Chiloe Island

Spent 16 hours on three buses yesterday. Bariloche to Osorno to Puerto Montt to Quellon. Almost 2 hours in border crossings... The argentinean and Chilean border stations are about 30 minutes apart. Very inefficient. Said yes I had food on the form we had to fill out. All the luggage was taken out of the bus. First on the argentinean side then again on the Chile side. Waited in line for my passport to get stamped....on both sides of the border. Dogs ran around sniffing all the luggage. Never did get asked about my food. Big waste of time. And now it's cold and rainy. Doesn't look that great for hiking here. Last night we spent in a big fancy hotel. Luke warm shower. I guess you don't get what you pay for! Probably switching plans again. Gotta stay flexible. Will bus up to the town of Castro today. Will stay at a hostel. Much more our style. Seems like we are the only foreign tourists here. Pretty cool. I'm sure this place would look different with some sun! Bus is in 2 hours. Would usually be out walking but don't want to get all wet.

Nahuel Huapi National Park

I just finished five intense days hiking in Nahuel Huapi National Park. Stunning and butt kicking. Just the way I like it. Returned to Bariloche last night. Spent the day planning and deciding on where to go the last 2 weeks down here. So many choices. I need more time. High season has arrived and reservations are becoming more important.

Sorry this blog has been a bit of a bust. I'm loving just being here much more than writing about being here.

I managed to add some photos to Picasa or Google plus but i'm not sure of the link. So someone figure it out and post the link here!

Happy New Year!

Cerro Torre

Hola from El Bolson, Argentina

22 hours in an air conditioned bus with seats that partially reclined and had foot rests. That's what I signed up for. I got 24 hours with no air conditioning on the sunniest day yet. The foot rests were a joke. I was so hot and sweaty. Plus I couldn't see out that well because so many passengers pulled the curtains closed.

The day started out great. The clearest day yet. From the town of El Chalten you can see both Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. Kind of a bummer to be leaving today but we had to buy our tickets a few days ago. Plus there is lots more to see. And i'm too tired to hike today. It was a nice farewell.

The bus ride definitely showed what a vast country this is. Barren empty sameness for hour after hour. Guanacos. Rheas. 2 rheas tried to race the bus. They lost. Funny. A few huge lakes. Gorgeous clouds. And more sameness. Some paved roads but mostly dirt. And dusty. By the time we got back to the mountains it was dark.

Today was spent wandering around the town of El Bolson trying to recover from the bus ride that got us here at 6:30am. Another hiker in Torres told us about this town. Said a bunch of hippies lived here and there is a lot of craft beers. Definitely no hippies. But lots of beer. Not many tourists either which is kind of nice.

I'm trying to figure out if I have a head cold or allergies. I breathed in so much dust yesterday.

Fitz Roy, The Magnificient

Phone calls with my mother, some of my siblings, emails and messages from my friends plus some time to reflect on the wonderful life of my father has made me feel at peace with staying here.

Laura and I left Bee in Puerto Natales. Bee was great to travel with and I will be forever indebted to her for getting the ball rolling on this trip. She is now back in California.

Next stop was El Chalten....home of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. Fitz Roy is the most magnificient mountain I have ever seen. We got so lucky with the weather. The first day started out windy and cloudy but was still beautiful with the mountains playing hide and seek with us. We hiked up to the viewpoint at Piedra Blancas Glacier with Fitz Roy behind it. Magical. In the afternoon we got to Poincenot Campground, set up our tents and set off for the 1000 meter hike up to the viewpoint. Fitz Roy was out in all his glory, no clouds and no wind. The sun was setting behind it. So different weather than the morning. Hiked back down and ate dinner at 10pm while it was still light.

3:45 the alarm went off. Packed up day pack stuff and took off to repeat the hike of the afternoon before. The full moon lighted our way. We got up there in plenty of time to watch the show. To the east the sky turned red and pink. Fitz Roy slowly lit up to a bright red. Amazing. Inspiring. Captivating. A perfect place to think of my father. And then a cloud came, blocked the sun and the light show was over. But Fitz Roy was still there standing tall looking magnificient. I sat up there and boiled water for coffee. It was the best cup of coffee ever! I didn't want to leave.

Later we hiked over to Laguna Torres at the foot Cerro Torre. While walking there the top of it's spires were completely visible. Later clouds blocked the tops. It is also a beautiful mountain but I think my head just couldn't absorb any more beauty. I walked back to the town of El Chalten.

My head feels like it's going to explode from what I have seen. I didn't think anything could top Torres del Paine but Fitz Roy did it.

12/13/13 My Father

12/13/13. My Father

Fighting fierce winds and rain we made our way back to Las Torres Hotel and thus completed the circuit.

I was able to get WiFi and then learned that my father had passed away 3 days earlier. Did I ever feel like I was at the end of the world. We had a short time there before we got on the 2 hour bus ride back to Puerto Natales. I had a window seat. I stared out into the rainy barren world alone with my thoughts and memories.

I am so fortunate to have had my wonderful father around for almost 61 years. I wish everyone could be so blessed.

12/12/13 Valley Frances

12/12/13
Campamento Italiano to Refugio Los Cuernos
20.5 K

Rain last night and fierce wind but the campsite was protected.
Left at 7am with daypacks for the out and back hike up Valle Frances and immediately put on raincoats. Low clouds shrouded the peaks but I was still snapping pictures. A rainbow appeared. It rained, hailed, and snowed intermitantly. Then the sun came out for awhile.

The views constantly unfolded and morphed as the clouds blew around. The glaciers on Paine Grande, the various peaks associated with Los Cuernos and then more mountains and glaciers to the north. I passed thru Campamento Britanico then another 2K up to the lookout. The lookout was the top of a minor peak, nothing manmade. 2 others were already there. I climbed up the rocks and took in the view. I sat there and soaked up the grandeur. It kept clearing up more and more. Gorgeous. 5 others showed up. We all just sat silently watching the show.
Finally I started making my way down. I stopped at places I had taken photos on the way up. Now it looked completely different with more sun and less clouds.

I got back to Campamento Italiano, packed up my tent and we were off. Lago Nordenskjold in the distance was a beautiful glacial blue green. The wind picked up and got intense as we walked along the shoreline. At one point I slipped and fell. One of my poles snapped and I banged up my shin. I need both poles to set up my tent. We were already planning on sleeping inside the refugio if there was space. Luckily, we got bunks. It always works out.

Refugio Los Cuernos is in an awesome setting. Huge windows look out over the lake and mountains. Ate dinner there. Tough beef over mashed potatoes. Yum! The wine and conversation were good.

12/11/13 Big Wind!

12/11/13
Refugio Grey to Campamento Italiano
18.6K

Word of the day..... Wind. Glad today wasn't the day I went over the pass. East shore of Lago Grey with many nice views of the glacier behind us. Glacial blue waters of Lago Pehoe
Walked thru burned areas most of the day. Maybe the Jan 2012 fire. Lots of flowers....foxglove, puffed up yellow ones, purple vetch, orchids,
Cerro Paine Grande. Clouds this morning.
Several condors, hawk, geese, black raptor maybe an eagle.
Guanaco near Refugio Paine Grande.
Internet access.... My father is home, not sure what condition he is in. Siblings are working together. Can't wait to phone home. Lunch.... Salami and pringle chips, tomato soup.
Italiano is nice. The wind is howling overhead but we are protected in the trees.
Sleepy.

12/10/13 Zero at Refugio Grey

12/10/13
Zero at Refugio Grey

We all agreed that a zero was just what we needed so that's what we did. Nothing... except for a short walk to the lake to see the glacier and floating ice from yet another angle. We got to see a red headed Megellanic woodpecker. We also dried out our tents. Usually a zero is a day to catch up on emails but since there is no internet here it was another unconnected day.

It rained last night and was windy this morning. We were so lucky with the weather yesterday.

We had dinner with the cutest couple from Korea. Newly retired, they are now traveling and love to hike. They had planned on backpacking and tenting and brought all their gear with them. One night in severe winds near FitzRoy convinced them that day hiking was a better fit for them. Now they are staying and eating in the refugios and loving their light packs.

Another hot shower and bed and the end of another wonderful day.

Nancy

12/9/13. Oh What Views!

12/9/13
Los Perros to Refugio Grey
22 K

Pass day. John Garner Pass. The big day for this trek. And the most weather dependent. Many hikers get turned around by wind, snow, rain, cold or a combination of those. 3am... rain drops on my tent. I don't hear wind and go back to sleep. 5:15am...Laura is up. No rain but it's dripping from the trees. I lay there for awhile. I drink cold coffee while still warm in my sleeping bag. We have to cook in the cooking shelter and I don't want to go over there yet. I pack up and bring my pack over to the shelter and talk to the others. I wipe off my tent to get it as dry as possible before I pack it up.

7:15 we start hiking. Right away we have a water crossing. Bee crawls over the very sketchy wooden bridge. Laura and I opt to wade across further downstream in water just above our ankles. The surrounding peaks are visible and beautiful. It's cloudy but dry. We pass in and out of the lenga forest. The parts out of the forest are muddy bogs. The grass has been trampled by the many trekkers leaving muddy pits and many confusing paths across. It's difficult to tell where the orange blazed trail is. We always find the way and it's fun searching for the orange marks. We stop several times for Bee to rewrap her boot. Yesterday one boot had a major failure. The sole has pealed back from the toe about 3 inches like a big gaping mouth. Now it's wrapped with a shoe lace and duct tape. The duct tape falls off just as we leave the forest. The shoe lace works pretty well but needs adjustment every so often. It starts to rain, then hail. Not hard and not much wind so it still seems OK to continue. Orange poles and orange painted rocks mark the rest of the way across several snow fields and rocky slopes. It stops raining. It's gorgeous. As we get closer to the glacier on our right it looks huge. We take a million photos. We keep climbing up. It still isn't windy. This pass is famous for it's bad weather. Especially the ferocious wind. But it is calm for us.

I got to the top. WOW! I yelled and laughed and smiled as wide as I could. Jaw dropping gorgeous. I've never seen such a sight. Glaciar Grey is soooo long. It spreads to the north farther than I can see. On the south it empties into Lago Grey. The mountains everywhere are white. So many layers of them. There is a small ring of blue sky over the glacier. Behind us more jagged peaks. We take another million pictures trying to capture the moment. Impossible. I think about how fortunate I am to be here. My father....how is he? My mother....how is she coping? My siblings....thanks to them I am still here. I crave news from home. The thousands of miles I've walked and I think this is the best yet. The clouds and sun change the views constantly. Michael from Germany joins us at the top and takes a group photo of us. He leaves before we do. We each built a small cairn at the top. One stone for each person important to our lives but who is no longer here. Margie, Eva, Mike, Karen, Wilma. They are a big reason I am here. Go now. Live now. The future is unknown and unpredictable.

Finally we start the long hike down getting closer and closer to Glaciar Grey, taking more and more photos.

Hikers going the opposite way tell us we have 3 rivers to cross before we get to the refugio. They are all in deep gorges. The first one has a tall metal ladder that we climb up the opposite side. The next one has ladders on both sides. The anchor ropes and cables look a bit sketchy but there is no other option. A swinging bridge spans the third river.

About 5pm we get to Refugio Grey and pay for camping. We have planned to eat dinner at the refugio. We go in to make our dinner reservation. After a couple of minutes discussion we are paying for dinner AND a bunk in the refugio. It's so nice inside and the camping area is just out in the unprotected field.

The hot shower was wonderful. A gentleman bought us pisco sours (the Chilean national drink) in exchange for our thoughts on a trekking book for kids. Nice trade. We stood around the wood burning stove feeling very good about our decision to stay inside.

Dinner was mashed potatoes over a mixture of some mystery meats washed down with some Chilean red wine. Definitely a meal where it's not what you eat but who you eat it with that is important.

The day was perfect. I can't think of a thing I would change.

12/8/13. Happy Birthday, Dad

12/8/13
Refugio Dickson to Campamento Perros
9 K

My father's 88th birthday. What is going on at home?

Great nights sleep. It rained some but there wasn't much wind. Laura and I ate breakfast in the refugio. Corn flakes, cheese, white toast and scrambled eggs. Seconds on the eggs. Talked to a cute young couple from Barcelona.

The hike today was mostly in the lenga forest but with many great views. At first we looked back down on Lago Dickson and the surrounding glaciers. Then more glaciers came into view. We took pictures, then got closer, took more photos, then got closer.....over and over.

We had heard that Campamento Los Perros was not as nice as the other places. That was an understatement. The tent spots were OK. Flat and wind protected. We got our tents up just as it was starting to rain. The cooking area was in an old metal building with a leaking roof. When we first saw it we thought it was abandoned. Inside was a big barrel for the fire next to a pile of ashes and garbage. Rickety tables and benches were for cooking and eating. Mostly they were wet from the leaking roof. After much effort the fire was resurrected from the remaining coals. There wasn't much wood so the space never got toasty warm. More and more hikers arrived with wet clothes that they tried to dry out. People hiking the opposite direction came in and told us of the beautiful views over the pass and of lots of mud for us on the way up. Oh boy, can't wait.

Definitely not the best place to hang out but it was really fun to talk to the other hikers. At 7pm we called it a day and retreated to our tents. I'm excited to see how tomorrow develops.

Nancy

12/7/13 Double Rainbow

12/7/13
Campamento Seron to Refugio Dickson
19 K

It was cloudy, windy, sunny and rainy today. Often at the same time. Glorious views of the Rio Paine, the backside of the Torres, and a bunch of mountains and glaciers. A rainbow appeared and then stayed around for about an hour. Then a double rainbow. We each took about 50 pictures trying to capture it.

Our camping spot for the night is Refugio Dickson. We sat around with Adrian, a mountaineering and canyoning guide from Switzerland, and Lee, another Swiss who has been in Chile for quite a few months. We sat in the sun at the picnic table drinking beer and wine. Since we got here pretty early in the day, this lasted for several hours. I like this life!

Oh, in the afternoon a fox with a big bushy tail wandered around the tents. He wasn't bothered at all by the people.

Nancy

12/5/13. Wildlife & 12/6/13 The Towers

Bus: Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine Park
Hike: Hotel Las Torres to Mirador Las Torres to Campamento Torres
13.5 K

Condors... too many to count. Guanacos.... too many to count. One rhea with a bunch of chicks. What a day of wildlife.... and all that was on the bus ride in.

I looked out the side window and saw a huge flock of condors. At first I thought they were turkey vultures. But they were huge and I could see the white rings around their necks. They were amazingly close to the road and at first were not much higher than the bus. I saw them first so beer for me (thanks, Dave).

Laura saw the first guanoco. (She gets a beer, again thanks to Dave). And then we saw so many more. Mostly in herds with lots of cute little babies.

Today we hiked from where the shuttle dropped us off near Hotel La Torres... Very upscale place. Then we hiked up.

Me, Bee and Laura on our way to Chileno

 It was pretty steep up to Campamento Chileno where we ate lunch. Then up to Campamento Torres where we quickly set up out tents and then hiked up to the viewpoint of the towers (torres means tower in Spanish). The whole way up the towers were shrouded by an ever changing veil of clouds. The whole scene up there was breath taking. Huge granite spires towering over a huge glacier with a glacial lake below. While we sat around up there the view changed from mostly obscured to mostly clear. Another condor flew around for awhile. It was pretty cold up there so we finally decided to walk back to camp.

Camp Torres is pretty sheltered in the trees. There is a cooking area and clean flush toilets. Lots of nice people are here.

We saw 2 condors on the hike up, one at the towers and one on the way back. I had no idea they were so common.

The money shot here and the view everyone wants to see is the first morning light on the towers. So i'm setting my alarm for 4am. Sunrise is at 5:30 and it's an hour hike back up. And of course there is no guarantee that we will ne able to see anything.

Great day. Feels so incredible to be hiking in South America.

Weather..... Beautiful clouds all day. Not much wind except at the top and right now. I can hear it blowing like crazy but i'm so sheltered that my tent is quiet. Warm except at the top. A few 5 minute stretches of very light sprinkles.

12/6/13
Campamento Torres to Mirador Las Torres to Campamento Seron
20.5 K

Magical time at the towers watching the early morning sun light them up.  Feel fortunate that mother nature cooperated with our time up there. Very windy at times while hiking today. But know it can get so much worse.

Getting up early wasn't too bad. We left camp at 4:30am just as it was barely light. Immediately we could see the towers completely visible.Felt tingly all over.... today was going to be a good day. We got up there with time to spare before the sun started to light them up.  I could have stayed up there all day just watching how the sun and clouds change the look and mood of the place.

I was prepared to be impresssed with the sight of the towers. And impressive they are.  What has surprised me is how amazing the clouds are. The wind has whipped and stretched them into the most amazing shapes. They are constantly changing shape and color.

Now camped at Campamento Seron.  Nice place but it's not very protected from the wind. It's just gusty now.  Hopefully it won't pick up.

posted from Bloggeroid

Puerto Natales

Day one post-stroke and my father is doing a little better. He can move his left arm and leg and is more aware and very agitated. I'd be agitated too.  Hopefully more recovery will happen. The rest of my 5 brothers and one sister will be arriving in Redding in the next couple of days so my mother will have lots of support. Thanks to having wonderful siblings I don't feel like I need to make plans to leave here. I feel way too removed down here but there is nothing I could do anyway.  I know my father would not want me to rush home.

The day was spent walking around Puerto Natales and getting food ready for our first hike. We will be hiking the Circuit in Torres del Paine. Google that if you want a preview. We are leaving in the morning and probably won't have internet access for 9 or 10 days. I should be taking lots of pictures so stay tuned.

Who am I here with? 2 ladies. First,Laura who I met at the ALDHA West hikers gathering in September and is planning on hiking the PCT in 2014. The 2 of us plus Darlene (another ALDHA west connection and 2014 PCT hiker but who isn't here) had a fabulous time hiking together in Joshua Tree National Park in early November. Just before that trip, Laura's neighbor Bee invited her to join her in Patagonia. Soon I was on board. Bee has been here 3 weeks. I can tell already that our time here will be filled with lots of laughter. So, that's the 3 of us Las Exploradoras.

I don't know any foreign language but this time I decided to try.  For the past 3 weeks I've been listening to Learn to Speak Spanish CDs in my car. I can ask a few questions and mostly can't understand the answers but I'm having fun trying. I can recognize a few words here and there.  And for the first time ever I think that if I spent more time and effort I could learn to communicate at a basic level. When you start at the bottom you can only get better!

I'll be hiking tomorrow. Yay!

Love, Nancy

Las Exploradoras!

We have a name for our adventure! At the LA airport we met Enrique.... lived in Mendoza, Argentina, for 30 years then USA for 30 years. He called us Las Exploradoras! We love the name. He invited us to drink malbec wine in Mendoza with him. It's probably a bit too far north for that to happen.

All flights were on time and the travel was relatively easy. Saw an amazing sunrise coming into Santiago. Perfect really except 24.5 hours is a really long time to fly. And then there was the bus ride. We got hosed a bit by being told we had to take a $6 shuttle into Punta Arenas and then take a 3 hour bus to Puerta Natales. And then the bus went back to the airport. Oh well, just wasted a couple of hours but what's that when we are at over 30 hours for door to door time.

It's true what they say. The wind is crazy down here. It's cold too. Sure hope I brought enough warm clothes! The bus ride took us through wind swept and almost treeless grasslands. It looks and feels like we are at the end of the world.

Shared a table at dinner with a woman from New Zealand. Another contact and a possible future place to stay. I love meeting fellow travelers.

I just found out that my almost 88 year old father had a major stroke. Please pray for him and my mother. And on that note I will try to get some sleep.

Love,
Nancy

Training for Patagonia

I have to get up at 4am tomorrow for my flight to Patagonia. I got up at 5am this morning to ease into it. Then I went for a walk and this is what I saw..... worth getting up for.

Yosemite - 10/21-22/13

October 21 and 22 my good friend Sharell and I made a quick trip to Yosemite. Perfect timing for Indian summer weather and fall colors. As we drove in we were greeted by a red tailed hawk. He landed in a tree and stayed there for a really long time. I thought he was just giving Sharell time to get out her long camera lens. Then it swooped down into the meadow, picked up a small rodent and flew away. Cool. Nature in action.

We headed over to Yosemite Falls trail. From the valley floor we could see that there was not a drop of water in the falls. We hiked up to the top and kept on going to Yosemite Point and ate lunch staring at Half Dome. I hadn't been to this spot before. Now I wonder why. Once we hiked down and checked in to Yosemite Lodge it was the beginning of the golden hour. We walked over to the meadow and found the perfect spot. Half Dome lit up with alpenglow and a reflection in the water. Magic!

The next morning we drove Tioga Pass Road to Tenaya Lake and hiked to Clouds Rest. This has to be the best view in the park. Sharell and I had been here 10 years ago on a girls trip. We vowed it would not be 10 more years before we returned. The drive over to the east side landed us at the Whoa Nellie Deli for dinner. Then Sharell drove us all the way back to Sacramento. What a perfect 40 hours!

posted from Bloggeroid

Practice post from phone

Random photos.....

Me and four of my five brothers

My parents... still lucky to have them around

Eagle Peak in Mt Diablo State Park

Heros at ALDHA West - 9/27-29/13

I returned home from the AT just in time to attend the ALDHA West gathering. The American Long Distance Hiking Association West is the organization that confers the Triple Crown award to hikers who have completed the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail and the Appalachian Trail. Since they must be finished by September 1st I didn't get my plaque. But that in no way put a damper on my mood there. It was THE best hiker gathering I have ever been to.
85 people attended. 25 were triple crowners. Lots were single or double crowners. There were aspiring thru hikers, section hikers, trail angels, trail lovers and more. I drove up to Nevada City with Dave Claugus and Cam Swami Honan. We got out of the car and were immediately thrown into hiker love. So many people, all so excited to be there. ALDHA West president Allgood just oozes enthusiasm. Dirtmonger that I met on the CDT showed up. So wonderful to see him again. Furniture and Cassidy that had hosted me in Vermont just a few months prior. Snorkel and PCTA's Jack Haskel were there and soooo many more.
Friday night we watched Jester's most awesome movie "Embrace the Brutality" about his CDT 2012 hike. Check it out here. http://www.tbwproductions.com/#!page3/cee5.
9am Saturday the talks started. I'm not a very emotional person but I got teary eyed during each one. That is just how good, motivating and unique each speaker was. Heather Anish Anderson talked about her 60 day record setting PCT hike. Kristin "Lost" Gates told us of her solo 1000 mile transverse of the Brooks Range in Alaska. Ian spoke of his 6 year walk from the southern tip of South America to Central America. And to top it off Swami gave us the low down on his 12 long walks in North America.
And then there was the presentation of the Triple Crown awards. All Triple Crowners in attendance got up for a huge group photo. I also got a photo of me with my hero, Anish, and another one with Peanut Eater.

Appalachian Trail - Done! - 9/13/13

September 13, 2013. I finished hiking 2186 miles from Springer Mountain, Georgia, to Mt Katahdin, Maine. I also completed the triple crown of hiking.... the PCT, the CDT and the AT. My dear sister-in-law, Summer, made a crown for me which I proudly wore at the top. Check it out!

Life After Postholer - 11/21/13

Life after the Triple Crown is also Life after www.postholer.com/Nancy.....  I'm moving away from postholer.com to post reports of my adventures.  I'm hoping that I will have an easier time posting photos to this blog....

My first big adventure is a 6 week trip to Patagonia starting Dec 2nd.  I'm super excited about this.  I'll do a few practice posts to see how this works for me. One thing I already don't like is that from my phone I can't insert the photos in the text of the post.  If anyone knows how to do this from an android phone, please let me know.