10.98 miDistance
1,036 ftElevation gain
920 ftElevation loss
4 h 10 mTime
What a place to wake up in. The sun was shining bright, the sky was full of pink-white clouds, and the tall grasses around me were bright and golden as I exited from my tent. The others were already awake and/or slowly rising as well, which meant it was time to make some oatmeal for breakfast, and start packing up.
It felt like we walked through those golden-bright fields of grain forever this morning. It sure was a sight to behold. But all good things must come to an end, and we started to hike up and up until we were overlooking a large lake below. The wind had also picked up at the top of the hill we had just climbed and was blowing everyones hair all over the place. Ugh, but who could complain; these views!
On the other side of the hill the wind was less intense as we walked through woods made of short round pine trees, and some others that had been through a forest fire in years passed. A large tourquise river flowed nearby, but luckily we didn't have to worry about crossing it, or walking alongside it. There was a checkpoint in the woods that the trail went by where we had to get our permits checked, in order to ensure we were authorized to be there. No issues, and on we went.
Pine trees gave way to yellow grains which gave way to dark green flora. We could also see snow-capped mountains in the distance, as we steadily walked in their direction. We came upon some marshy lands, and thankfully there was a well- maintained boardwalk going through them. If that wasn't there, this would have been a very different kind of day.
After about 30 minutes we left the marshes behind and we greeted with our first sights of Dickson, our refugio for the night. It sat on the shores of a large lake, encircled by trees and had a large field where we could pitch our tents if we wanted to, however; nature is a fast teacher. Given the experience we all had last night from the wind, we all choose spots near the treeline, or behind tall bushes, so that we would be protected from any future gale-force winds.
The refugio had a full indoor kitchen within which to cook our meals, as well as hot showers and full bathrooms. The best feature about this place though, was the shoreline and rocky beach behind it. I walked up and down it, snapping photos of the monsterous mountains that lined the shores on the other side from us, and some of them were actually in Argentina, that's how close to the border we were!
