Torres Del Paine (Patagonia)-6th Day of O Circuit

When I woke up the next morning, I peaked outside of my window (yes, I real window) to see some blue sky, but I only got slivers of blue here and there.  I had hoped that the scenic backdrops that I had just passed, but were not able to see in their fully glory, would be lit up by direct sun this day.  If so, my plan was to hike back a mile or so to a scenic point that I had passed, but had not hiked to.  But I have learned in Torres Del Paine that slivers of blue sky do not mean that the weather would get better.  If anything, it just means that the weather would just get worse.  So I decided not to backtrack and to push forward to my destination.

 But this leg of the trek would be the easiest, from Grey to Paine Grande--only about 4 hours, no extreme elevation changes, and although there was a lot of wind, it was at my back.  But I needed this, because my body was still sore from the previous day. 

As I looked back as I was hiking, I still saw a scenic backdrop . . .


. . . and despite the mostly cloudy weather, I still managed to see some beautiful sites.  Along the way, I did spot an iceberg (or at least a piece of one) that was so blue that it was almost purple.


. . . and there was still that sliver of blue when I looked back


I walked out to a viewpoint to get a better view, but all that I got was a huge dose of wind, and I could only be thankful that I was not having to walk against it . . .

As I walked further, I got a glimpse of Lake Pehoe, which is a beautiful perpetually turquoise body of water, even in bad weather.  My next stay (Paine Grande) is right on it. 


As I approached Paine Grande, I looked to my left there was a nice view of some interesting  mountains with brown bases capped with black peaks.  I would hike along these mountains the next day.

I got to Paine Grande, which has both a lodge and a campsite.  Again, I had reservations at the lodge, instead of the campsite, which was okay with me, as the wind would have made camp setup quite a challenge.  I also learned that I prefer to sleep in a bed than on hard ground.  I got to my room and snapped a quick picture of the Lake Pehoe outside of my window.

Unlike my previous stay at Grey Refugio where I had to share a room with only one person, this one was full (six people), and it smelled like it.  At this point, most people had hiked quite a bit, me including, the smell of socks and hiking boots emanated through the air.

But I spend most of the rest of the day and a bit of the night, by myself, doing work in a nice room with a cozy campfire.  It was all good.

#torresdelpaine #patagonia #Chile

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