Patagonia Trek Day 2 & 3

After a good nights rest, we headed off to Italiano campground. Everything we did the day before plus another 6 hours! Whew! This was the part where the wind was the worst, so it really slowed us down plus trying to avoid all the mud but we made it safe and sound, just a little tired!

This same trek can be done where you can stay in a lodge/or refuge instead of camping. Sometimes those people with no big backpacks looked way happier than I was haha

A desert like side of the hike

At this point, my feet really hurt and Landon says, Honey you know what's on the other side of this bridge? Dinner! And a bed :) I could have hugged him. Glad he didn't always share how long we had left only just when we were close :)

Dinner! A campers delight, plus hot cocoa! 

Soup with noodles - reminded me of angel hair pasta. Glad we packed in our food and we had just the right amount!

So cold and windy we cooked inside our tent where it was so nice and warm :)

The hike up the middle part of the "W". Our favorite part besides the Glacier. Just absolutely breathtaking!

It was so incredible to see all of nature working together with these HUGE mountains just looming in the background, a huge role player in this cycle.

Blue skies, happy days!

Hmm can you tell which tent is ours?? Can always use duct tape for something! We were the first ones here and woke up to people literally right next to us! There were over 100 tents, super packed!

Our breakfast stop and Bible study, so special!

Landon was getting a little climbing itch...

So much ice...

*Love*

Everyone was saying "I'm happy, I'm really happy right now!" Something about these snow mountains just makes you stare in awe!

Looks like a fairy land :)

Landon says, "This is for Brian, I have to take this picture"

As we are standing there, we hear the loudest crack like a gun shot going off! Landon is yelling "Alyssa, look, look!!" An AVALANCHE! So incredible! We were just so stunned and then started to wonder if we should move because it was moving super fast and so powerful! What an experience! Landon rates it his #1

I wonder why they say no more than 2 people crossing at a time?? Maybe we will just play it safe and do one at a time partly because...

The cable cords supporting the bridge are wrapped around a tiny tiny tree... oh and...

Open cable hooks... wouldn't be surprised to hear if that bridge goes down some day! Wow!

Torres Del Paine Patagonia Trek - Day 1

Well, before we headed out of the Patagonia region, we had to at least do some Patagonia trekking since that is the huge draw for most travelers to Patagonia. We kept hearing how amazing the "W" trek in Torres Del Paine was so we "signed up" haha.

We rented some gear (tent, sleeping bags, stove, pots, rain jackets, etc..) and set off on this 5 day 4 night camping/trekking adventure. We never had any idea that we would be hiking 50 MILES!! Oh. my. goodness. The mileage wasn't really as bad as was coping with the weather. It was so muddy, every single trail was muddy, and rainy! Not to mention we were in Patagonia so I mean that's practically Antarctica, so it was COLD! Brr!

BUT...we had an absolute blast! Met tons to super cool people, saw Mother Nature at her absolute best, and would totally recommend anyone to do it! It was a huge accomplishment!  We especially felt so because everyone else who was there had planned their trip halfway around the world specifically to do this hike and we um just kinda showed up, with heavy rented gear. It was our longest continuous camping/hiking trip (5 days) So when we finished with blisters and all, we felt like we rocked it :)

Day 1:

Bus ride to Torres Del Paine (2 hours from Puerto Natales) 

Ferry Ride to east side of the trail for goal of camping at Grey Lake

5-6 hour hike to Grey and then explored the Glacier Grey

We got to test out our camping gear the night before we left so we could check to make sure there were no leaks! Good thing everything held up great!

Hmm.. so we weren't the only ones with the idea to go hiking. This park gets 200,000 visitors a year! Very popular hiking place! It's beautiful, no wonder! We had a hard time narrowing down our pictures!

The ferry that takes you to the trail entrance

Amazingly, we all fit on the ferry!

Here we go! Ready or not! Why is it raining!?

First lookout point. Sorry there are so many pics of me but Landon kept taking so many with me in it haha

The wind was one of the most intense things we have ever been in! At one point the wind literally picked me up and I landed in the hillside among the thorns. It was soooo strong! Here you can see the trees blowing

Brrr..

An iceberg!!!! What!! This.is.so.exciting.!!!!

Look how many icebergs! It was the most magical thing ever!

First view of Glacier grey

Feeling pretty excited like we were close to the campsite... haha not.

Woohoo!

No, the trail kinda kept going, it was at this point I was wondering if we were just plain crazy for doing this. Good thing the view made me think otherwise.

Lots of waterfalls from the melting snow

We touched an icebreg!

Electric blue, oh yeah!

We really wanted to kayak but when we found out it was $120 per person for 2 hours... we decided we were good. Fun to watch them :)

Birthday week for my awesome husband! Love him :)

This one looks like a dragon, or a turtle

Whoops forgot to take a picture with the tent up, better late then never

Lots of neighbors who showed up during the night

So windy, the campground makes you cook inside the metal building. Pretty fun though because we met lots of cool people! Sweden, Canada, France, Germany, wait how come there are no U.S. travelers??

Oh the mud, so long new shoes... Good thing Columbia knows a thing or two about Gortex waterproof shoes! We had no issues with wet feet, whew! A big deal for us since we bought the shoes 3 days before we headed on the hike... maybe that's why we ended up with blisters haha oh we are so prepared, love it!

Slop, Slop, Slop - at least the mud didn't stick to the bottom of our shoes