W trek 1-2 From Paine to Grey and back

An early start after little sleep the night before, we jumped on a bus and headed toward Torres del Paine National Park. To say I was nervous would be an understatetment. A huge one. This would be a multiday hike with a laden bag. I've never come close to doing something similar before. With a gammy knee still causing some problems after the fitzroy hike I just hoped no more injuries would appear.

Upon registering at the park office and paying the fee (three times more then locals) we watched a video about fire saftey, the park having been devastated by fire in the past. A quick ferry ride across a lake giving a taster of the awsome views we would see, and we made it to the start of our trek at Paine Grande. We would trek from there to Refugio Gray a 11km walk.

Getting used to walking with a heavy-ish backpack was lovely (sarcasm), thank god for walking poles. Thankfully we had blue skies, light winds and streams full of cold refreshing glaciar water. After an hour or so we started spotting iceburgs on the lake, and soon we came to a view of glacier gray itself. It wound back to the distance, part of the massive patagonian ice field beyond. We sat and had some lunch and a cheeky bird of pray landed only a meter away.

Trekking down to refugio gray we passed through charcoled forests from the previous fires. It was extremely sad to see especially when you walked through enchanting green forests afterwards.

We reached refugio gray, passed the people in luxury (cheaters according to James), and set up camp in a forested area in our cozy bright yellow tent. We made some tasty pasta with chorizo, with our nifty little stove, and stared in awe at people using white gas with their BBQ style flames! I was out like a light the moment my head hit my makeshift pilow (a pile of clothes).

Next day my knee was NOT happy so I passed on the extra km and chilled in the campsite sunbathing whilst gobbling ibuprofen. Once they kicked in we hiked back over to stay at Paine Grande. A lovely campsite by the lake with foxes playing up high on the rocks.

Number of blisters= 0
Number of km= 22
Number of times I said Hola as people passed= >100
Number of ibuprofens= 2Read more