Today was an early day. I needed more sleep or so i thought. We had breakfast and headed out at 08:00 promptly. The hike today was going to be tough. 30 min of easy walk to the start of the trail. then 2 hours uphill. Then 45 min. downhill or patagonia flat. then 1 hour up a boulder field for the last 800 meters. We would reach the highest elevation in the hike and gain about 2400 feet this day.
We head out and start out. As usual, it feels good once you get going then you hit the Grind or the uphill for 2 hours. It is a straight uphill for 4 km (little over 2 miles). It was tough. I got a blister on the back of my right heel headed up this stretch. Finally when you reach the top, you head down to the river and the Chilean Camp. There we doctored on my blister and put a blister bandage on it. The day was perfect. Blue skies, good weather. Warm when hiking, but need your fleece when you stop. We left Chilean camp and its beautiful river and went through the forrest and finally came to the boulder field. You see the Towers up above you and you know you are almost there! but there is still a long way to go.
We head out and start up. At some point, you have to put the poles away and just use your hands to clamber over the rocks and get to the top. My heel was killing me with each step. I finally made it and it was worth it!! The view is undescribable. The 3 towers and the green lake below. A picture perfect day. We all gathered on a big boulder looking over the lake at the towers and had lunch and took pictures and soaked up our reward for all the hard hiking we´d done. I told Basillo he had to work on my foot. Sure enough, i took off my shoes and socks and the blister had gotten bigger, burst and was not looking good! He bandaged it up as best we could with neosporin, second skin and tape. then it was back down, but after we had all had a great lunch hour. We stayed for an hour and a half. It was a great time!!
So, back down the bould field, which was much easier. Then through the forest, over the river to Chilean Camp. then up a small hill and down the Grind and back to Eco Camp. We had finished the W!!! 65 km in all (not counting the extra 2 km me and Maicha did). We all took showers and met again for pisco sours and appetizers. We had pizza again and it was hot and delicous!! It was my favorite thing we had at Eco Camp. Dinner was very fun as usual. There were only 2 other groups of 4 at Eco Camp so ours was the largest and certainly sounded like the most fun from the volume level at dinner! Everyone was so pleased to have finished the hike, seen the Towers, and had excellent weather for this day! Well worth the trip and the hiking to see them.
