Eight Days Worth of Food is Heavy

Hello again, sorry for the long absence. I wrote a post a week ago, but it never actually got posted. Lots to update on, but most importantly I have started posting pictures at:
https://plus.google.com/112392129776163836192

It will take me awhile to get everything posted, but I am working on it starting with photos from Antarctica.

My friend Celine and I just finished hiking an 8 day circuit around the famous Torres Del Paine mountains. Wow, what a crazy adventure. It took two days in the small Chilean town of Puerto Natales to sort out all of the logistics including figuring out how much food to take and where to buy gas for my stove. After about 10 trips to the 2 grocery stores in town and various camping stores we were ready to go. Turns out there are very few liquid gas stoves around and therefore it is hard to find liquid gas for anyone planning on doing this trip.

Celine and I were both extremely excited to leave the terrible hostel we ended up staying at and hit the trail. Only after the first night there did we find out that they just remade the beds without changing the sheets in between different people using the beds. Cold showers and no heat in the building topped off a pretty terrible experience. All part of the adventure and we have had many laughs about it now.

Day 1 started off with a 2 hour bus ride to the park and the most spectacular weather I have had the entire time I have been here. There was not a cloud in the sky, no wind and it was smoking hot. Turns out the one thing I didn't prepare for was good weather. I was soon sweating away in the thick and only pair of pants I brought for the hike.

Since the weather was so spectacular we decided to start by hiking up to the Torres towers, the main attraction of the park. The one downside to hiking in such a famous area is the hordes of people who are also there. I have never been on such a busy trail before. At the various campsites there are refugios, basically large cabins with dorm beds, hot showers, heat, delicious looking meals and supplies for sale. You can buy a chocolate bar for $5 that was carried in by a horse. This basically means you spend the day getting passed by people skipping along with light day packs as you struggle your way up. Once you arrive you get to stare longingly inside at the refugio people eating delicious fresh food while you are relegated outside to cook pasta and soup for the third time in a row and share one or two toilets with 100 other people who are also camping there.

One look at the towers though and it was all worth it. Huge jagged peaks above a lake in the most perfect weather you could imagine. The weather continued to be amazing when we got up at 4 am the next morning to hike back up to the towers in time for the sunrise. It was surreal as we began hiking with a headlamp in the dark. The sky still clear and full moon shining down on the mountains. It was well worth the 2 hour hike up again as the sun rose and blasted the peaks in the first rays of light.

Day 2 was a long day hiking down from the towers and through the lower desert regions. We passed through horse grazing ranch lands as we began the circuit around the mountains. There was very little shade as the sun beat down on us, but since this was the less popular part of the hike we had the trail mostly to ourselves. It took us all day with the fully loaded packs to reach the next quiet camp. The number of tents dropped significantly which meant not having to wait in line to use the bathroom or the sink.

The morning of Day 3 started off with disaster when my stove quit working as we tried to boil water for our morning oatmeal and granola mix. Celine had a spare pressurized canister so we borrowed a stove and decided to continue on with the trip and borrow stoves as we went. A nice hike through more hilly desert scrub took is to the next camp on the edge of a pretty lake. We arrived early so I set to work dismantling my stove. A couple of hours later with black stove soot all over my face and hands I had the stove joyously spraying fuel everywhere. After putting everything back together we were once again able to cook. Thanks Dad for the Leatherman, it saved the day for getting the stove apart! The campground was beautiful and we even got to have hot showers. I'm not sure how clean I actually got as I had no towel and dried off with my dirty sweaty shirt, but it felt fantastic.

Day 4 the weather began to turn to the more usual windy, cloudy drizzly variety that I am used to here. We began hiking up a valley and back into the mountains where we got a fantastic view of a glacier and the valley below. The afternoon we spent resting and waiting nervously for the next day which would take us up an exposed mountain pass and over the most difficult part of the trek. Nothing to do, but hope that the weather would hold out for just one more day.

Day 5 started early as we packed up in the dark and hit the pass just as the daylight started creeping over the mountaims. It was a slow steady climb through the rocky landscape and we reached the top of the pass with no trouble. The best part of the pass was looking over the other side and seeing ice from the enormous Grey glacier sweeping down the mountain as far as you could see and ending in a lake. It truly did take your breath away to be rewarded with such an amazing view. It was a really tough day as we descended down steep rocky trails with our knees screaming at us to stop. We hiked high up alongside the glacier for almost the entire afternoon. The wind started blasting us in gusts that almost knock you off your feet at times, but we pressed on. Our descent took us across a couple of steep river valleys that required climbing ladders and finally into the shelter of the forest. We arrived exhausted back on the busy part of the trail, set up tents in an open field and the spent the night having the tent wall blown into me as I tried to sleep.

Day 6 the rain finally struck and the temperature dropped as we made our way to the famous French valley. The weather forecast at the ranger station was hilarious. 4 days in a row showing clouds and 70km/h winds. Fortunately the rain stopped in time for us to eat dinner without getting soaking wet and the camp in the forest buffered most of the winds.

Day 7 we began the hike up the valley where you end up in a giant mountain amphitheater. Hiking without our heavy packs was particularly amazing as you feel so free. Peaks loomed all around along with the requisite glaciers and ice. It was crazy watching the clouds swirl around then peaks which seemed to be generating their own weather systems. After descending down just as the giant tour groups were heading up we donnned our heavy packs again and made our way to our final camp. Saw a beautiful lake sunset for our last night on the trail. I will miss getting to sleep alone in my tent as it will be back to hostel dorms after this.

Day 8 we finished our hike at the fancy hotel where the bus stops. Dirty, sweaty and exhausted we could smell how clean the people that were just starting their treks were. I felt like a criminal going into the hotel to use the immaculately clean washroom, but it was amazing to have a washroom with toilet paper and soap. Upon our return to town we splurged on a delicious steak dinner and then immediately went to bed in our new hostel with clean sheets and hot water.

Later today I am hopping on a plane and heading to the far north of Chile to experience the Atacama desert. Then at the beginning of March I will be saying goodbye to South America and heading to Australia. Stay tuned for desert adventures!