from glaciers to stunning mtns at this point, but surprisingly the trail didn't turn to tourist trekker super-highway at this point, although you did run into more people. It was fun to profile people based on their gear brands and try to say hi in their native tongue. We started hitting long miles again to make up for the rest day so we could go see the Torres at sunrise. After one long day I tried a jogging day trip up the French Valley to see the lookout at the Cuernos (one o the two main sets of peaks you go to see). I probably should have cut my losses and gone at a normal pace because my knees were shot after that. The next day we hobbled through the rain to our take-out point, staying at our first Refugio which was awesome. We were too injured to make it up the 3 hour hike before sunset, but I actually had a great view from my bed. We dried our stuff the next day an headed to Puerto Natales for a night and the Punta Arenas last night. Both beautiful port towns.
Final thoughts:
Surprising lack of wildlife in the park
Their bumblebees are bright orange
Stray dogs are everywhere in the cities
Glacier gray is possibly the most amazing thing I have seen
Baguales is a brew pub in PN. Their beer is very good and they make one of the best bacon cheeseburgers I have ever had. The word of the day that day was "tocino" which means bacon.
Every day more and more vocabulary comes back. I love it. I wish I could post a word of the day every day, but I just don't have consistent Internet.
Ok. Off to Puerto Williams and hopefully the Dientes Circuit. We're on a tight sched here so we have to see how Billy's feet, my knees, and the weather look when we get there. We may just have to do a couple days of the circuit. Hope all is well back in the states!
Overall impression was good - we saw a LOT in 8 days. It wasn't exactly the wilderness I expected, but based on the views I can see why they have taken the effort to build up the campsites. The front side is called the "W" and I expected that to have large refugios and amenities, but even some of the sites on the back side had privately run pay sites with running water and some form of latrine. I won't say I was disappointed, but maybe I was.
We started from Laguna Amarga an did the circuit counter-clockwise. The first couple days were relatively flat thru Andean desert terrain and we logged long miles these days. We took a rest day on day 4 when Billy's blisters needed a break and rested up for the toughest day. The next day we powered through the John Gardner pass and had our first bad weather - a constant drizzle and low clouds that sometimes prevented us from seeing the path markers and unfortunately also the view of glacier grey as we came over the pass. The word of the day that day was "mogado" - wet. The next day was clear however, and while it didn't offer the vista of the pass my favorite memory of the trip is hiking right up next to the massive glacier. It. Is. Huge. It was also fun camping next to it. You would hear a crack every so often and cringe at the thought of another storm before realizing it's just the glacier calving off into the lake, or itself.
After this point we had made it around to the "W". Good thing with food getting scarce (planned) an some larger meals needed to keep going. The terrain turned from glaciers to stunning mtns at this point, but surprisingly the trail didn't turn to tourist trekker super-highway at this point, although you did run into more people. It was fun to profile people based on their gear brands and try to say hi in their native tongue. We started hitting long miles again to make up for the rest day so we could go see the Torres at sunrise. After one long day I tried a jogging day trip up the French Valley to see the lookout at the Cuernos (one o the two main sets of peaks you go to see). I probably should have cut my losses and gone at a normal pace because my knees were shot after that. The next day we hobbled through the rain to our take-out point, staying at our first Refugio which was awesome. We were too injured to make it up the 3 hour hike before sunset, but I actually had a great view from my bed. We dried our stuff the next day an headed to Puerto Natales for a night and the Punta Arenas last night. Both beautiful port towns.
Final thoughts:
Surprising lack of wildlife in the park
Their bumblebees are bright orange
Stray dogs are everywhere in the cities
Glacier gray is possibly the most amazing thing I have seen
Baguales is a brew pub in PN. Their beer is very good and they make one of the best bacon cheeseburgers I have ever had. The word of the day that day was "tocino" which means bacon.
Every day more and more vocabulary comes back. I love it. I wish I could post a word of the day every day, but I just don't have consistent Internet.
Ok. Off to Puerto Williams and hopefully the Dientes Circuit. We're on a tight sched here so we have to see how Billy's feet, my knees, and the weather look when we get there. We may just have to do a couple days of the circuit. Hope all is well back in the states!
Sounds like an interesting trip! Brings back a lot of backpacking memories, its funny how the memory of the pain fades so fast.
ReplyDeleteHi Darren - I was waiting for a facebook status update but finally drilled down to your blog. Sounds like you are having a great time.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to your next post...
You are missed at MC3.