Patagonia Day 6 and 7

I've been here for 4 days. What?! This is some kind of extreme summer camp. There are so many rickety suspension bridges that look suspiciously like they were made by the same people that designed Busch Gardens, so maybe this is just a giant theme park/summer camp for tough people.

Not that I'm considering myself tough, not at all. Probably the opposite. This place will get you and tear you apart. Then lift you up and make you feel on top of the world. Then tear you down again. Then bring you even higher! I could go on. The emotions are endless. 

Alright here's the story of the days:

I woke up around 7, and Ron was PTFO. I packed my entire bag, cleaned up, ate an orange, walked around the campsite searching for my pants, sat at the lake eating a candy bar I found in the lodge, waddled over to the girls tent to tell them to look at a cool cloud, and got out the breakfast and started cooking all before he woke up. 

It wasn't an issue though, as we were used to early mornings and we had nowhere to be until 10, when we were leaving Paine Grande on a ferry to head to Hotel Torres to start our final full day hike. Keep in mind that Dane thinks we are back in Puerto Natales, being lame. We thought we could catch him at Camp Torres, after a 5 hour hike, and head to see the Torres at sunrise, as was tradition here in the park and the crown jewel of activities. 

We ate non salty oatmeal for the first time all week and rejoiced in the beautiful weather. The blue sky made the mountains just pop and all my photos have turned out so epically! NO FILTER! The ferry was nice and fun and not apocalyptically windy and rainy like the first day. Then we hopped on a bus which took us to a shuttle to Hotel Torres. The time was now.

Basically, this hike was straight up the side of the second biggest mountain in the park, and then it cuts across into a valley, and then up up up to the Torres. When I write it like this, I should've known what was coming. But I went into it kinda ladeedaa-like and was soon huffing and puffing in the crazy Chilean heat. The first leg of it was brutal. So bad that Cristel and I started telling each other what motivated us to keep going through it. 

I told her that I focused on a person I loved for a while at a time. I had cycled through my family at this point and had really tried to pinpoint exactly what I liked about them while I was trudging up the steepest hill I've ever encountered. I didn't really get to any friends by the time we started chatting though, so sorry bout it guys. Editors note: I do this during races too. Generally I'll dedicate every mile to someone and then that last little .1 is all about me! Yeah! So if you ever want a mile dedicated to you, holla at yo girl. 

Talking about techniques helped a ton. About an hour later we got to the crest and could see out into the valley and also into the plains of the park. Quite an awe inspiring sight. The valley is pretty cool: one side of it has the path, the other has a barren mountains with thin waterfalls cascading down it every so often, the water coming from the snow peaks above. In between snakes a wide creek/river thing. I think this is the definition of a valley. Open a dictionary and this is what a valley looks like. We stopped for a million selfies all along here because 2015. 

Forgot to mention that we were passed by lots of horses on this trail. The trail, at least along the mountain itself, was so thin, with no railing, so walking was scary. Can't even imagine being on a horse. All the horse expeditions were lead by gauchos, Chilean Cowboys, who essentially look like pirates. Big pants and all! Most of the horse expeditions carried lazy tourists, but one of them carried only beer and wine. Twelve horse carrying heaps of booze! This valley is some kind of paradise!

Nestled in the bottom of the valley was Camp Chileno, aka Party Camp. Music was bumping, horses were peeing freely, and you could even get 3 minutes of free wifi, which we all thought about for a split second...but then decided we were loving the no wifi too much. Onwards to the Torres!

About an hour later, through a Lothlorien like forest and over a bunch of suspension bridges, we arrived at Camp Torres, and found Dane wandering aimlessly outside of it. Just kidding, he was waking with a purpose. He just came back from the Torres and seemed exhausted, so he headed to bed (8 pm! He hiked something like 15 miles that day.)

The rest of us quickly set up our tents at the free campground (shout out again to tent buddy for the second night in a row, Ron!), checked in and then made our way to the Torres. 

This hike was advertised as one hour, but one effing grueling hour at that. And the advertisement wasn't lying! It was STRAIGHT UP THE MOUNTAIN! We were rock scrambling! Okay but get this: Ron RAN up it. There's a reason why one of his trail names is Jackrabbit. Boy can move. The three girls heaved up the hill, taking our time but being wary of the remaining daylight. Finally, the top was in view. 

And guys, it was worth the pain of the previous four days. The Torres are a hidden (literally hidden) gem....okay wait. I need to have a moment to say that I told Dane this line and he tore it apart! He said that everything is hidden, if you see it from a certain angle!! He's the worst.) 

Okay so obviously they're super famous and whatnot, but they're not clearly visible all over the park and can really only be seen, at a good view, from one point in the park. Nothing is around this point, except for moon style rocks and a crazy green lake that lays out in front of them and reflects them. 

We took a bunch of pix and I made friends with an Indian lady who is living in Chile teaching English. Then we went down, wobbled all the way straight down the mountain, cooked some dinner, and went to bed, fully intending to wake up at 3:45 am to get up and go back to the Torres to watch the sunrise. 

The Poop Bandit 

Coming down from the Torres

Then...it started pouring. Thankfully we were already in our tents, so nothing got wet and we weren't miserable! But of course it rained all night and all morning so we didn't go to the Torres. That was a bust. Oops. 

But no matter. We packed up, made great time coming back towards Hotel Torres, caught a few buses, and now we are arriving back in Puerto Natales! Time for some wifi and connecting to the world once more. I can't lie, I'll miss trail life. I loved every moment of it. Except when I was dying the morning after Christmas. 

First meal post hike. Nomzzzz

More to come later. Ciao.