March 16 Day 29 Day 4 of "W" Hike
Here was the day we'd been dreading. A 2 hour stretch to the next camp followed by a 4 1/2 hour hike to Camp Centrale. Considering that we'd been hiking an additional 50% on to their estimates, we were figuring on up to 10 hours of hiking. To make things even more interesting, the rain was still coming down hard at 6:45 so we'd have to have breakfast and strike camp in steady rain. The tent didn't do a great job and so our pads and the bottom of my sleeping bag was wetter than they should have been.
We had one option to get out- we could rush back to Paine Grande, an easier hike at about 4 hours, then get the catamaran to the bus stop and be back in Puerto Natales by about 4 pm, plenty of time to find a room. We decided to press on, Meg largely because she didn't want to pay another peso to the overcharging catamaran people.
Only our Swedish friend was ahead of us at the dining shelter and we waited for our food together as we had both left ours in the office, which we were told would open at 7 am. The rainclouds meant it was still as dark as night and I was glad I got a good headlamp before leaving Toronto.
We took turns using the washroom and packing our backpacks in the tent until the office opened at 7:30. We had the last eggs, cheese and used the last of our bread for making lunch pbjs. After eating and washing we packed our wet tent, put the covers over our backpacks and set off on our way.
The first section was 3km to Cuernos Camp but timed at 2 hours, which meant it would be tough. We were braced for the worst and got our boots wet at a river crossing where there was a rope to hold onto but all of the stepping rocks were below the water, probably because of last night's rain. The rest of the trail was fairly normal up and down and for the first time on the trek, we pulled into our destination 20 minutes under the allotted time. By this point the rain was down to a sprinkle but between the rain on the outside and the sweat on the inside we were soaked through.
This was cause for celebration so we had coffees in their large modern restaurant and ate our sandwiches when they weren't looking and tried to warm up. The building was new and very nice, with clean washroom and a water refill station.
After a solid break, we were off again. The rain was light but never really ended in spite of the forecast predicting dry weather between noon and 9 pm. We also had our first real trip casualty during this hike as one of my gloves fell out of my pocket.
The next bit was fairly straightforward with up and downs and a long uphill slog in the second hour. A lake with glacier-scraped hills across it lay on our right with the mountains on our left peeking out behind clouds all day. We chatted with other hikers and took our fair share of breaks for water and snacks. We crossed another boot-wetting river and then hit a fork that was very close to the camp on the map but 5 km away according to the post. The damned post turned out to be right.
At 4 hours since lunch, we figured we had anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours to go. We then caught sight of a roof and figured we were only about 20 minutes out of camp. Unfortunately we were going across a bare valley so things weren't as close as they looked.
Once we got to the buildings, we found out they belonged to a fancy hotel and we had to keep going through another campground, some rancher fields and so on until we arrived at the campsite a good hour after spotting the roof. Still, we completed the hike in under 7 hours and so felt good about ourselves (if not so good about the accuracy of the maps.)
We were told to set up our tent anywhere, so we chose a spot under a tree and close to the washrooms. This meant that we got an occasional septic breeze but it was otherwise very convenient. We were worried by the sounds of a distant drum that we might be serenaded into the night but that didn't end up being a problem.
We set up our tent and were glad that not everything was as damp as we were. The washrooms had hot showers all of the time (no waiting for the mad rush when they opened!) so we both scrubbed the past day off of ourselves. The showers were kind of weird, as the floor was thick with mud from boots (don't drop anything!) and people had left various bit of clothing hanging all over the place, so that when you took a shower there was underwear and socks draped over the stalls that had nothing to do with you or anyone else currently taking a shower. The hot water was just as advertised, and I was able to change into my last remaining clean clothes.
I walked over to the spotless, new dining hall to pay $25 each for breakfast the next day. Our dinner was served out of boil in the bag offerings in the cramped dining shelter which had 2 picnic tables and another table, all rocky. The Koreans came in as we were eating and knocked some of our things onto the ground as thanks for us letting them have some table space.
After dinner we retired. It was hard to sleep as a local refugio was washing up and the washers played music at the sink while they banged cups and plates in and out of sinks and bins. Other than that, people were okay and our tent was able to keep out the rain that we had overnight.
Here was the day we'd been dreading. A 2 hour stretch to the next camp followed by a 4 1/2 hour hike to Camp Centrale. Considering that we'd been hiking an additional 50% on to their estimates, we were figuring on up to 10 hours of hiking. To make things even more interesting, the rain was still coming down hard at 6:45 so we'd have to have breakfast and strike camp in steady rain. The tent didn't do a great job and so our pads and the bottom of my sleeping bag was wetter than they should have been.
We had one option to get out- we could rush back to Paine Grande, an easier hike at about 4 hours, then get the catamaran to the bus stop and be back in Puerto Natales by about 4 pm, plenty of time to find a room. We decided to press on, Meg largely because she didn't want to pay another peso to the overcharging catamaran people.
Only our Swedish friend was ahead of us at the dining shelter and we waited for our food together as we had both left ours in the office, which we were told would open at 7 am. The rainclouds meant it was still as dark as night and I was glad I got a good headlamp before leaving Toronto.
We took turns using the washroom and packing our backpacks in the tent until the office opened at 7:30. We had the last eggs, cheese and used the last of our bread for making lunch pbjs. After eating and washing we packed our wet tent, put the covers over our backpacks and set off on our way.
The first section was 3km to Cuernos Camp but timed at 2 hours, which meant it would be tough. We were braced for the worst and got our boots wet at a river crossing where there was a rope to hold onto but all of the stepping rocks were below the water, probably because of last night's rain. The rest of the trail was fairly normal up and down and for the first time on the trek, we pulled into our destination 20 minutes under the allotted time. By this point the rain was down to a sprinkle but between the rain on the outside and the sweat on the inside we were soaked through.
This was cause for celebration so we had coffees in their large modern restaurant and ate our sandwiches when they weren't looking and tried to warm up. The building was new and very nice, with clean washroom and a water refill station.
After a solid break, we were off again. The rain was light but never really ended in spite of the forecast predicting dry weather between noon and 9 pm. We also had our first real trip casualty during this hike as one of my gloves fell out of my pocket.
The next bit was fairly straightforward with up and downs and a long uphill slog in the second hour. A lake with glacier-scraped hills across it lay on our right with the mountains on our left peeking out behind clouds all day. We chatted with other hikers and took our fair share of breaks for water and snacks. We crossed another boot-wetting river and then hit a fork that was very close to the camp on the map but 5 km away according to the post. The damned post turned out to be right.
At 4 hours since lunch, we figured we had anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours to go. We then caught sight of a roof and figured we were only about 20 minutes out of camp. Unfortunately we were going across a bare valley so things weren't as close as they looked.
Once we got to the buildings, we found out they belonged to a fancy hotel and we had to keep going through another campground, some rancher fields and so on until we arrived at the campsite a good hour after spotting the roof. Still, we completed the hike in under 7 hours and so felt good about ourselves (if not so good about the accuracy of the maps.)
We were told to set up our tent anywhere, so we chose a spot under a tree and close to the washrooms. This meant that we got an occasional septic breeze but it was otherwise very convenient. We were worried by the sounds of a distant drum that we might be serenaded into the night but that didn't end up being a problem.
We set up our tent and were glad that not everything was as damp as we were. The washrooms had hot showers all of the time (no waiting for the mad rush when they opened!) so we both scrubbed the past day off of ourselves. The showers were kind of weird, as the floor was thick with mud from boots (don't drop anything!) and people had left various bit of clothing hanging all over the place, so that when you took a shower there was underwear and socks draped over the stalls that had nothing to do with you or anyone else currently taking a shower. The hot water was just as advertised, and I was able to change into my last remaining clean clothes.
I walked over to the spotless, new dining hall to pay $25 each for breakfast the next day. Our dinner was served out of boil in the bag offerings in the cramped dining shelter which had 2 picnic tables and another table, all rocky. The Koreans came in as we were eating and knocked some of our things onto the ground as thanks for us letting them have some table space.
After dinner we retired. It was hard to sleep as a local refugio was washing up and the washers played music at the sink while they banged cups and plates in and out of sinks and bins. Other than that, people were okay and our tent was able to keep out the rain that we had overnight.
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| The mist begins to lift from the mountains behind us. |
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| Meg lets us know how she's feeling today. |
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| At least this river crossing had a bridge! |
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