W Treck - Refugio Frances > Refugio Central
Friday, November 11th: Torres del Paine, Chile
We let ourselves sleep in an extra hour after the king hike yesterday. The sun was peeping through the little porthole window in the dome, waking us without an alarm around 7:00 AM. We packed our things and headed over to the dining room for breakfast - a treat to not have to cook oatmeal and clean the pot in cold water. We enjoyed toast piled with slices of ham and cheese and scrambled eggs with a dash of salt and oregano. We also had strawberry yogurt with crushed oatmeal and a fresh melon juice.
We hit the trail expecting it to be one the easiest days, and it wasn’t too steep or strenuous, but a little more than we bargained for. Looking back, we would have stayed at Refugio Chileno, getting us partway to the base of Las Torres. The air was crisp, but the sun was shining and we hiked without our coats. We followed the lake from Refugio Frances to Refugio Cuernos and then continued on to Refugio Torres Central. Along the way, we saw a guy wearing a Michigan long sleeve shirt and he graduated from Ross the same year (2015) as Liz. We paced out our snacks for fuel - the usual sleeve of cookies, PB&J (overflowing and smearing all over the bag), a cereal bar and packet of Gu (strawberry and banana flavored, drastically better than the lime one we tried the day before).
We approached the hotel and we’re tempted to book a last-minute room rather than walk the extra 15 minutes down the path to the refugio. If only they accepted Marriott / Hilton points.
We checked into the refugio, the first to arrive to our room, and splurged on a pizza from the bar. We ordered the “carne” pizza and it came topped with a braised beef, zucchini, red and green peppers, onion and something that seemed like a roasted carrot. It was delicious.
Anna (Germany; international government insurance), Mark (Melbourne, Australia; train control) and a couple that we didn’t even meet were bunked with us for the night.
We splurged again and ate dinner at the refugio. We were served vegetable soup, salmon with potatoes and rice pudding.
Mileage: 10.8 Miles
Accommodations: Refugio Torres Central
