The Pulse Quickens
After a confusing morning in Puerto Natales walking 3 blocks this way and 3 blocks that way trying to nail down the need (or not) for camping and access permits in the Torres del Paine, we hastily purchased several days worth of backpacking dry goods, and headed north. As we passed Lago Sarmiento on our way to the Laguna Amarga entrance, this was the first real jaw-dropper of a look at the Cordillera Paine. The weather was fine, and months of anticipation were building to a crescendo as we contemplated hiking the Circuito around the Cordillera - 75 miles in 7 days.
In the foreground, the Lago Sarmiento is truly a shocking shade of blue. It is also quite basic (high pH), and one of the few places in the world with actively growing thrombolites, which form the gray shoreline in the photo. Hundreds of millions of years ago, ancient thrombolites produced the oxygen in the atmosphere we breathe now.
The Pulse Quickens
After a confusing morning in Puerto Natales walking 3 blocks this way and 3 blocks that way trying to nail down the need (or not) for camping and access permits in the Torres del Paine, we hastily purchased several days worth of backpacking dry goods, and headed north. As we passed Lago Sarmiento on our way to the Laguna Amarga entrance, this was the first real jaw-dropper of a look at the Cordillera Paine. The weather was fine, and months of anticipation were building to a crescendo as we contemplated hiking the Circuito around the Cordillera - 75 miles in 7 days.
In the foreground, the Lago Sarmiento is truly a shocking shade of blue. It is also quite basic (high pH), and one of the few places in the world with actively growing thrombolites, which form the gray shoreline in the photo. Hundreds of millions of years ago, ancient thrombolites produced the oxygen in the atmosphere we breathe now.