The worst weather we had was on [Day Three].
Remember that crazy weather I mentioned yesterday?
“Cloudy, sun, rain, sun, sleet, rain, and sun–all in one day”
This was the day.
Hence very few photos.
We left Camp Grey and headed back to Camp Paine Grande (7 miles).
I forgot to mention yesterday about the areas where fires occurred along our hike from Camp PG to Camp Grey. We heard people talking about a fire in 2011, but didn’t really know the details.
“More than 16,000 hectares (nearly 40,000 acres) were destroyed by a fire that forced the closure of Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park between December 29, 2011, and January 4, 2012, and caused permanent environmental damage in one of the most beautiful places in the world…on December 29, 2011, another Israeli citizen caused the second fire in one year when he tried to burn some toilet paper. The devastation, in this case, was far worse. So much so that volunteers from all over the world came to offer help, including Australian firefighters.”
Full article here.
Even after over 5 years, you can still see the devastation. This is probably why the park is very strict about their “fire policies”. All visitors also MUST have lodging reservations if they want to stay at the park overnight. You cannot freely camp along the trails.
And for good reason. Be responsible when you’re out there enjoying Mother Nature’s beauty y’all.
[Insert hiking photos of us in the rain, pushing against strong winds, and running in sleet]
We checked-in at Camp PG and dried off. I was ready for a nap, but the weather was sunny again so off we went on a 2-mile hike to a lookout at Lake Sköttsberg.
A closer look at Lake Pehoé.
When we made it to the lookout, a huge cloud was covering the mountain (still not sure of its name).
I asked Khang if we could wait a “little” to see if the clouds would move.
He was totally cool with it so we found a rock to sit on and waited for 2o minutes.
And what a difference 20 minutes make.
Now is the perfect time to praise Khang. He was so patient with me when I wanted to stop and take photographs. He didn’t once complain about me taking too long.
There was a moment when he even held his hat over the Nikon to keep it from getting wet so I could focus on focusing the camera!
Not only was he patient with me taking pictures.
He was just patient with me.
And I could not have been more surprised. Of course, he’s always been, but y’all I was so so slooooooow hiking up those inclines. It was really hard on me.
But his hand was always there to meet me when I struggled to get up on a rock,
or he was behind me lifting up my heavy backpack to take some weight off.
I feel like I really learned the meaning of “Love is patient” during this trip. If you’re searching for a “marriage retreat”, look no further.
Patagonia will not only test you, it will test and strengthen your marriage.
Okay, continuing on…
We headed back to Camp PG once we realized the clouds weren’t going to spoil us anymore.
[Insert running in the rain and realizing you have flurries on your eyelashes]
And there it was… waiting for us…a nice warm fireplace.
The final two days were my favorite. Can’t wait to share more tomorrow.
Thanks for reading and following along,
with me
Jules.
