My Experience
Before going to bed the previous night, we're hanging up all our stuff. The main concern was for it not to get wet. The kitchen area at Camp El Paso is only a little half open shelter. The ground was really muddy and full of little puddles from the rain.
As we come into the kitchen, we are welcomed by a bit of a chaos this morning. One or more crazy mice found their way into Christian’s bag, ate some of our food and bit a hole into his emergency coke. A coca cola he brought with him for the kind of day when energy is low and he needs fast sugar. His backpack is flooded with it now. We have a little cleaning session before making breakfast. It’s a difficult decision but we decide to throw away the parts of our food that were hit the hardest.
Usually we wouldn’t be so picky and just eat the food despite the bites. But there’s been cases of Hantavirus in Patagonia in the past. The virus can also be transmitted via mouse saliva. We don’t want to take a chance.
Some of our snacks and a bit of the breakfast oat mix were hit hardest. Luckily, Darryn has an abundance of snacks that he planned for each day but has barely touched. Good for me, as I start feeling a bit undernourished, though I’m not aware of it at that point. I just feel more exhausted than I probably should. Also, despite really big dinners, I wake up super hungry in the mornings. Darryn gives me a snickers for this day. But I will eventually end up eating over half his trekking snacks within the next days. When I compare the amount he eats to what Christian and, specifically I, eat daily, I seriously wonder how he keeps his engine running with that little fuel.
After the little unexpected morning entertainment, we are off and head for the mirador (Spanish for viewpoint) that is close by and on the way to the Grey camp. We went there the night before already. The views are mesmerising. The track follows along the edge of Lago Grey. We get beautiful views of the glacier and the mountains all day. Two longer suspension bridges make the track all the more interesting.
Patagonian weather has followed a pattern for us so far. 1-2: One nasty day followed by 2 nice days. Today is a really nice and sunny day.
Last night’s camp has been the most crowded for us up until now. We met 4 new hikers. What I find super interesting are the different trekking stories.
Darryn first met the 4 hikers from Paso at Dickson in his first night – while Christian and I were having the time of our lives in our emergency camp.
One of the 4 started trekking a day prior to us but decided to not give a shit about the closed Séron camp and camped there in his first night. Something we should’ve done also, I was thinking, when he told us.
The other 3 started trekking the same day we did but heading off earlier. So did Darryn. He started hiking around 5am. The bad weather of that day kicked in when he was “only” a couple hours away from Dickson.
The 2 hikers who arrived after us at Dickson started the trek on our second day but took a rest day at Dickson and are taking one at Grey, too. We will meet them again later tonight. They do big distance tracks with rest days in between.
There’s a few ways to do the O-Circuit. Something to keep in mind in case you plan to do this track some day.
The track towards Camp Grey becomes more and more crowded the closer we get to it. Torres del Paine is very popular for the W-Trek and its day hikes to the viewpoints of the Grey glacier. Grey camp is part of the W-Trek. It’s a little culture shock when we arrive at camp later. We actually need to look for a nice camping spot because it’s quite crowded.
Just before this camp there’s another viewpoint. It’s a little detour worth taking.
The three of us decide to get a Pisco bottle from the fancy restaurant at the camp and drink to the past days. I mention this specifically because it will totally kick my ass next day. Another future-self-would-love-to-pinch-past-self moment.
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