After day one, I was pretty wiped out. I had not fully recovered from my vomiting and delirium for basically 24 hours straight. Then, only two days removed, I did a MASSIVE hike, in the snow, below zero, with 4600 feet of elevation gain. Looking at the schedule, I saw that W Trek Day two…
Tag: hiking

Chile Day 10 – 11/29/2023 – W Day One
The W Day One (we were going East to West) was legitimately tough. We tackled the Tres Torres first. It’s another crazy day of hiking, which ended up being about 15 miles and nearly 4700 feet elevation gain. Much as with Lago de los Tres, the last bit of this hiking was little more than…

Chile Day 9 – 11/28/2023 – Transfer to Puerto Natales
The following day, we caught a public bus from el Calafate to Puerto Natales. This drive takes about six hours. I was RIGHT up front, which was nice (we got a view the entire ride), but also a bit cramped. I tried to sleep and mostly-failed. The Chilean border crossing was a trip. Argentina was…

Argentina Days 6 and 7 – 11/25 – 11/26/2023 – Laguna Torres and Near-Death
We were scheduled to leave el Chalten on November 25 and to transition to el Calafate for the rest of the Argentina leg of the trip. For reference, el Chalten is quite remote. There is a single stop (a few buildings) between el Chalten and el Calafate, called La Leona. It is basically a small…

Argentina Day 5 – 11/24/2023 – Laguna de los Tres & Laguna Capri
I find myself thinking a bit in Spanish as I write this. Being absolutely immersed for more than two weeks has brought back much of my prior understanding. How fun! I should do a better job of keeping it when I’m back in LA. In any case, November 24 was the first big hike of…

Yosemite – 10/26
For our final full day, one of our number managed to wrangle some young traveling nurses to join our crew. They were looking for a tougher hike, and incorrectly viewed us as knowing what we were doing due to our attire and demeanor of self-assuredness. Obviously, they were easily swayed, or they mostly thought Cameron…

Yosemite – 10/25
Day three, we chose to do a bit of a lesser hike. Many of the boys were a bit worn out from the day before. So, we chose to do the Mirror Lake hike. This time of year, the Mirror Lake is barely more than a thick stream. But, in May or June, the Mirror…

London Whirlwind
From West Virginia, I was supposed to head straight to London to start work. By my poor dog, Daphne, had what I understood was IVDD (intervertebral disc disease). Basically, her spine was collapsing, or discs were pressing hard on her spinal cord or some variation thereof. The net result of such things was that she…

Japan – Day Seven
I’m now caught up, posting these backwards a few days for … posterity? Today, I got up without anything in particular in mind. This hotel isn’t nearly as fancy as the one prior, but it’s in this cute national park area, Daisutzen National Park, that feels a bit like the Pacific Northwest. There’s bear and…