Day two we woke to clear skies and a phenomanal view from the dinning area of the refugio. We could see the Paine Horns or Cuernos Paine. They were spectacular. We had the longest day of hiking mileage wise this day. 24 km, but some of the most amazing scenery! We left Cuernos Refugio and hiked up to Italian Camp. The hiking was patagonian flat and beautiful. From Italian Camp, which was right by a beautiful river, we hiked up to a lookout between Paine Grande (the main mountain in the park) and the Cuernos Paine. This was the lunch spot. The hike up was good, but a little tough. All uphill and then the last section had some bouldering basically to get through. But the view was well worth it.
After our lunch we headed on up to British camp. This was a trail by the river and in the forest that was beautiful. Lots of up and down, but more up. Then on past British Camp to the Second lookout. From Italian Camp to the second lookout is the French Valley because it is by the French River and French Glacier. Truly stunning views. The hike up to the second lookout was pretty step and again required some bouldering to get to the top of the rocks. But the view was well worth it. You have a great view of the Paine Grande, the Cuernos Paine and some other mountains. Riveting scenery.
It was pretty windy at the second lookout so we didn´t stay too long -- maybe 30 minutes at most. We left there and backtracked to the Italian Camp. From there we hiked over to Lake Pehoe and the Pehoe Refugio. The hike was really nice. Patagonian flat again. And very windy!! We walked by 2 lakes. Just unbelievably beautiful -- so blue. This was a long day! Our group had gotten tired. someone had twisted a knee and so we were so slow. From the second lookout to Italian Camp Basillo and i hiked together. then from Italian Camp to Pehoe he let me lead and he followed in the back. One of our group chose to turn around after the first lookout and so Maicha had gone with her to the Refugio early. The Refugio was beautiful!! It was far better than Cuernos Refugio. It had a great view of the lake and the horns. It was so nice. The rooms were 6 bunk beds to a room. The bathrooms were much nicer. I had a nice hot shower that felt great! Dinner was good and then we all had a drink in the bar upstairs. It was a slow day for Day 3 so everyone enjoyed themselves and had a fabulous time.
There was an option to ice hike on Day 3 and i jumped at it. So Maicha and I would leave early and go on to Grey Glacier and the others would come meet us later. So, it was off to bed -- a little sore, but well worth all the views.
I was in a room with 2 others from our group and we shared it with a couple and their guide we had seen at Italian Camp. Funny how you saw the same people again and again in the Refugios or on the trail.
