Parque National Torres Del Paine

Thursday – January 6

We learned about the Patagonia wind today, a day for two walks. Our first walk left from the front of the hotel and wound its way alongside Lago Grey to a trailhead. We then balanced our way across a swinging bridge over a raging river. Then we walked along the lake’s beach and across it on a sandbar. This is where we encountered strong wind. It was blowing steadily with strong gusts down the lake from the glacier at its head. The gusts were strong enough to push us off balance.

At the end of the sandbar, we followed a hiking trail on the side of an island to its end where we could sit on a bench and view the glacier at the lake’s head. Although the wind was strong, the temperature was warm so we were not uncomfortable.

We retraced our steps back to the trailhead, got onto the bus and drove to a park headquarters to eat our sack lunch. We ate at a picnic table holding down our food so it wouldn’t blow off of the table. There was lots of food in the sack including a roast beef sandwich with avocado.

We then drove to another trailhead where we hiked to another bench. We passed a thundering waterfall, serene lagoons and colorful meadows. The view from the bench was across a lake looking at 10,000 foot peaks. The mountains in Patagonia are very dramatic and look very tall because their base is at 200-300 feet.

After this hike, we stopped for a nature call where we saw a family of outland geese. Then we bused back to our hotel.

Dinner was at 8:00. Ann and I had perfectly cooked hake with a vegetable soufflé.  Bed time was at 11:00 and it was still light outside.