Day 1 on the W: From the Park Entrance to Refugio Grey

Melissa and I arrived back in Puerto Natales late last night, which means we're back on wifi at times. I wrote blog posts for each day we were on the trail and I'll post as I can.

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21,964 steps. 21,964 steps with a 40 pound (or a little more, I'm not quite sure) pack on. I did alright, despite being a slow hiker. That being said, I think my body is in shock. Melissa is currently in line getting our camp site reservation stuff in order, and I'm sitting on the steps on the Refugio trying not to think about how much my feet hurt. Pretty much everything from my waist down is talking to me right now. I know it'll all be fine, but right now it's screaming at me.

We started today with an early wake up take catch the bus from Puerto Natales to Torres Del Paine. Ironically, when we were in Peru and could sleep in most of the places we stayed in had enough noise around us to cause us to wake up before we wanted. But once we made it to Chile we needed our alarms to get us going. The 6 AM blast of my cell phone alarm was not exactly welcomed by me today. Something also not to be forgotten is the influence of the sun. Because Patagonia is so far south and because it's summer we have sunlight from about 5:15 AM to 11:00 PM. It's unreal. 

After the bus ride to the Park entrance we bought our park tickets, got everything officially stamped, watched a safety video and then were on our way. And by on our way I mean we took another bus for about an hour to a boat that we took across a lake for about 30 minutes. If you know me and my tendency to get motion sick you can imagine how excited I was to get to hiking. Now that I'm sitting on the far side of four hours I'm wondering what the hell I was thinking.

There's no doubt that this is an amazing experience, but I'm glad no one is here to ask me how it's going. I have faith that I'll get to the end and say how much I loved it, but right now in this very moment I can't believe I have at least one day in which I'll be hiking twice as long. 

The weather reports from previous trekkers is spot on - you can see the four seasons in one day. We we hopped off the boat at the first Refugio it was insanely windy and down right frigid. To imagine the winds consider your initial thought if I said, "What does a substantial gust of wind feel like?" Then, imagine it not to be a gust, but actually sustained winds. At a couple points I had to spread my legs wider for a stronger base and just hold tight because the wind almost blew me over, especially with the weight of the pack!  Then, within an hour and a half, Mel and I had both stripped down to our base layer. At one point in the midst of a valley the air was so calm and the sun was so hot that I wished for a tank top. I haven't looked yet, but I'm pretty sure my nose is burned quite a bit. I forgot my sunscreen today, but you can get I won't tomorrow!