March 15 Day 28 Day 3 of "W" hike
We had a much better sleep and woke up to a blazing sunrise over a sea of tents. Our food was safe in the dining hall, but one hiker we spoke to said that he was up when they unlocked it and saw a fox run out after spending the night in there. We had a decent breakfast, packed u pour tent and got on our way.
The first leg of the hike was listed as 2 1/2 hours so we budgeted an hour more. It was overcast and a bit windy so a few more layers were required after spending most of he first two days hiking in a t-shirt. The trail was the easiest of our journey, with gradual ups and downs through bushy terrain by small lakes, with the ever present mountains looming above us.
We got to Camp Italiano is good time. This was the most rustic of the camps on the W, which had reported closed a few days ago because of "poo problems". The septic aroma was present throughout the area making us sympathize with those camping there. Outside of the ranger's office was a huge pile of backpacks shed by hikers planning to return to the camp after heading up the side trail towards Camp Brittanica.
The trail to Brittanica made up the centre line of the W but was very difficult and long. We decided to head up as far as our bodies would let us and were glad of it. After about 30 minutes you emerged from the forest and spent the rest of your time scrabbling over rocky trails beside a churning blue-grey river. The view was stunning, as you had an unobstructed view of Glacier Frances up the mountain. We heard was sounded like prolonged thunder which turned out to be glacial avalanches. From this point on we'd hear the rumbling about every hour until we got out of range.
On the way we met our Brazilian friends who had been hiking from the other direction and had a grand reunion. A little later we met our Connecticut friends who pointed out a visible avalanche during one of the rumblings. We were heading to Frances Lookout, which looked to be close on the map and when we started people heading down told us it was just over 30 minutes. After hiking for 45 minutes others coming down speculated it was another hour, so we turned around once we found a nice viewing spot and had a snack.
Chile needs cartographers! As we said, Frances lookout looked close on a map, but wasn't. The wooden trail markers had random information, such as on our first hike it told us we had travelled 4km in less than an hour. Then, 90 minutes later, it told us we had travelled 4.5 km. We learned not to trust maps, signs and markers which is frustrating, as it's comforting to know how far you've gone and how much you have left to go.
We headed back to Italiano, picked up our bags and headed down to Camp Frances, pausing whenever we heard the rumble of the glacier. This was the most basic place we stayed at, with assigned platforms for the tents, two picnic tables in a shelter for dinner, an open washing area but a new, state of the art washroom/shower facility.
It had been sprinkling all day and after we set up the light rain became steady so we crowded into the tiny dining area and managed to get a spot in between a quiet but interesting Swedish guy on his first major hike and a loud, young group of Koreans. After dinner we retired to our tent and heard the rain stop, only to return with a vengeance at 5 am.
We had a much better sleep and woke up to a blazing sunrise over a sea of tents. Our food was safe in the dining hall, but one hiker we spoke to said that he was up when they unlocked it and saw a fox run out after spending the night in there. We had a decent breakfast, packed u pour tent and got on our way.
The first leg of the hike was listed as 2 1/2 hours so we budgeted an hour more. It was overcast and a bit windy so a few more layers were required after spending most of he first two days hiking in a t-shirt. The trail was the easiest of our journey, with gradual ups and downs through bushy terrain by small lakes, with the ever present mountains looming above us.
We got to Camp Italiano is good time. This was the most rustic of the camps on the W, which had reported closed a few days ago because of "poo problems". The septic aroma was present throughout the area making us sympathize with those camping there. Outside of the ranger's office was a huge pile of backpacks shed by hikers planning to return to the camp after heading up the side trail towards Camp Brittanica.
The trail to Brittanica made up the centre line of the W but was very difficult and long. We decided to head up as far as our bodies would let us and were glad of it. After about 30 minutes you emerged from the forest and spent the rest of your time scrabbling over rocky trails beside a churning blue-grey river. The view was stunning, as you had an unobstructed view of Glacier Frances up the mountain. We heard was sounded like prolonged thunder which turned out to be glacial avalanches. From this point on we'd hear the rumbling about every hour until we got out of range.
On the way we met our Brazilian friends who had been hiking from the other direction and had a grand reunion. A little later we met our Connecticut friends who pointed out a visible avalanche during one of the rumblings. We were heading to Frances Lookout, which looked to be close on the map and when we started people heading down told us it was just over 30 minutes. After hiking for 45 minutes others coming down speculated it was another hour, so we turned around once we found a nice viewing spot and had a snack.
Chile needs cartographers! As we said, Frances lookout looked close on a map, but wasn't. The wooden trail markers had random information, such as on our first hike it told us we had travelled 4km in less than an hour. Then, 90 minutes later, it told us we had travelled 4.5 km. We learned not to trust maps, signs and markers which is frustrating, as it's comforting to know how far you've gone and how much you have left to go.
We headed back to Italiano, picked up our bags and headed down to Camp Frances, pausing whenever we heard the rumble of the glacier. This was the most basic place we stayed at, with assigned platforms for the tents, two picnic tables in a shelter for dinner, an open washing area but a new, state of the art washroom/shower facility.
It had been sprinkling all day and after we set up the light rain became steady so we crowded into the tiny dining area and managed to get a spot in between a quiet but interesting Swedish guy on his first major hike and a loud, young group of Koreans. After dinner we retired to our tent and heard the rain stop, only to return with a vengeance at 5 am.
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| Another amazing sunrise picture at Paine Grande. |
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| Meg in the scrubby forest. |
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| Frances glacier from the base of the trail. |
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