feeling the Pain in the Paine

We crossed the border into Chile eating all the fruit and dairy we could manage before we had to turn it over the customs officer. Many others on the bus were doing the same thing and all the fruit entered Chile partially digested.

On the buses down here you move from one unpaved road to another except for the occasional reprieve on a paved road that seems to be in the middle of nowhere. The wind must have been 50km/hr and two people that were traveling on their bikes put them in the middle of the road to stop the bus and get on as they just couldn't ride or walk any further.

We just left Terra Del Paine national park after spending three nights camping and hiking. Kathryn did her longest hike with a fully loaded pack (16.5k) in a very impressive 6.5 hours. The tourist dollars raised in this park support all the other national parks within Chile.

The arrangements couldn’t have been easier. We pulled into our hostel, Adventure Patagonia, little plug here, and they arrange all the camping gear, the transport and help us decide on the route.

The first day was spent getting to the park, setting up camp and hiking the 10k to the renouned lookout over the Terra Del Paine mountains. (http://www.terra-australis.com.br/terra-australis/galeria/galeria34.htm) The first part of the hike was straight up the side of a mountain about 500m where the path started into the valley. After that we walked along the side of the mountain for about 3km to a campground and hut. Took a break near the crystal clear glacier river and drank straight out of the stream. No ice (or purifying drops) required. The trail then ran along the river under forest cover till starting up to the viewing point. The climb up the viewing point was about 400m and took about 45 minutes. All rock and a little hard to follow the path. Stayed at the top for about half an hour but it was really cold and we wanted to get into camp at a reasonable hour. Arrived back at camp about 7.30pm, had dinner, sat by the fire for about half and hour and want to bed before the big hike.

Started the long day around 10am and walked through rolling grass hills and we played a name the movie/song game. For the first half of the day the trail followed the coast of a turquoise lake on one side and 2000m peaks on the other. There was one river crossing that we had to do and that was a little tricky but not has hard as the pass we had to climb before lunch. It was another 500m climb but this time it was with full packs and assent was much quicker than the day before. It took us about half and hour to climb and we stopped for an hour lunch after that. Another climb right after lunch but this one was only about 300m and then into a shaded mountain side trail. From here the trail slowly worked its way back down to the lake to the point we were walking on a rock beach. Then, as usual, we climbed again. Two more climbs and a little descent and we were at our campsite for the night.

The next day we walked up the Fraser valley to a viewing point that is surrounded on three sides by peaks that are 1800m and higher. The hike took us through forest before moving up into alpine rock and cold winds. We made the ascent in two hours and got down in only an hour and forty minutes. Back at camp we decided to move on to the next camp, rather than spend the night at one the busiest camp areas we’ve been in, a quick soup and pack up and at three we’re on the trail again. Walking around two small lakes and descending in a valley where the campground is on the shoreline of the lake we hiked along the day before. We arrived here about half and hour before the rain started and considered but decided not to stay in the hostel that's $27US a night per person. We make dinner in a small hut provided for the campers with about 30 others and chat with a brother and sister from Australia. The cold Kathryn felt coming on the day before is getting a little worse and she heads to bed about 10pm.

In the morning Kathryn hasn’t been able to sleep all night and we decide not to do the final leg and head back to town to recover. I find out there’s a boat leaving in 10 minutes and we do a record fast bug out and break camp and make the ferry. The bus that meets the ferry isn’t scheduled to go back to the town till 1pm but we’re able to sit in a little tea house with a fireplace and wait. After 6 hours we cover the 200km back to town and find a nicer hotel than we have been staying in to recover.

This morning Kathryn is feeling much better for getting back to a warm bed and one or two more days of rest and she should be in top shape to take the ferry ride through the fjords to Puerta Montt.

and now from kathryn...what kirk didn´t tell you in the above post...hehe... We have spent 8ish days camping/trekking in the last couple of weeks. that kirk is camp guru has become abudantly clear.

scene 1 - we arrive in camp and fellow hikers tell us they´ve spotted a fox and therefore are going to hang their food. being from bear country this is all too familiar with us and kirk does his usual nalgene bottle tied to a rope trick and gets us a great food line. a few hours later the same guy spots our food line and obviously highly impressed asks us how in the world we managed to get it so high!

scene 2 - first night in Terra del Paine park we fall into the usual stereotypical roles. woman makes dinner, man makes fire. suddenly a few kids from the next site are sitting around our fire. it´s obvious the one kid is in a bit of a bad way - evidenced by his girlfriend shoving cookies down his throat and literally stripping him down and putting his long johns on for him. the few minutes of warming up by the fire turns into a half hour with a number of people coming and going. enough is enough. kirk makes it clear we´re not looking to have a party at which all but 2 of them move on. at this point kirk has to stoke our rapidly dwindling fire and has to tell the kid to move so he can get in there. we point out where all the free firewood is located but it seems they don´t know a lot about fire building.

scene 3 - same night we´re about to go to bed so getting water ready to put on our fire when people from another camp come over and ask if they can boil water on our fire. geez.

scene 4 - after dinner on the 2nd night we´re sitting on the rocks by the river when a girl comes over and asks kirk what he thinks of the hike the next day. a long conversation about elevation and the trail ensues.

and in addition to being king of the camp he´s not a bad nurse either as i´m feeling much better now!