January 23 - to Refugio Grey

Oops - I forgot to update the map from yesterday.  Here it is - Italiano is at the "I" and I stomped up the valley to the Mirador.  There is actually a campground jup there (Campamento Britanico) but it isn't much used.

Sorry - the "I" doesn't show up well.
4 days ago the weather forecast at the main park entrance said we would have 3 cloudy days and today would be nice.  They were spot on!  So, more mountain pictures, but in the bright sky.

Goegeopus stuff.  I've traveled southwest to the lower left corner of the map (Refugio y Cp. Lago Pehoe, better known as Paine Grande.  Now I'm heading north.  A little further along the trail 3 very large birds, obviously soaring types lifted quickly on the thermals and rose out of sight.  I got the camera out, swung it around, took a shot and missed.  Sorry.

These may have been Condors.  They were huge.

 Further along the trail was this patch of Lupin!  It is an introduced species (earlier settlers) and is spreading around.















 I've been dragging my fanny up the trail for a while and met an English couple coming back down.  They were a day ahead, travelling light and heading south to pick up the catamaran.  I mentioned I was having a low energy day andf he said that the view just ahead would re-energize me.  

It did.  This is one of the first views of Glacier Grey off in the distance.  Note how the glacier has two 'toes, one on each side of the hill in the middle.

I've set up camp at Refugio Grey ( the beer is cheaper here!) and headed for the lookout.  Here are a number of "bergy bits" that have calved off the glacier and are stuck in the shallow water.  You can hear the calving - it sounds like thunder in the distance.  

 Closer view of the right hand toe of the glacier.

Home sweet hovel.

Refugio Grey is run by a different company than the previous two I was at (Chileno & Cuernos).  It is nicer, with better banos & duchas (toilets & showers).  I don't know what the hotel was like.  The campground was nicer, with grass sites instead of dirt.

 Today's map.  I added two points - "PG" (Paine Grande) where I turned and headed north, and RG, where I'm at now.

Enough for January 23rd.