Yikes, but we are out of shape. A long, hot soak at the end of the day was definitely therapeutic! The trek yesterday was around a penninsula that juts into the Gray River with prime views of the Gray Glacier. We learned later than the piece of the glacier that’s visible here is a teensy part of the entire thing — it sweeps up from the lake, around the peaks and into vast ice fields. We did see “icebergs” from the glacier — but they were very small — in Alaska I think they would call them “burgie-bits.” The bright aqua of the bergs and muted hues on the glacier itself were contrasted by the gray of the river which has so much sediment in the water from the glacier that there are no fish in it. Later we stopped at another lake and spotted large salmon near the shore. (We had delicious smoked salmon at our picnic lunch mid-afternoon.)
Info sign at Grey Lake
Cliff & Danielle on stone beach
Burgie bits barely visible.
Hiking around the peninsula
After our very strenuous walk across the mile long rock beach, hike around the peninsula jutting into Grey Lake and then the trek back across the beach….lunch! To soothe our aches and pains, Danielle served Jameson on the rocks as our preprandial.
Cheers!
Picnics are served elegantly.
Tuesday featured the western side of the national park. The scenery here is quite different from the Lake Sarmiento side. Our villa overlooks Lake Sarmiento with a range of snowy peaks in the distance. The western side is arid with beautiful contrasting colors of wheat gold and chocolate brown. Not nearly as much wildlife spotted there, but the guanacos make regular appearances as do herds of sheep (and rainbows!)
A funny sight as we were driving was a herd of sheep seemingly being driven by rheas in their midst. These flightless birds are pretty speedy and the sheep move out of their path in startled trots. We learned an interesting thing about the rheas. The fathers incubate and then take care of the newborn chicks. After the chicks hatch, lone males are seen with a dozen or more chicks in their wake. The fathers are quite fierce in protecting their broods. Our guide reported seeing one charge after a fox that had its eye on two dawdling chicks — the fox took off.
We did get our dip in the hot tub! Much needed.
Cliff stirred up the water to make sure we wouldn’t end up cooked! A cold water faucet is conveniently provided to cool the water down to a bearable temperature. VERY relaxing.
And, boy, am I glad I got a good pair of hiking boots (thank you REI!). My feet are tired, but not distressed!
Sounds like a great trip. have fun and keep hiking. Can hardly wait to see pictures and hear more stories. Love T
NO MORE HIKING! I can barely walk without Advil in my system!