Day 3 of Torres del Paine: To Los Perros
Trip Start
Jan 20, 2005
1
11
14
Trip End
Feb 20, 2005
Torres del Paine,
Chile
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Even though the Mochilla boys had tried to keep us up late the previous night, we stuck to our approach; we would wake up early in the morning so that we could hike to Refugio Dickson while the sun was still low in the sky (18.5km) and then if we were feeling good (or if Nadine insisted loudly enough), continue on to Campamento Los Perros (another 9km upward climb). This is a long day of hiking but was reasonable as the first half of the day would be mostly flat.
So at 6:15am or so, or whenever Nadine´s first pee was at, we were awake. We were the first ones up, and we could hear lots of snoring coming from the Mochilla boy´s tent. After a quick breakfast of our wonderful bran/organic maple nut concoction from Calgary (hence all the talk about our bowel movements on the hike) we were on the trail
01) Up before dawn, eating oatmeal!
. In the early dawn we hiked along the giant river Rio Paine. Here and there, river birds would gawk at us and seemed to be saying "what the heck are they doing up so early?". "Do they not know that normal people drink beer late at night and then yap for hours into the evening about where their mochillas would be best kept for when the rain comes?". We began our type A behaviour, checking to see if anyone was hiking behind us, as we had seen some fit guys come into camp the night before and we knew they would be fast on the trail. After Seron the trail winds along the Rio Paine. The trail is somewhat flat but then turns from north towards west by going over a very large hump (that, first thing in the morning, feels like more work than it really is!). The prickly pincushion bushes all through this windy area of South America become more common. In Patagonia the winds mostly come from the west, and once we reached the other side of the hump this became quite apparent. Trees are neatly bonsai´d by the winds (shrunken or even permanently bent), that is, if there are trees... because the pincushion bushes appear to be the most resistant against the effects of the wind.
After the hump the trail hugs the steep slopes first past the small horseshoe shaped Laguna Alejandra and then past the larger Lago Paine (now renamed Lago Pan by Nadine who has once again become addicted to bread which is everywhere in South America!) then slowly dips down to a level plain
02) Pretty pink foxtails in the milky blue river
. At this point the rough approximate location of Refugio Dickson, and the lakes and glaciers (glacier crowned Cerro Paine Chico) behind it, can be made out. An old campground no longer open to the public is passed (and we see some guys who had illegally camped there, they would not pass us we vowed!), and then it is meadow hiking for a good 2 more hours. A few swamps and some bushy hills is all that remains before one must go up a big hill, then down steeply, to enter the lake-side meadow where Refugio Dickson was situated. At that point we could see the fit guys coming behind us a fair way (they were motoring as well because they could see us) and the guys from the abandoned campground weren´t too far behind. We made a quick stop to check Theo´s feet, and both groups passed us. As we started hiking again, we saw that both groups had also stopped, and passed them both again to hammer the last 5km out - they were not going to pass us now! The pretty boys (as we called them for lack of a better name -the fit guys who had tiny packs and little running shoes) looked at us closely as we passed them and said "olla", wondering how our big boots and huge packs weren´t slowing us down (they were, but we didn´t want the pretty boys beating us!).Just before the steep hill the swamps began, and there was no way to avoid the stuff but having our big leather boots meant we could muck through the mud without worrying about getting our feet wet
03) Overcast with funky clouds again
. We could see the pretty boys behind us, literally scrambling to finds ways to avoid walking through the swamps, as their little running shoes surely meant wet feet for them. Up the steep hill and we had magnificent views of the mountains ahead, from Cerro Trono Blanco in the Cordillera Paine to Cerro Ohnet to the northwest. At Refugio Dickson we giggled at having beat the pretty boys, and having done the 18.5km in around 4.25 hrs (which ultimately was probably too fast over rolling hills). The view at Dickson was amazing, with the icy white mass of the Ventisquero Dickson glacier sprawling down from the Hielo Sure to the greenish waters of Lago Dickson right in front of our eyes. We made a hot soup in front of the refugio and had some other snacks, then performed some more cyborg repairs to Theo´s feet. The pretty boys sat at the same picnic table as us, we would have had a conversation with them but Theo could not understand their slang Chilean Spanish at all. The looked at our meal with some jealousy as they ate canned beans and cold bread. There was going to be quite an uphill after Refugio Dickson and we intended to take at least an hour break. The hills climb up through thorny bushes until the trail reaches the large tree elevation. After crossing a bridge and passing a large waterfall, one gets to a large cable and plank bridge below Campamento Los Perros.
04) Nadine leading the way today...
This bridge fords the river below Los Perros glacier (and a little lake filled with icebergs that have fallen from it). This glacier is probably the largest block of ice on the entire Paine Mastif (and on the back side, where most people do not see it), and the resulting river must be crossed -- the camp ground is on the other side! The pretty boys take off just before us, and although we would love to pass them on the trail we realize that our "racing" has taken a toll on Theo´s feet (those damm boots), so we choose a more moderate pace. Even Stanwee was complaining about his "foot", which is ironic as Nadine carries him, but apparently he is jealous for a bit of attention.The day remains slightly overcast and helps with the effort required for the uphills on this section as we finally approach the bridge a few kilometers from camp. This bridge has fallen into disrepair. One bank is badly eroded, nearly under the base of the bridge. Busted planks can be seen dangling from the bottom of the bridge. Furthermore, some planks that managed to make it further lie on the rocks below, and some have managed to be swent a ways down stream. To make crossing this bridge even more doubtful, parts of it appear to have been repaired using old coat hanger wire.
Yet we crossed it and survived to tell the tale. Apparently the trail maintainers are not unaware of the problems with this bridge, and perhaps the disrepair is partly due to that. Twenty minutes earlier we had seen some construction just off trail, and upon investigation discovered a new as yet closed bridge hiding there. Apparently trail construction is happening on the other side now. This new bridge is in a beautiful location, on solid rock, and fords over a tense canyon rapid
05) Pincushion mogotes dotted the landscape
. In the future we may see Torres hikers mention this exciting bridge.Continuing just a bit further after the bridge on very rocky terrain we gained the morraines edging around the Los Perros glacial lake and get the full stunning beauty og Glacier Los Perros, with Laguna de los Perros more full of icebergs than water.
A quick 20 minute hiker further, snuggled in around a lateral moraine to block the weather howling down from the glacier, we found Campamento Los Torres along a small set of creeks that run down from Paso Gartner. This camp ground has undergone some improvements in the last three years. Now it has flush toilets and cold showers, costs slightly more money, but unfortunately the store was out of both wine and bread (and we decided not to carry wine from Refugio Dickson because of the weight!). The wine was probably a moot point since we were so tired from our 27.5 km day and were ready to crash even before dinner. Nadine had a cold shower, and convinced Theo that he needed one (can you hear the whining!).
We camped in the trees, and bought some tuna to add to our noodles and soy protein meal and canned peaches for desert, which made us feel much better, and we slept very soundly with the pounding sound of the river beside us. We knew the next morning we would be doing the most important part of the hike: Paso Gartner, perhaps even as far as Lago Grey, skipping two campgrounds in between (making it a 22km day of mostly uphills!).
