Jul 90 - Grey glacier, Torres del Paine national park
My driver dropped me off at the Park admin. office early my 1st day, I paid the entrance fee, was given a map, reviewed it with a ranger there, discussed weather conditions, hiking options, the locations of refugios (re-foo-hios, cabins), etc., and set off. Soon enough I found a fine walking stick as I headed north towards Lago Grey.
- In the 4 days I was in the park I didn't meet a soul, apart from staff at the office at the park entrance, and I had the whole glorious place to myself. I've complained some in the descriptions to my earlier Patagonian photos of the seasonal restrictions I encountered this trip (particularly at El Calafate and Los Glaciares in Argentina), but the solitude and the lack of distractions while hiking in this park was one very real perq that I enjoyed for being there in July. And although the days were shorter, I'm sure the light was better for much of the time when the sun was up, with much lengthier periods of twilight at dawn and at dusk.
- The rubber boots I bought in Puerto Natales were necessary as I had to cross several streams or large pools which had flooded the hiking trail(s) that led north and south close to or alongside the Rio Grey and the shore of Lago Pehoé. My memory's a bit fuzzy but I think I stayed in the Refugio Paine Grande my first night, because I got up and set out early, well before sunrise (@ 4 a.m.), to hike several km.s to this glacier. I arrived at the lookout for this beautiful view shortly after sunrise, and then kept up until I was inside it. (See my next photo). This glacier's just as blue as Perito Moreno in Los Glaciares, but is much smaller, only @ 10 to 15 m.s high from the water. www.flickr.com/photos/97968921@N00/50950218563/in/faves-9... It appears to have retreated some since I was here judging from this map, and so you'd see less of it from this point today, particularly on the left or western side. fsexpeditions.com/booking_hiker/torres_del_paine_map.html
- There were some misadventurous moments in those 4 days, and 2 of the more memorable occurred while I was trying to sleep in the refugios. One evening (my 1st?), some time after supper, I set down my ground sheet and sleeping bag on the wooden floor of the cabin, did my ablutions, put on all my layers, and got into my bag, but soon I heard scuffling noises. There was at least one excited, hyperactive mouse loose in the cabin, running around and up and down and alongside the walls, and soon enough I felt it touching my scalp! (The top of my head was exposed of course at the opening of my sleeping bag). My attempts to swat it were unsuccessful and to shoo it away were unpersuasive. It wouldn't leave me alone for more than some minutes at a time, my scalp was just too interesting, and I didn't know if there was more than one in the cabin. (As loud as it was, and although I could feel it on occasion, I never actually saw it, so I can't speculate as to the species). The solution I arrived at was to move the groundsheet and sleeping bag to atop the picnic table (which was in the cabin), and sleep a few feet above the floor, and it didn't bother me after that.
- I think it was on my 2nd evening in the park while I was setting out my groundsheet and sleeping bag in another refugio (at Campamento Italiano I think, having hiked there from the Grey glacier that morning, and having hiked @ 18 hr.s from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m.), that I came across the bottom half of a large, plastic coke bottle, which I assumed a hiker had used as a cup. Later that night, when the loud and clear call of nature tore me from the arms of Morpheus, the 1/2-a-coke-bottle 'cup' was within arms-reach of my sleeping bag. The thought of getting up to pee in the freezing Patagonian cold, such as it was, was sufficiently unpleasant and uninspiring that I found a certain appeal in the following plan. If I could skillfully and carefully pee into the 1/2-a-coke-bottle inside my sleeping bag while lying on my side, and then just as carefully, slowly remove it from the bag so as not to spill anything, of course, and then place the receptacle at a safe arms-length distance from me, to be emptied in the morning at my greater convenience, how much nicer that it would be than emerging from the warmth of my sleeping bag to brave the frigidity of the Patagonian night, as I'd otherwise have to do. This plan should have worked as I was just as skillful and careful as necessary, and I wouldn't recall that 1/2-a-coke-bottle today, except that after I'd peed into it and began to remove it, I noticed that it wasn't any heavier. In fact, it was empty, for tiny holes had been poked into the bottom of it. I now assume it had been used as something like a sieve to strain water for drinking or cooking. One side of my sleeping bag was now quite wet with urine, but which froze quickly enough. I took out some more garments and material from my pack, placed them between myself and the freezing and then frozen part of the bag, and managed to sleep well enough that way. I planned to return to that same refugio to sleep there again the following night, after a full day hiking in the area of 'the Horns' of Paine, and so I hung the sleeping bag out on a branch or something by the cabin to dry in the sun. But when I returned that evening, it was still frozen. I don't think it had thawed in the least, and so again I placed some material between myself and the frozen spot that night and made do again. Live and learn. Always make sure that any cup or bottle that you might pee into in your sleeping bag, however skillfully, has no holes in it! Lol.
Jul 90 - Grey glacier, Torres del Paine national park
My driver dropped me off at the Park admin. office early my 1st day, I paid the entrance fee, was given a map, reviewed it with a ranger there, discussed weather conditions, hiking options, the locations of refugios (re-foo-hios, cabins), etc., and set off. Soon enough I found a fine walking stick as I headed north towards Lago Grey.
- In the 4 days I was in the park I didn't meet a soul, apart from staff at the office at the park entrance, and I had the whole glorious place to myself. I've complained some in the descriptions to my earlier Patagonian photos of the seasonal restrictions I encountered this trip (particularly at El Calafate and Los Glaciares in Argentina), but the solitude and the lack of distractions while hiking in this park was one very real perq that I enjoyed for being there in July. And although the days were shorter, I'm sure the light was better for much of the time when the sun was up, with much lengthier periods of twilight at dawn and at dusk.
- The rubber boots I bought in Puerto Natales were necessary as I had to cross several streams or large pools which had flooded the hiking trail(s) that led north and south close to or alongside the Rio Grey and the shore of Lago Pehoé. My memory's a bit fuzzy but I think I stayed in the Refugio Paine Grande my first night, because I got up and set out early, well before sunrise (@ 4 a.m.), to hike several km.s to this glacier. I arrived at the lookout for this beautiful view shortly after sunrise, and then kept up until I was inside it. (See my next photo). This glacier's just as blue as Perito Moreno in Los Glaciares, but is much smaller, only @ 10 to 15 m.s high from the water. www.flickr.com/photos/97968921@N00/50950218563/in/faves-9... It appears to have retreated some since I was here judging from this map, and so you'd see less of it from this point today, particularly on the left or western side. fsexpeditions.com/booking_hiker/torres_del_paine_map.html
- There were some misadventurous moments in those 4 days, and 2 of the more memorable occurred while I was trying to sleep in the refugios. One evening (my 1st?), some time after supper, I set down my ground sheet and sleeping bag on the wooden floor of the cabin, did my ablutions, put on all my layers, and got into my bag, but soon I heard scuffling noises. There was at least one excited, hyperactive mouse loose in the cabin, running around and up and down and alongside the walls, and soon enough I felt it touching my scalp! (The top of my head was exposed of course at the opening of my sleeping bag). My attempts to swat it were unsuccessful and to shoo it away were unpersuasive. It wouldn't leave me alone for more than some minutes at a time, my scalp was just too interesting, and I didn't know if there was more than one in the cabin. (As loud as it was, and although I could feel it on occasion, I never actually saw it, so I can't speculate as to the species). The solution I arrived at was to move the groundsheet and sleeping bag to atop the picnic table (which was in the cabin), and sleep a few feet above the floor, and it didn't bother me after that.
- I think it was on my 2nd evening in the park while I was setting out my groundsheet and sleeping bag in another refugio (at Campamento Italiano I think, having hiked there from the Grey glacier that morning, and having hiked @ 18 hr.s from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m.), that I came across the bottom half of a large, plastic coke bottle, which I assumed a hiker had used as a cup. Later that night, when the loud and clear call of nature tore me from the arms of Morpheus, the 1/2-a-coke-bottle 'cup' was within arms-reach of my sleeping bag. The thought of getting up to pee in the freezing Patagonian cold, such as it was, was sufficiently unpleasant and uninspiring that I found a certain appeal in the following plan. If I could skillfully and carefully pee into the 1/2-a-coke-bottle inside my sleeping bag while lying on my side, and then just as carefully, slowly remove it from the bag so as not to spill anything, of course, and then place the receptacle at a safe arms-length distance from me, to be emptied in the morning at my greater convenience, how much nicer that it would be than emerging from the warmth of my sleeping bag to brave the frigidity of the Patagonian night, as I'd otherwise have to do. This plan should have worked as I was just as skillful and careful as necessary, and I wouldn't recall that 1/2-a-coke-bottle today, except that after I'd peed into it and began to remove it, I noticed that it wasn't any heavier. In fact, it was empty, for tiny holes had been poked into the bottom of it. I now assume it had been used as something like a sieve to strain water for drinking or cooking. One side of my sleeping bag was now quite wet with urine, but which froze quickly enough. I took out some more garments and material from my pack, placed them between myself and the freezing and then frozen part of the bag, and managed to sleep well enough that way. I planned to return to that same refugio to sleep there again the following night, after a full day hiking in the area of 'the Horns' of Paine, and so I hung the sleeping bag out on a branch or something by the cabin to dry in the sun. But when I returned that evening, it was still frozen. I don't think it had thawed in the least, and so again I placed some material between myself and the frozen spot that night and made do again. Live and learn. Always make sure that any cup or bottle that you might pee into in your sleeping bag, however skillfully, has no holes in it! Lol.