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.
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.
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