At 6am I was awake and feeling good. I’d gone to sleep early and felt great, so I decided to pack up and take my backpack down to the lower part of the campground. I brushed my teeth, added water to my mix of milk powder and oats and, after breakfast, hit the trail. It was only a short trip to the Italiano ranger station, where I left my big bag. This time I took plenty of layers so I could enjoy the views at the miradors without shivering.
For now it was really warm. I hiked up the steep trail to mirador Frances in a t-shirt. In my opinion this was the most challenging part, but after reading some articles I was prepared for more challenges. For now I could head up at my own pace. It was so peaceful. There was nobody around and I was enjoying nature’s sounds. Every now and again that meant a low rumble. Was that puma finally out to get me? But no, this was the growl of an avalanche coming down the French glacier. When I arrived at the viewpoint, I was also greeted by one. It was quite big and the snow slowly made it down the mountain, like a temporary waterfall. I was surprised it didn’t go faster, but I guess the height of the glacier and rock face are bigger than you think.
After taking some photos and taking in the serenity of the place, I decided to continue. I was fully preparing myself for at least 2 more hours of dragging my body uphill, but that part just didn’t come. This part went through the forest, at times flat, at times gently up. There was a river on my left and at times I got a glimpse of where I was going. Then suddenly the forest spit me out onto a clearing, where two people caught up with me and two others were already taking pictures. But this was just the fake mirador. The real thing was up higher, which finally required taking the last challenge. It didn’t take long, but there were big rocks to be climbed. It took a bit of effort, but again it was shorter than I thought. For a moment I was really confused. Wait. Am I there? Where does it continue? But as soon as I climbed up the big rock in front of me and looked around I knew I was in the right place.
The view of the surrounding mountains was stunning. Each angle offered something different. The multicolored rock behind me. The weird pyramid sticking out on the right. The rough rock wall with the snow, still in and out of the clouds. Some towers, like a silhouette of skyscrapers. The green forest below and the lake in the distance on my left, beyond the valley I’d walked through. I couldn’t keep my eyes off it. I spent an hour on the viewpoint and even walking back I couldn’t stop looking. It was still early, so I made another stop at the French glacier too. Many people were still on their way up. I saw them struggle as I hopped down the path to the ranger station. Over there, I was shocked by the amount of backpacks stored there now. Then you suddenly realise just how many people are on the trail.
After repacking and topping up the water bottle I was ready for the last stretch. Although this was about 2 hours on much gentler terrain, it felt like the rangers had put some rocks in my backpack. I got used to it again, but it’s tough to start with the heavy backpack so late in the day. It was a nice trail by a lake, with many good views of the mountains behind me. Part of the forest was dead, but even that was quite scenic. The trees were completely grey and stood out in the landscape. Then at the last part I suddenly hit the wind. It was quite intense and got tiring quite fast. And the wind was still there at the camp at Paine Grande.
I found myself a platform, but here they stood out in the open, without any trees. There were not a lot of places to attach the tent to something and the rocks didn’t work with this kind of wind. Yet somehow I managed to secure it. I had to use 4 of my guy lines to loop through the corners of the base of my tent. They could reach the grass or the sides of the platform and at the end it was tied down. It didn’t fly away, but since I had to use the lines instead of stakes for my tent corners, I couldn’t optimise the sides. Of course it ended up raining that night. Yet luckily I kept everything inside dry.
