or a dozen. today (happy easter by the way), went exactly according to plan... just not our plan - Patagonia's plan.
our day was supposed to start at 4:50 am to give us time to get back to campamento grey, where the iceberg kayak tours leave from - no chance. it was pitched black, pouring rain, and oh so Patagonia perfectly windy... you couldn't pay me to get out of my warm sleeping bag. and more importantly, by headlamp the hike promised to be more than difficult, it would be dangerous - which it was even in daylight and dry conditions...
we forfeited our kayak plans and slept in - yet again, too late. up at 8 we headed to the cook shack to make breakfast with the gang. Justin & Jeff and their motley crew were happy to have more along for today's hike. after a comical attempt at pancakes (they weren't much to look at but they sure were delish!!), which got much attention from our fellow backpackers, we set off.
quick side-ish note, I just have to mention the most disgusting toilet I have ever used - if you've read my past blogs you know I'm all about the potty humor, what good general surgeon isn't?! - so there is one designate "toilet" for this entire campsite, (which is free to stay at, if that is any indication about the quality of the facilities). it is called campamento paso because when you make it through the pass on the circuit this is where you stay that night. so first of all, considering we are in the middle of nowhere and it is nearing the off season for Patagonia trekking, there were way too many people at this campsite in general and definitely too many for one toilet. but they insist to keep the area clean you must use it and so I passed up a beautiful nature potty with a glacier view for a windowless shack and a cement squatty potty - the worst!! especially when your legs are too sore to squatty properly thus making the potty part that much more difficult. anyway I will spare you more details than I already failed to spare you and continue with the good stuff...
the weather was much more agreeable by the time we left camp and between sun breaks and light sprinkles we saw our first... you guessed it... rainbow!! just a small piece but it stood out against the white blue glacier and we loved it!! not long after there was a half rainbow that decorated our view for some time. in the afternoon we came over a rise and got the full deal - a complete rainbow!! and you may see where I'm going with this but yes, next was the double rainbow and Pete and I were definitely like "what does it all mean?!" ;) incredible.
so the weather was doing awesome things and we didn't even mind the morning showers because they were light if noticeable at all under the tree cover and we all know, no rain, no rainbows :) we welcomed the sun breaks, which became more frequent as we chased a blue spot in the sky back toward lago pehoe where we would turn off to campamento Italiano; our ultimate destination.
the ladders and suspension bridge we had climbed up and down yesterday were, surprise, still part of the trail out of there and we had a lot of fun navigating them with sore bodies from the past 3 days' long hikes. but we survived to tell the tail and when you see pics you'll definitely agree we're more badass because of it.
the wind picked up in the afternoon and we got a sense of the gusts' ability to throw you around. I got knocked off a walkway- fortunately to no consequence. and were it not for our trekking poles there would have been a number of crash and burn moments - and believe me, you hit with a whole different kind of thud when you're carrying 1/3 of your body weight on your back.
fortunately for us Patagonia was once again on our side and offered a rowdy tailwind that hurried us along whether we wanted to or not... which we wanted to, because we had 19 miles to cover today and after our sleep-in and gourmet breakfast we hadn't started hiking until near 11 - brilliant, we know.
the glacier was to our right as we hiked to grey. we stopped just long enough to eat a snack and readjust packs. the 11km from grey to paine grande was easier than the first 10km of our day - which were up and down along cliff edges and with stairs so big I never would have made it without the assistance the trekking poles - have we mentioned enough how much we love these things? the 11km stretch after lunch was a sprint on easier trails with the wind at our backs. the endless grey lake to the right was specked with bright blue icebergs. we were hunting groups of trekkers ahead of us and trying to keep ahead of those behind. we ate and drank as much as possible while stopping for only very short breaks. it is amazing how many calories you can burn when you're backpacking.
we were in quite a bit if pain by the time we reached paine grande (ironic?) - hungry, thirty, and trying not to limp, we refueled with nuts and chocolate and then continued right along for our last 8km stretch. we had been told they close the trail to Italiano after a certain hour and we wanted to sneak through in time so that we weren't forced to camp where we were, at the most expensive campsite in the park ($16 per person per night for camping with your own gear)...
the next 2.5 hours reminded me of a prolonged last 2.5 miles of a marathon. everything hurt. in particular Pete's shoulders were killing him from 8 hours with near-60lbs on his back and my feet were aching terribly. to add to the abuse of our bodies we were not well fed or watered during this final push and as a result we totally hit a wall. but then we would look up at the insane view and we would bounce off the wall and be ok for a bit, before gnawing hunger or grinding bones or raw skin drew our attention away from the view for a while longer. our focus jumped back and fourth, as did our determination and our pace varied accordingly. but overall we were tremendously slower than the first two legs of our trek.
in true small world Patagonia fashion some of our buddies from erratic rock, employees like trisha, came up on us on the trail. we let them pass. we were comically slow by that point, creeping along with interesting gaits & arched back to take weight off of our tender shoulders and all-too reliant on our trekking poles... pain, lots of pain (for those of you who haven't seen it, that is a quote from a knight's tale - great movie!)... we had a perfect view of the towers, backlit by high clouds glowing pink, but not obscuring our view even an inch. my whining was interspersed with remarks about the beauty of where we were. the sky was clear and bright blue, lakes to our right were dark and wild with the squirly wind blowing in every direction and massive waves making them look more like an ocean. the setting sun was turning the sparse fluffy clouds pink and we race (ha, kind of), the last bit of sunlight up the face of the towers before it slipped off the very tops and patagonia said goodbye to another day.
a few more trekkers passed us. a lot more whining may or may not have come out of my mouth. and eventually the rush of the glacial river told us we were close. we came to a bridge... on a scale of suspension bridge with vertical ladder to broken collapsed bridge over canyon with plank repair, this was probably a 7. it was a suspension bridge in that it was suspended between the banks of the river by tiny cables that looked way too small to support the weight of overloaded backpackers, ergo the two person max on the sign. the two by four cross boards were mostly intact, aside from a sagging section toward the end and some small breaks throughout. thin rope of all faded colors anchored the bridge on either side, giving a spider web appearance that would be more pronounced from above. everything looked too weathered to trust. this, however, was what stood between us and food/water and setting our packs down and sitting (not sure what we wanted most at that moment) so we crossed it with more speed than I thought possible given our last 8k slug pace.
packs off - beautiful. tent set up in the twilight - piece of cake (mmm cake sounds good). Easter dinner - more amazing than any of yours ;) couscous with pesto sauce and salmon - we keep it real out here in the wilderness!! finally laying down in the tent once everything was put away for the night? - priceless.
but before the bed part we did have one more epic Patagonia experience slash gift to reward us for our challenging day. we knew it was clear because of the hike in (how lucky are we?!), and the moon is getting full and was shining brightly through the trees, so we walked back to the death bridge to get ourselves into a clearing so that we could see the stars! which there were many, especially considering just how bright the moon was. we could make out the subtle milky way and just over the trees was the southern cross - always a treat to see knowing it isn't visible from our home hemisphere. but the real take your breath away view were the massive snowy peaks that had come into sight just as we stumbled around the last ridge before the campsite. they looked unreal lit up by la luna and they were glowing so bright you could see every detail of the glaciers and rock and snow. it looked like something out of a fairy tale and we stood there in awe, with the glacier water rushing below, straight from the glacier staring us in the face just above. if I didn't feel like my legs were going to give out below me I would have stood there all night. it was beauty of a magnitude we rarely get to experience. so gargantuan, so in your face close, and so perfectly on display in the dark of night but exposed by the eerie grey light of the sun reflecting from just another couple bazillion miles away...
on that note, goodnight... I cannot keep my eyes open another second.
No comments:
Post a Comment