Day 3 started out with another early morning for breakfast. Some more scrambled eggs, ham and cheese, and coffee. That morning we talked with a couple from Chicago along with another from Sydney. We were able to get some tips on where to go in Sydney when we head there in April. We would see them a couple times on the trail that day as we were headed to the same campsite for the night.

After shifting some weight around in our packs to take a little bit of the load off me, it was again off to the trails. It was again another beautiful sunny day with winds that would come and go. After that first windy day, we didn’t realize how much we would want a nice breeze through some parts of the trail. The trail started out with a pretty steep down hill (thankful we weren’t having to go up it) before opening onto the shore of the lake. It was a great pit stop to relax for a couple of minutes. Some people waded into the lake to put their feet in while others further down were trying to skip rocks. After some more rolling hills, we reached Camp Cuernos. Grant had planned to grab lunch there as it would still be around 7-8 miles before we hit our lodging for the night. He ordered a meat pizza as there was only a meat or vegetarian option. Turned out to be the best meal we’d have on the trail. It had some sort of brisket meat which was very unique but tasty.

The next 11km wound up from the lake into the forest before opening up into the grasslands. At one point in the trail, it became really swampy and couldn’t tell the best path to take. Grant realized his tennis shoes were probably not the best hiking shoes as they weren’t exactly waterproof. I had suggested he change out his socks to some dry ones, but thankfully he didn’t listen as there were a few more sections further along the trail that got his shoes even more soaked.

Again the views were stunning. Every day offered something new to take in with the scenery. And offered multiple opportunities to refill our water bottles from the rivers and streams. The fresh glacier water was definitely refreshing and cold. When we hit the “Windy Pass”, we came across a lot of day hikers who were headed down from viewing the famous Torres del Paine rock features. And thankfully this meant we were close to Camp Chileno to grab a drink and put down our packs. When Grant booked all the campsites for the trip, the tent sites were all full that night and ended up having to stay in the lodge. Honestly, it was nice to have a night to sleep in a bed with a pillow. (Although we didn’t get much sleep that night due to waking up early next morning).

While waiting for dinner, Grant was hanging outside while I grabbed a shower. When I came out, there was a medical event going on. Turns out a day hiker headed back down the trail must have slipped or fallen and possibly sprained his ankle. Park rangers had carried him in on a stretcher and ended up placing him in a tent for the night to see how he felt in the morning. (A group of 7 or so park rangers then carried him back down the trail the next morning).

Dinner was great, although we’re not exactly sure what we had. It was some sort of soup, slice of meatloaf with some sort of yellow mash, and dessert. We met a couple from Santiago, a couple from Egypt and Poland now living in London, and two Dutch women. We were able to give our tips for the trails that we had just finished as they were all on their Day 1 of the W circuit.

Our room shared two other bunks where we got to meet a nice couple from DC (one of which was from Texas!) and South Korea. Jose and Patrick from DC were on their 7th of 8th day of the O trek. Very impressive! It was cool to hear about their experience of the trail and sounds like those doing the O Circuit form a camaraderie as the other side is a little more desolate on the trails before you reach campsites.

It was then prepping our bags for the morning as to not disturb those not waking up at 2:30am for the sunrise hike. Although it’s hard to actually fall asleep early when you still have groups of people hanging out in the lodge, but having the bed made it nice.