Torres del Paine, Chile. January 5, 2011. Day 2 of our hike would not be especially arduous, but we would be carrying full packs all day. We were heading from Refugio Chileno to Refugio Los Cuernos, approximately 14 kilometers away. The route was pretty, with views of valleys, rivers and glaciers above us. We even made contact with more local fauna, a small flock of the strange-looking ibis birds.
The one difficult part of this day was the river crossing. Up to that point, small creeks were crossed by skipping along large stones , and bridges had been built to cross larger rivers. But here we came upon a fast moving river with no bridge! What do to? Many other hikers were in the same dilemma, walking up and down the river bed, evaluating the best position from which to make their crossing. Most people were crossing in the hiking boots, navigating from rock to rock. But such balancing is difficult while carrying a large pack. And a good way to ruin a trip is to fall off a wet slippery rock, crashing face first into another rock, or twisting an ankle. So I decided not to take such risks and changed into my teva sandals, finding a knee-deep place to wade through. The water was ice cold (it's glacial water after all) and rushing fast. I had to keep telling myself to carefully check my footing with every step, because my instinctive reaction was to rush across and get out of the cold! Phew! Done. No? No, just 10 meters away was a second crossing. Here I could not find a shallow spot to wade though. I had no choice but to navigate across large boulders, some of which were below the water but still visible. And these rocks were not so close together. My hiking poles helped me hold my balance and I made it (but barely). It was very scary. Scarier than it looks in the pictures. Trust me.
After a safe crossing, we continued hiking through this landscape, a green-coloured glacial lake to the left, and towering mountains to the right.
We reached our destination after 7 hours of hiking, around 4pm. So we still had many daylight hours to relax in the sun at the refugio and chat with other hikers. We met a young German couple. She had lost the sole off her hiking book the previous day at the top of the Torres del Paine. Somehow she managed to scramble down the steep slope in a shoe without a sole. I don't imagine it was easy. Unfortunately, they found no way of fixing the shoe, and tossed them both into the garbage. She would finish the remaining 4 days of the hike in her running shoes. The terrain is not made for running shoes, but what else could she do.
Coincidentally (or maybe this happens all the time here?), after supper that same day, we saw an older gentleman testing out his new footwear. Apparently, this older man, who was hiking with his adult son, also lost the sole of his shoe that day. The ingenious son came up with a solution by strapping his size 13 teva sandal onto his dad's size 8 sole-less hiking boot. It looked like a perfect fit! Brilliant! But we never did see them again in following days to find out how it faired on the trail...
Approximate distance travelled: 14 kms
Approximate hiking time: 7 hours
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