WEBVTT - The DeanLounge: Patagonia Going Gone 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.360 Hello everybody, and welcome to the second episode of The 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:11.240 Dean Lounge. Gosh, I just don't like that name very much. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.120 I was going to bed last night thinking about what 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:18.279 I could name this segment. The Dean Lounge is just 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.400 not doing it for me. So I'm going to keep thinking. 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:23.320 I'm going to keep coming up with ideas for this 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:27.400 for the name of this, but today I am going 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:30.240 to talk about a trip that I went on. This 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:33.040 is going to be the first first time talking about 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.120 a specific trip that I've been on, and from here 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:37.400 on out, it's going to be a lot of this. 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:39.599 I probably will do this like two or three times 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:43.199 a month, and then one episode will be something more 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:47.879 specific about maybe like photography or I don't know, drone 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:51.640 or traveling cheaply or how to pack without taking a 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:54.960 checked bag. I don't really know, but we're gonna figure 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:57.680 out as we go. I do have some bad news. 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.840 Kaylin is at the DMB right now, so she will 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:05.000 not be taking part in this episode today, but fret not, 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.280 I am going to play her role for her. So 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:11.720 it's going to be tricky. I am going to uh 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:15.040 just try to try to make lemonade out of lemons, 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:19.880 with this, but let's get started. I guess right. So 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:22.920 for this first trip I wanted to talk about, it 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:27.520 was the trip that I went on that changed my life. 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:31.000 And that might sound a little melodramatic, and it probably is, 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:35.679 but I went on this trip, and after going, after 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.560 getting back home from this or even while I was there, Honestly, 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:44.200 I just my life changed. It opened my eyes to 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:49.040 what I wanted to I don't want to say what 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:51.240 I wanted to do, because I don't necessarily think that's 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:53.800 what I'm doing now, but it opened my eyes to 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:58.080 a world of just traveling and experiencing new things and 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:02.520 allowing myself to be alone and be comfortable with being alone. 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.920 Which if you listen to our main podcast, Suckers, there's 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:09.400 an episode ways Back. I have no idea which one 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:13.960 it was exactly, but I talk about how we so 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:16.760 many people these days, we just are not comfortable being alone. 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:21.520 We're always around friends or our significant others or family, 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.440 and even when we are actually physically alone, we're not 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.560 actually alone because we're on our phones, on Instagram, on TikTok, 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:31.680 on all of these social media platforms that allow you 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:36.800 to feel less alone. And this is the trip that 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:39.720 made me realize that being alone is a good thing, 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.480 you know, in moderation, as most things are. If you 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:47.280 can be consumed by love and family and friends and 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:49.440 then also have the ability to go off and be 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:53.040 alone and be happy and enjoy your time with yourself, 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:56.160 I think that's an incredible asset to have, and a 0:02:56.160 --> 0:03:00.120 lot of people are kind of overlooking that in the 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:04.000 state of the world today. It's actually something too With Kaylin, 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:09.720 my wonderful wife, she hasn't really traveled much alone, and 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.000 after this trip and this experience, it's something I always 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:15.520 encourage her to try to do because, like I said, it, 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:19.720 it helps you better understand yourself and kind of shows 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:26.120 you your own capabilities. I when I'm alone, I I 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:31.320 start thinking different, not necessarily better, but just different. Where 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:36.080 you know, my brain's allowed to just be itself and 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:40.160 it's not influenced by other people's motives or desires or 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:42.800 actions or anything like that. It's literally just me doing 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.000 what I want to do, thinking what I want to 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:48.160 think about. And you can't say talking what you want 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.400 to talk about because I'm not really talking to myself, 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:52.400 but I guess I'm talking to random people that I meet, 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:56.160 But it's just it's it's a wonderful thing, and I 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:01.520 think it's it's often overlooked and overshadowed because loneliness is 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.520 a prevalent issue in today's day and age. But being 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:09.920 alone doesn't equate to loneliness in my opinion. So if 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:13.480 you're listening to this, you're thinking about traveling, but you 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:15.840 don't necessarily have someone to go with, but you want 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.760 to travel, I say one hundred percent, one hundred out 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:20.960 of one hundred times, go for it. I will say 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:22.719 ninety nine out of one hundred times go for it. 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.159 If you're traveling alone to a dangerous part of the 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.200 world and maybe you're not comfortable with that, then potentially reconsider. 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.360 But ninety nine out of one hundred times, if you're 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.719 thinking about traveling, can't find people to go with you, 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.680 just bite the bullet, go alone and see how you 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:41.080 handle it. Like you'll never know whether you can handle 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:43.159 something until you actually get out there and try it. 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.359 So that's my advice. Let's get to this episode. So 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:50.680 this trip I'm referring to is a trip that I 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:55.800 took back in November twenty eighteen, So that's what five 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:57.840 and a half years ago at this point geez Luise 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.440 h five and a little over or a quarter maybe 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:05.560 years ago. At this point, I went to South America. 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.000 And at this point in my life I had traveled 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:10.520 a little bit. I wouldn't say much. I had been 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:16.880 to Mexico. I think I had been to like India, 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:18.920 maybe with my friends. I was going through my camera 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.400 feed or my camera role to see when exactly this 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.520 trip lined up in the in the synchronosity of whatever 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.039 I've done, and I think India came before this, which 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:28.560 was surprising because I thought that I had gone to 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:30.520 India with a little bit more experience, but I guess not. 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.040 But this was my first ever solo trip, I know 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.200 that for a fact at least. And I went to 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:41.960 South America. My goal was to get to Torres del 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:48.599 Pine in southern Argentina, Patagonia, more or less. And after 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:50.520 doing a little bit of research, I found this thing 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:54.120 called the W Trek, which is pretty popular. In hindsight, 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:56.480 it's a lot more popular than I had realized at 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:59.400 the time. The W Trek is like, it's a fifty 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:04.520 mile hike through the Patagonia wilderness in quite honestly the 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.760 most beautiful place I've ever been to in my entire life, 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.200 and like I said, it changed my life, not only 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.240 because I went there alone and I did all this 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:16.000 stuff myself. I was the only person responsible for myself. 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:21.000 But just the beauty down there is unmatched. And I'm 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:22.720 staring at my office window right now at a beautiful 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:25.960 mountain here in Colorado, and the Colorado Mountains are incredible 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.800 and I love them so much, but I don't think 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:31.240 anything comes close to Patagonia. It is as good as 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.000 it gets down there. So what I did was I 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:37.120 flew from La to Buenos Aires. Spent a couple of 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:41.360 days in Buenosaires. And I had heard from a few 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.240 people how great that city is. And while I'm not 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:46.760 gonna say it's not great, I just personally didn't have 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.599 a great time there. I think I'm just not much 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:52.960 of like a city traveler. If I travel somewhere like 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.600 let's say, go to Paris or London or I don't know, 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:00.080 some other like bigger city, I just don't really I 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.440 ever find myself having that good of a time, and 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.680 Buenos Aires was no different. I just I struggle with 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:06.760 finding things to do. I'm not really big into like 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:10.320 the night life scene. I'm not a big foodie, not 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:13.480 a big drinker, Like I don't I don't go and 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.720 enjoy a nice glass of wine. I just don't know. 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:18.320 I don't have the taste for it. I don't know 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:20.600 the difference between good wine, bad wine, good food, bad food. 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:22.760 It's all it's all on the same kind of spectrum 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:27.320 of middling to me. And when I went to Buenos Aires, 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:29.000 everyone's like, you have to try them all back, you 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:32.400 have to try the steak, And it was all good, 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:36.120 it was very good. But for me personally, it was 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:38.240 more of a layover than it was a destination for 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:43.040 me because it just I just couldn't I struggled finding 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:48.200 things to do. And I might get some plaque for 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:50.400 that because it is a beautiful country, it is a 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:54.720 beautiful city specifically, but I just personally didn't have a 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:56.120 good time. So I'm not really gonna dwell on that 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.200 too much. So then when I did so, I went 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:01.240 LA to Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires to Santiago, And what 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:05.200 I've kind of noticed is Santiago is kind of like 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:08.720 the hub for traveling throughout South America. You can find 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.720 cheap flights from Santiago to pretty much anywhere in South 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:17.000 America for way less than what I would have assumed, 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.120 like a Rio or a Buenos Aires would have been 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.440 more of a hub, and they probably are still hubs. 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:26.920 But I found that flying out of Santiago was significantly 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:28.800 cheaper at the time, at least than it was flying 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:32.400 out of any of those other cities that I mentioned earlier. 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:36.440 So went to Santiago. I only spent one night there. 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:38.680 I will say, after just kind of ragging on city 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:42.400 traveling a little bit, that Santiago is pretty awesome and 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.520 I only spent one Yeah, I spent maybe like twenty 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.719 hours there, so not a long time, but it just 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.280 gave me a better vibe. It's a little bit less 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:53.240 busy than Buenos Aires, is a little easier to navigate 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:55.240 as well. It's not quite like Buenos Aarres is huge, 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.440 and Santiago is at least a little bit more manageable, 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.880 and there's beautiful mountains over to the east. What I 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.920 really wanted to do from there was travel to Easter Island, 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:06.760 which is I don't know, five hundred miles off the 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.680 western coast of Chile. What I found with that is 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.360 if you're a Chilean local, you can fly to Easter 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:16.199 Island for like sixty bucks. But if you're a tourist 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.920 like I was, obviously from probably any other country, not 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.520 just America, it's like a thousand dollars just to fly 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:26.000 that little flight over to Easter Island, and that might 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:27.480 be one way. I can't remember if it was around trip, 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:29.600 but it was. It was way out of my budget. 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:31.600 It was it was within my budget, but it was 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:36.600 too It just it didn't feel fiscally responsible for me 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.920 to go to Easter Island for four hours and then 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:42.680 fly back over to Santiago. So I didn't actually end 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:55.400 up doing that. So what I did was, once I 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:57.880 got to Santiago, I realized that there aren't many direct 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.720 flights that fly into Port Donatale, which is where like 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:05.200 the base camp for the w Trek specifically is like 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:08.679 that's kind of where most tour groups would start. You. 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:10.400 I didn't use a tour group, but there are like 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:14.120 buses that bus you up from Port Donatalast into Torrest 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.679 Dell Pine a park, so that seemed like a good 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:19.319 place to start. A lot of people will fly into 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.720 Punta Arenas, which is I want to say, like a 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.520 four hour drive and then bust over to Port Donatales 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.840 those four hours and then start their trek from there. 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:30.319 It could be longer than four hours, it could be 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.280 like eight. I just remember being it was long enough 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:36.560 to where I didn't want to do it, and the 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:41.560 flights into Port de Natals were they don't fly every day. 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:43.680 I think I remember it being like once a week 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:46.480 there was a maybe like twice a week there was 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.280 a flight down there, and then twice a week there 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:49.920 was a flight back up. So you kind of really 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:52.640 had to pick and choose exactly when and where you 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.680 wanted to go. And I think I gave myself about 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.240 a week in Port Donatales. I knew that I want 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.880 to do the W tre but I didn't have any 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:08.320 like campsites bucked or anything like that. And if you've 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:10.480 been there, or you've thought about going there and done 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:12.480 some research on it, you'll know that you can't hike 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:16.760 through the W without having your campsites buked. They don't 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.920 limit the number of people on the trail per day 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.280 like some national parks would, even this one actually on 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.240 the upper half of the trek, which I did not do. 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.720 It's the O is what the whole thing would be considered. 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:30.920 They only let like eighty people per day on the 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.839 northern part of that trek, but in the W area 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.000 they don't have any limitations. You just have to have 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:42.240 your campsites bucked. And the booking platform for that is 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:46.120 incredibly challenging to navigate. There's two companies that have like 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:48.280 one has half of the campsites, the other one has 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:50.360 the other half of the campsites. I think it's like 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:54.480 Conaff and Vertise or something like that. It's hard to 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:57.199 navigate because it's like translate the website from Spanish to 0:11:57.280 --> 0:11:59.679 English and there's some stuff that's lost in translation. And 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:01.959 when you do finally get to the booking page, a 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.600 lot of this stuff is booked out, and so unless 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:06.440 you're planning like a year or two in advance, it's 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.199 kind of hard to figure out exactly how to get 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.880 all that stuff booked. So my plan was to get 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:15.400 to ports Natals they have two headquarters there, Conaff and Vertise, 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.680 and talk to them in person, hope there was some cancelations, 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.960 and just kind of take those bookings. And what's challenging 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:24.800 about it is most people do the W from west 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.440 to east, so you have to kind of book your 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.680 camp sites appropriately and make sure that, like you know, 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:34.040 you go chronologically from the first to the second to 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.600 the third to the fourth. If you if you can't 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:38.760 make all of those campsites or you have to miss 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:40.640 one of them, your your whole trip is kind of 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.439 shot because you're then either hiking twenty miles in a day, 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:48.560 which is totally doable, just not necessarily ideal, or like 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:50.480 you're just gonna go up there, camp at that campsite, 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:53.480 wander around that area, and then return back to Port Natale. 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.240 So I got there on a let's say I got 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:58.400 there on a Monday. First thing I did was go 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:00.640 into the shops and get the camp sites booked, and 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.760 luckily three days from then, So let's say on a Thursday, 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:06.640 there was a campsite that was able to be booked. 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:09.920 It wasn't Grays. Grays is kind of like maybe the 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.600 most popular campsite because there's a huge glacier over there 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:15.400 up in the mountains. That's where the passes that you 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:17.280 come in through the o from, so a lot of 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:21.000 people like Gray's the most. Unfortunately I couldn't book Grays, 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.320 but what I was able to do was book what 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:27.760 was the first time I stayed at Piney Grande, which 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:32.880 is the one that's like directly after Gray's, and then 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:36.200 from Piney Grande, I was able to book Frances and 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:40.600 then Central from there, so it's three nights, four days. 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.000 What you do is then they also give you a 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:46.360 ferry ticket because you take the bus into the park 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:50.400 and then you have to take a ferry through I 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:52.120 can't remember the name of the like Pey Hooey Lake 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.080 or something like that, and then that brings you up 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.199 to like the bottom left side of the W and 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:01.080 then you hike up into Grays Stay the Knight Grays ideally, 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:03.320 and then you hike back down the same trail that 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:04.760 you just came and then you continue on the W 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.199 from there. So I wasn't able to get Grays, which 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:09.400 was a big bummer and something I regret, and it's 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:11.600 actually something I've wanted to go back to and try 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:13.720 to book the O. But like I said, I'm having 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:16.640 trouble booking those campsites. It's so much easier when you 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:18.840 get there, but you are rolling the dice because you 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:20.640 might not be able to get the campsites that you need. 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.600 And it's just one of those things where it's like 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:25.440 if you can't get it, you're gonna have to figure 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:26.920 out what you're gonna be doing for the next week. 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:28.960 And there are interesting things to do there. There's like 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:32.960 a natural history museum with the Mylodons, which is like 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.000 a giant sloth that used to roam around in that 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.880 area back in the I don't know, prehistoric or Mesozoic 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:42.360 days or something like that. There's a lot of other 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:44.560 sites to be seen while you're down there. If you're 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:46.440 gonna do it, you're gonna probably want to rent a car, 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:50.000 which is what I did, and highly recommend that for 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:51.920 a while you're trying to kill some time. So I 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.840 was able to get Plinty Groundey booked for Thursday, Fransace 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:58.360 booked for Friday, and then Central booked for Saturday night. 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.640 So I had three nights cover fifty miles, which is 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:03.760 kind of a lot, and at the time I hadn't 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.160 really done much backpacking, so this is not only my 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.880 first solo trip, but my first solo backpacking trip. And 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:12.720 the nice thing about it is there is some infrastructure there, 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:15.160 so like I didn't need to bring a sleeping bag 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:17.760 or a tent or anything like that because they have 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.520 campsites there and the reservations I was able to book 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:25.000 included a tent and a sleeping bag and a meal 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:28.080 for I think I got like dinner and breakfast, or 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:31.400 maybe just dinners actually, because they they'll they'll cook for 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:33.280 you at most of these campsites too, but you also 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.200 have to book that in advance as well, so something 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:38.480 to consider. It did lighten your load, you know, like 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:40.480 if you I didn't have to carry my sixty liter 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:42.440 with me and with my with all that stuff in it. 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.720 I just brought like nuts and dried fruit that you 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:48.040 can buy in town pretty easily and for pretty cheap 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:51.960 as well. So took the verry in to Piney Grande 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:54.920 and hiked up to Grays to at least see it, 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:57.720 so that, you know, added a bit of mileage to 0:15:57.760 --> 0:15:59.480 my trick as well. So I hiked up to Gray's 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.320 literally looked at it for I don't know, five minutes tops, 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:07.960 and I kind of had to turn around quick because 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.360 the hike from there to the next campsite was oh wait, no, 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:13.720 Actually I didn't stay up Pine grund day. I think 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.600 I stayed all the way at Francis, did I. I 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.800 can't remember exactly what I did, but I do remember 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.480 having to hike through another campsite to get to where 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:26.800 I needed to go, making my first day even longer, 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:31.600 which is not ideal. But that first day is amazing. 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:33.400 The bus takes you in super early in the morning, 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:35.600 probably like six or seven am is when it leaves, 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:37.840 and then it's an hour they or so drive to 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.240 the park, and then the boat was about an hour, 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:43.320 so you have some time to take it all in. 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.600 It's the Patagonia clothing brand company. This is where they 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:48.400 get their logo from. I'm sure you know that obviously, 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.600 if you're familiar with the area at all. So I 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:55.320 took the ferry over, did all that hiking, and then 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:58.520 from there, on the second day, I hiked up into 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:01.760 the britann Co Lookout, which is kind of like the 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:05.760 middle upper part of the w and it's amazing. You're 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.400 hiking through these valleys with mountains surrounding you the most, 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:11.880 like I said earlier, the most beautiful mountain scapes you'll 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:15.480 ever see in your entire life, mountains surrounding you. You're 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:17.440 you're passing a lot of people because it's a pretty 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:20.879 busy trail, but you're still fully alone, at least in 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:24.680 my case, and so you never felt unsafe. There is 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.919 like a pretty decent puma population out there, which is 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.280 like South America's version of the mountain lion that we 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:33.040 have here in North America, and so you kind of 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:36.040 are on edge about that. But what I've realized is like, 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:37.760 as long as there's a lot of other people around, 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:41.800 the chance of an encounter is pretty small, Like they're 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:43.480 only going to be seen when they want to be seen, 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.200 and unless you're doing something like so stupid, you're not 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.200 really going to get attacked by one. Not to say 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.080 that the chances are zero, because I think there have 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:55.040 been some puma attacks down there, but very very very unlikely. 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:59.119 So went up to the Britannical Lookout, which was I 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:00.879 was kind of on the fence of it because you 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:03.040 don't need to go up there to do the track 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.280 complete well, to complete it, I guess you would, but 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:07.960 the main event comes at the end when you see 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:10.880 the towers. But I did it anyways, one hundred percent worth. 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:15.480 It pretty easy day relative to some of the other ones, 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:17.760 because it was you know that it's not super long 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:19.359 and there's a little bit of vert to gain, but 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.879 not bad, not bad at all. Hike back down, and 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:25.800 then on the bottom right of the w you're kind 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:29.640 of hiking alongside the lake that you I think that's 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:31.199 the one that you take the ferry over in, but 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:33.640 either way, you're kind of like water side for most 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.480 of it, so water on your right, mountains on your left. 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:39.439 I remember there were like these huge, beautiful condors flying 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:43.760 over occasionally, not the entire time, obviously, but it was 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.080 just it was I can't I'm trying my best to 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:50.080 like explain how amazing it is, and anything I say 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.199 will not be good enough because it literally was so 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:59.119 stink and amazing. Then I think I met a I 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:01.480 think he was a guy, an Italian kid. He was 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:04.439 probably like twenty years old, just an absolute beast of 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.800 a hiker, like so strong, so fast, never got tired. 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:10.480 I met him at one of the campsites, and the 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:11.879 next day he was like, yeah, I'm gonna go all 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:14.840 the way to the towers tomorrow. But from where we 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:17.119 were it was like fifteen miles and I was like 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.200 pretty sore. I got these new hiking shoes that I 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:21.919 absolutely hated, and I was like, screw it, I'm just 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:23.480 gonna come with you and see what happens. And so 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.600 I go with him. It's nice hiking with people that 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:28.239 are faster than you because it forces you to come 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:30.679 to be faster and take less breaks. And when I'm 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:33.199 hiking alone, I'm like, I'll take any excuse i can 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:34.880 to like sit down for a little bit and just chill. 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:39.520 So we hiked super fast. The last little push from 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:41.960 what would it be kind of like central but not 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.600 quite because you kind of like veer up before it. 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.800 But the last push up to the towers of Torres 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:52.120 still Pine, the base day last tourists lookout, I think 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:56.160 is what it's called is pretty challenging. It's steep, it's 0:19:56.359 --> 0:20:03.840 loose in areas, pretty rocky, and it's just it's challenging 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:05.920 to get up there, especially when you're already pretty tired. 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:08.840 But once you get over the crest and into the 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:12.000 little what would you call it, not like a valley, 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:17.359 but you're you're you're basically like in this alpine lake, surrounded, 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.160 well not surrounded, but in front of you are these 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:22.199 three massive granite I want to I want to call 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:27.800 them granite towers. And it's it's every picture that someone 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:31.440 would post from this area has those towers in it. 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:36.000 It's the most breath taking place in the entire world. 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:38.040 When I was up there, it was kind of busy, 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:42.399 like there's maybe like eighty eighty five people up there, 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:46.479 all hikers. The only way to access it is by hiking. 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:48.960 Some people just take the bus in, hike up, hike down, 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.199 take the bus back down to Portinatals. But obviously if 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:53.840 you wanted to get the full experience, you're like, you 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.399