What a Day!

Thursday February 6, 2020

Torres del Paine NP, Chile

Seron to Dickson.  About 18 km.

Our luck with the weather is holding.  We woke up to another cloudless sky but very chilly temperature.  Not quite freezing but probably pretty close.

Breakfast in the refugio at 7 and on the trail by 7:45.

We had 18km ahead of us so we thought an early start would be good.  The light first thing in the morning was lovely!

And lots of birds singing.  So peaceful.....  We had some nice river views as we set out NW.  As we turned the corner to start going SW we must have cut the corner over the shoulder of the mountain.  There was a bit of an up/down.  Nothing too steep or long but our biggest bump of the day.  Good views of Paine Lake as we turned the corner.

We were walking through grasses most of the day - anywhere from knee to shoulder height.  After about 2.5 hours we entered into the national park again.  I think we had been on private land since some time yesterday.  We checked in at the Coiron ranger station, stopped for lunch #1, and carried on.  There are many, many checkpoints along the way.  I don't think anyone sneaks onto this trail without proper permits!

After the ranger station the views began to improve very quickly.  We came around to the backside of the towers and could just see the tops of them for a while.  But there were also so many more beautiful mountain views on both sides.  We saw the Dickson Glacier growing in size as we moved along.  We encountered one ranger on the trail who said that today was the first time all year she had been able to see the glacier.  Lucky us!  The forecast said a high of 10 today but I'm guessing it's closer to 20 in the sun.  We stopped for lunch #2 about 12:30 and had a good spot in the shade with a lovely view of the mountain on our left.  The afternoon trail was very easy - flat and not rocky.  There was even a well-constructed long & winding boardwalk over a wetlands area.  We were making good time so lunch #3 shortly before the end.  Ray & Lu caught up with us there and then we had one more little bump before we caught sight of our camp.  Talk about location, location, location!  Wow!  We're staying in the refugio tonight rather than tents.  Tents probably would have been a better option but who knew the weather was going to be so good!