When we opened the tent, we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise over the mountains! It was like a painting and I'm so glad I opened my tent to see it!
Thankfully my now 32 year old feet were feeling more rested after the short day prior and I was ready for a long but scenic day ahead. We left at 9 and through some rain and sun, arrived at Italiano, a rough looking free camp that I'm glad we didn't stay at. Here we left our packs tied in the trees because I saw a mouse near the shelter and didn't want our packs to be lunch! We then hiked up the French Valley with only a light daypack. It felt great! Except it was up and up to the first Mirador of the amazing hanging glacier, Glaciar del Frances, looming above us.
Then we hike up more (about 1800 feet up in elevation) to the last viewpoint at Mirador Britanico. We scarfed our sandwiches and enjoyed the great views of the massive peaks surrounding us. We ran in to the San Diego crew and they helped us take lots of photos in the beautiful valley.
While I would have wished for more sun, the rain at least stayed away for the most part. We walked back down, stopping for more photo ops along the way.
We met up with the 6 Israelis and they really seemed to be enjoying this hike less and less (especially after crossing the pass in even more snow than we had since they left later). We wished them well but wouldn't see them again until the bus stop in Puerto Natales when we learned they all left a day early (skipped Torres) because they were exhausted and said it reminded them too much of their time fighting in the military. We also never saw Pami and Ignacio again but heard they made it over the pass fine too. Around 5, we left Italiano with our packs again and slogged the next 1 1/2 hours to Los Cuernos. We hiked along Lago Nordernskjold, even down along the waters edge, before reaching Los Cuernos.
At Los Cuernos, we put the tent up quick and enjoyed a much needed and earned feast of noodles and chicken, soup and the last of the Nutella wraps heated up with some condensed milk our German neighbors lent us. It was delicious. I really enjoy the cooking part, mainly because our meals really only require hot water and the company of fellow hikers from all over the world is a lot of fun. It was also definitely time for a hot shower which certainly makes it worth it for these paid camps.
No comments:
Post a Comment