Torres del Paine W Trek Day 3

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OKAY DAY 3 on the W Trek. We’re now at the top of a hill apparently the highest point of the day. It is overcast and quite foggy but it looks like it is clearing. We’re just having a little rest here. Today is just one big trek for eleven kilometres in between two campsites. We’re about a quarter of the way there already. We’re at the top of the hill and it will be generally downhill from here back to the level of the lake about the same as we were at the start of yesterday and overnight last night.

Another tough day’s trekking and all going well, there was a bit of rain this morning and it is extremely humid here with all the cloud. We’ve got a bit of a rock face behind us and above them the mountains are hidden behind the cloud. There was another big avalanche at the big peak this morning. We could hear the rolling thunder from it. I think we are now about to press on and continue. I’m one of the slower ones so I’m going to stay near the back of the group. We’ll take it from here.

We’re at our second rest spot now overlooking the beautiful lake that we’ve been following above all day. We’ve still got a fair way to go by the looks of it. It’s still a very nice humid day. These are all glacially carved valleys. You can see the glacial lines running roughly horizontal. The big mountains are still hidden in behind the cloud at the moment. We’re taking one step at a time as we continue exploring these amazing mountains of Patagonia.

Well we’re on our lunch break now high above the lake (at another viewpoint). There are still clouds over the mountains. I’m guessing we’re now a little over half way to the campsite now. This is the last day lugging the big backpack around, so I’m really looking forward to getting into the campsite tonight.

We’re now at our next stop at the Laguna Inglis. We’ve come up above the main lake and crossed the stream draining this lagoon and now heading up around the hill. We’re virtually at the top of a pass about to head down the other side to the camping ground for tonight. There are the mountains. They are just starting to poke through the clouds now. The clouds decided to hide them from us for most of today. Anyway, it’s not long before we’re going to be at the central camp.

Okay we’ve now arrived in our little campsite. This will be my home for the next two nights before we continue on up the length of South America. The rest of the crew are over there. There’s a group over there doing yoga apparently. I’m too stiff for that. The clouds are lifting with more of the mountain becoming visible. So hopefully tomorrow morning we can get a much better view of them. It’s been quite a momentous day hiking up and down quite rough tracks and terrain, so it’s really good to be here at the camp. So, there’s no more lugging heavy backpacks any more on this track, in fact this whole trip. That’s a nice relief.

Backpacks do get very heavy after rain and nights of a lot of condensation. I’ve got a bunch of stuff drying on the little washing line I’ve set up. I think dinner’s going to be very soon with the sun setting behind the mountains now. I’m pretty tired so I’m going to have an early night and hopefully dinner will be finished before dark. I believe tomorrow we’re doing a very long day walk if we’re up for it, so let’s see what happens. So over and out for today.