W trek - day 2
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2006
1
303
551
Trip End
Dec 01, 2007
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Torres del Paine National Park,
Chile
Monday, March 26, 2007
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We went down to the camping and packed. I had caught the start of a cold.
We went down, Karel went back to Puerto Natales, and Daniel and Dawson went to do the big circuit, the other way round. So there we were again, Lionel and I. We were by then well into our camping habbits, sharing the tent, food, and cooking stuff.
We walked along the mountain, leaving the Torres valley and heading for Valle del Frances. It was beautiful, and there were huge glaciers hanging high above us, sometimes a bird of prey whistling. Not much wind, clouds in the sky but with a nice temperature (still relatively cold, of course). Some people come here and see only a very long snowstorm, and also have the wind against them to walk... We were quite lucky.
Then we walked along the immense lake Nordenskjold. There were forests, and many other huge glaciers up there in the steep valleys. The water was green. And the most extraordinary thing, a gift that is rarely received: absolute, total silence! Count how many times you recall experencing that!
In the end, it was quite a long day walking. Entering the "mouth" of Valle del Frances, the Cuernos were on the right, and the huge, but I mean huge, hanging Glaciar Frances was on the left. The Cuernos do in effect look like horns coming out from a goatīs head. A formation of different rock colors, shaped by erosion. Very unique, again.
There were avalanches of ice, falling from the glacier, down high cliffs, onto more ice and rocks, the sound was impressive, the sight was majestuous.
We camped at the free campground, along Rio del Frances, at the entrance of the valley.
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