Early morning breakfast and a quick start – no time for an intermittent hot shower. Oh shucks!!! On advice from one of the young girls opted for a shower after a day’s walking. It was too b….. cold to risk a cold shower. Don't think I could get out of my clothes if I wanted to .... soooo cold!
Long truck ride to our drop off point – dropping others off midway for a shorter, but also magnificent walk, near Blue Lake. Lots of photos because Lex rode up front with Ritchie!!
Water was whipped up by strong winds – creating surf-like swell on the lake. Impressive, but looked soooo cold, and had many of us concerned about the kayak trip we had planned for day 4!
A second smaller bus ride to the start of the Torres Walk – narrow bridges impassable for Peggy. Having witnessed the gusty conditions the other members of our group set off in, I added a couple more layers – making 6 in total!!! I was NOT going to be cold. Leggings as well as trousers, thick socks, gloves and long scarf topped off my attire.
Torres Walk is a 9km ‘challenging’ walk – out to the towers, and 9km back, and 8 hours to complete the walk before our pick up time. As much as we wanted to get to the final mirrador (lookout) our plan was to walk as far as we could in 4 hours, then head back. With scary stories about ‘being blown off cliffs’ still in my head, I wasn’t about to put myself in danger.
Part way up the first climb, it was obvious I was seriously overdressed for the conditions! Time to shed some layers – down to 3 … meaning I was carrying a jumper, 2 jackets and scarf on the outside of my backpack. Certainly got that one wrong – but I was prepared for any change that might occur. And conditions can change considerably, in an instant.
The day turned out to be magnificent – cloud cover for much of the early part of the walk, sun when we got closer to the towers, and light wind in some areas – didn’t really affect us.
The climb was challenging – long, and up…. for quite a lot of the way. And of course, coming down those UPS was a strain on the knees and feet. Bought Lex a set of walking poles (or poofy poles as he calls them) and they were quite useful, particularly on the down.
Lex, Jeff and I walked together, stopping frequently to take photos of the stunning scenery (and catch our breath). By our 4 hour mark, we were in the middle of a forest area, not an ideal place to turn back – I really wanted to get a good view of the towers. The boys kept me going, well past my ‘call it quits’ point – just another half hour, just another corner. And they were right!!! At 2.30pm, we had climbed to a high clearing – out of the forest, and with a great view of the towers!!!
Could see the path disappearing further up the mountain – looked a difficult climb. We were out of time and energy - this was our turn-around point. It was stunning, and we were very happy.
Time to head back …. Such a long way. We estimated that we walked 8km of the 9km walk. The others made it all the way, and have some amazing photos – so we’ll get to see it anyway.
So many people we making that trek – many with backpacks – obviously camping overnight somewhere near the towers. Even as we neared the end of our walk after 5pm, some were just setting out. I had enough trouble with my small day pack.
Tonight the wind outside our small 2 man tent is howling. Expected temperature 0 degrees. Time to snuggle down.
Today is Lac’s birthday – Happy Birthday, Lac.
1 comment:
Spectacular!!
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