February 2010

I just made it back from volunteering at the American Birkebeiner (a.k.a. the Birkie) in Hayward/Cable, Wisconsin. The Birkie is the largest and one of the longest ski races in North America. There are two different styles to compete in: the classic (54K) and the freestyle (51k). My cousins Paul and Joe were competing for the second year in a row in the freestyle race. Paul's wife Ashley, Joe Dion (a friend/lumberjack) and myself volunteered at the 4th rest stop serving water and energy drinks to thirsty racers.

Above I'm getting ready to jog along with a skier to deliver hot and tasty energy which they'll need to dominate the "Bitch Hill" up ahead. The hill known as "Bitch Hill" is the toughest climb for the skiers and I've heard that the name is quite fitting. There were over 8 thousand people competing and for the better part of 5 hours we didn't stop handing out drinks. Towards the end people were stopping to enjoy multiple cups of energy and water. Countless amounts of people asked if we had a beer. The beer was for the finish line an they were still 30k away. When things slowed down we sleeked out of our station to go back to the finish line.

After the volunteer session Ashley, Joe and me enjoy refreshments while watching the racers cross the finish line on Hayward's main street. Paul took more than an hour and 20 minutes off his time from last year so we missed getting his picture. Joe on the other hand stopped for a tasty swig of Wisconsin's finest nectar/photo op.

Look here he comes

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The American Birkie is one of coolest Wisconsin events hands down even though it was 30 plus degrees out. I got so into it that I convinced myself that I'm going to compete next year. I should probably start learning how to skate ski.

Also this month Robert Cottingham came to Tandem to collaborate on proofing the final 3 letters on his American Alphabet series of lithographs. This project has been in the works since the mid 90's. It's quite remarkable seeing the final prints in the series come to life. The prints are some of the most complex lithographs that I've seen with upwards of 70 different colors per image. I won't go into detail about what that exactly means but every layer is created by hand and the process is extremely time consuming and labor intensive.

Above I'm sponging a photo positive working litho plate for the letter U. The plate is only able to be rolled up with ink if the surface is wet. The greasy ink will stick to image areas of the plate when the charged roller passes over it. Once the image area is fully inked a piece of paper is put on top and it's run through the press.

Above are two proofs for the final letters. N was also proofed but I don't have an image of it. The Y on the right is one of the most complex letters of them all with 70 colors. When you get close to the print you can really appreciate the subtle details of color throughout the print.

During the two weeks other printers were working on a series of etchings for Bob. Above is an image of the studio. In the background you can see etchings stapled to wall for drying. The etchings are printed wet and we staple them up so when they dry, they dry flat.

On February 15 the 31 first year grad students in the art department had a review exhibition that showcased new work. The show was up for two weeks and it was overall a great experience. The show looked great and it made me feel proud to be part of such an incredible group of artists.

Above is a black and white lithograph that I ended up coloring for the exhibition.

This is what it looks like colored in.

After I finished this piece I decided to cross some items of my list that I've been looking at for months. One of those things was to make shirts for my cousin Mike and his friends for building me a bike.

I screen printed the shirts in my studio. The color of the shirts was a Jedi light saber green and boy was it intense. They really seemed to like them though which is all that maters.

Here is the shirt, three headed dog and all.

Semester 2 of 6

My month long break has come to an end as of 8am this morning. Although it was refreshing to have a few weeks to regroup I found myself overly giddy at the thought of the second semester getting underway. And for good reasons; with opportunities to work with faculty members and students that I revere and to be a part of a creative environment that is both incredibly fascinating and uncomfortably challenging. Also, I can't fail to mention another semester working with Tandem Press (a collaborative fine art print studio that works with some of the world's most important contemporary artists). I'll write an entry in the future about my experiences at Tandem and keep this entry pertainting to the fresh semester.

For the spring I'm enrolled in 3 classes that include: Advanced Drawing (w/ Fred Stonehouse), Advanced Lithography (w/ Jack Damer) and Graduate Etching II (w/ Frances Myers). I also have an independent study with Derrick Buisch. I chose to work with these professors not only for their wealth of knowledge but also for common threads that I feel exists between their work and mine.

I filled my schedule with the maximum number of credits all of which are studio courses. In theory I should be able to crank out glorious amounts of work (hopefully some of it will rock).

With my back to school excitement I stayed up later than usual drawing and working out ideas for some new projects. Recently I've been playing with the idea of creating a series of narrative prints that will ultimately exist in the form of a hand made artist book. I will keep my details of this project vague at this point as it's in the earliest of stages. I'm currently working on a costume for the protagonist of the story that will be played by me. I took some pics last night and drew the image below. This is a preliminary sketch as no elements of my appearance are for certain. I feel like I have a decent amount of silliness and sadness going on. I think that juxtaposition with work well in the story. Thats all for now, I'll keep you posted.

Snow Shoeing in the Porcupine Mountains

It's about time I brush off the 8 plus months of dust that this old blog has accumulated. And what better reason to do so with tales from a good old fashioned show-shoeing adventure in the Porcupine Mountains in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Porcupine Mountains are located roughly 274 miles north of Milwaukee and overlook the greatest of lakes, Lake Superior. The trip begins at a park and ride in Green Bay, Wisconsin where my cousin Paul scooped up his brother Joe and Myself. Joe and I were attending the Green Bay Packers game against the Seattle Seahawks. In this particular game the Packers clinched a NFC wildcard spot. I won't go too much into detail but I will say that we celebrated this accomplishment far too aggressively with smuggled in elixirs.

The game ends and we hit the road at roughly 6pm hoping to arrive at our destination as quickly as possible. I managed to catch some Zs on long ride and before I knew it the time was 11pm and we were at the doorstep of the great Porcupine Mountains (it was dark and I could only see the violent waters of Lake Superior on the way in). We took our car as far as it could go and parked it by a road only open to snowmobilers. The three of us repacked our bags and got suited up for a 5 mile night hike.

We hiked 4 miles up the snow-covered road that was lit by the moonlight before we reached our trailhead. We took a couple of pictures before attacking the untamed trail down to the shore of Lake Superior. We hiked for about a mile before deciding that setting up camp was in our best interest. The winds off of the lake were bitterly cold and we managed to find some protection nestled amongst pine trees about 100 feet inland.

The first order of business was to pack down an area of snow to set up our tent. We did this with our snowshoes and it went quite efficiently. Next we set up our four seasons hardcore mountain tent. When I purchased this bad boy of a tent back in my boy scouting days I had aspirations of busting it out in the craziest conditions that Mother Nature could offer me. I imagined I would be laughing inside as I lay comfortable and warm. Although the inside of the tent was paradise compared to the outside, it was still frigid as an icicle sword (mother nature won this round).

It was sometime after 3am when we were all settled into our sleeping bags and despite being overly exhausted I couldn't pass out. I was as comfortable as one could be keeping in mind the circumstances, but for whatever reason sleep wasn't happening. I think I managed to fall asleep eventually but before long it was time to get ready for a full day of hiking.

Waking up in a place completely transformed by light was an incredibly warming sight. The snow, the trees, the lake. It was an invigorating site to wake up to. It took us quite a while to hit the trail and we had only a couple of hours of sunlight before we had to break out our headlamps. The goal of the trek was to successfully conquer a 25-mile loop through the park finishing at our car after 3 days of hiking. We wanted to be about 13 or 14 miles in by the end of the day.

With several feet of snow below us we weren't able to move with great speed. Our mile times were roughly 2.5 to 3 miles an hour. We all had one layer of thermals on below our lightweight snow pants and jackets. It wasn't enough layers just to stand in the cold but when you're moving like that it's plenty.

Eventually we found our stopping point for the night. It was about an hour since the lights went out in the forest and once again we assembled our tent in the dark. Joe and I immediately crashed in our sleeping bags while Paul melted us some water and cooked us dinner. Paul's wife Ashley put together a delicious pasta dinner for Paul to make us that night. I was exhausted and eating that pasta was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I was pounding cliff bars all day so eating hot and tasty food was a dream.

After dinner we played a game of cribbage. In the end I stole a win from Paul and Joe managed to limp across the skunk line coming in a distant 3^rd (sorry buddy, you know how I love to rub it in). It was about 10pm at this point and once again sleep was not happening. I wasn't the only one this time with Paul and Joe struggling to crash. Not cool.

The next morning it was colder than I can describe. We had our tent well vented and our moisture still managed to freeze on the inside of the tent. Most of my gear was wet after waking up and I was wearing my last layer of perfectly dry clothes. Even when it's deathly cold I still find a sick enjoyment out of sucking in freezing cold air and turning it into warm breath that slowly billows out of my mouth and nose.

Once again Paul melted snow to fill our water bottles. Our original intention was to spend 3 nights in the wilderness but because I wasn't sleeping and had a bag full of wet gear I requested that we crank out the remaining miles before the end of the day. Everybody was in and we made our way up the trail and back to our car. The finale of the trip was going to be seeing Lake of the Clouds from an amazing vantage point. Paul and Joe both experienced the view before and spoke highly of it splendor.

During the hike we carefully crossed dozens of rivers and steams and saw many signs of wildlife in the form of tracks. After about 5 miles of hiking we came to our cross road except it wasn't the right one. We studied the map and realized that we went 5 miles in the wrong direction. Joe pinpointed us on his GPS and we received the unfortunate news that we were 15 miles from point to point from our car. The pain that my out of shape body was dealing with started to become more apparent. I didn't really consider the reality that we wouldn't make it to our car without spending another night in the tent. What can I say I’m an optimist.

We decided to hike to a snowmobile road and try to hitch a ride. We made it to the nicely groomed road and continued towards the car. We were more than 12 miles away at this point with a little more than 2 hours of light. We hiked for about an hour before we saw one snowmobile. Then all of a sudden we saw packs of them everywhere. Coming out of the woods, blazing down the road and parked ahead of us in the distance. I think we all knew that a ride was definitely going to happen.

As we walked we kept our eyes out for singles on 2 person sleds that could potentially take us to where we needed to go. Most of the riders didn’t fill our criteria and some that did were too far ahead to flag down. It was frustrating and I think we were all feeling kind of desperate. Plans to wave a crisp 10-dollar bill were discussed but this idea went unused. After about 5 or 6 miles of hiking 4 riders stopped for us. Paul explained the situation and talked them into taking Joe, myself and our gear as far as they could. There was no room for Paul but he figured he could finagle a ride at some point.

I was so excited about the ride that I forgot to cover my face before the snowmobile fired up. Before I new it we were flying on the surface of the snow. I was holding on with both arms as the cold wind punched my face.

The ride felt like 20 minutes and several miles. We ended up getting dropped off about 2 miles from our car. Joe made the good Samaritans take some beer money and they declined my offering of cold booze from my canteen. Joe asked them how the trails were and one man replied, “F#@$ing awesome!”

We got back to the car and reorganized ourselves before going to wait for Paul. More than an hour had passed since we got picked up and there was no sign of Paul when we first got to the rendezvous point. It was getting dark and all we could do was hope that he was safely on his way. Worst-case scenario Paul hikes the whole way back. His legs are diesel and he’s been training for the annual Berkibeiner (a 30 plus mile cross country ski race in Northern Wisconsin).

We waited at our meeting spot for about 15 minutes total before two snowmobilers delivered Paul. A hip looking handshake was exchanged and he hustled over to the warm car. Paul told us that the rider agreed to him a ride if he promised not to stab him. We all had a good laugh at that one. As we drove back the spirits in the car were high and we walked away with an incredibly unique experience.

Patagonia Part 1: Ushuaia

In the last 3 weeks my cousin Joe and I explored the Southern regions of Argentina and Chile know as Patagonia.  We had certain expectations for our travels but for the most part we didn't know what to expect.  Our idea was to see as much of the geographical landscapes as we could while working our way up north along the Andes mountains.  In every way the trip was more successful and rewarding than i could have ever imagined.  Everyday was a new adventure in a different place and as I look back on the trip I can honestly say I wouldn't have done anything different... except some nights we wished we brought sleeping pads.  I hope you enjoy the stories of our travels.

Day 1:  The travel started when our plane left Buenos Aires in route to Ushuaia, AR (technically the southern most city in the world).  We figured we would ride enough buses during our duration in the south, so we passed on a 3 day bus trip to Ushuaia.  Most definitely the right choice.        

The sky was partly cloudy as our plane descended to the city of Ushuaia.  From the window of the plane we saw the runway which was built on a peninsula that was as close to being an island as I can imagine.  The closer we came to the runway the more violent the wind became and when the plane touched down the right wing was significantly higher than the left.  This was our first taste of the gale force Patagonian winds and it wouldn't be our last.  We exited through the tail section of the vintage aircraft and our t-shirts offered little protection from the cold wind gusting across the landing strip.  We walked to the ski lodge style airport and once the airport's solo baggage carousel delivered our two backpacks we were on our way.  We took a cab to a hostel that our Lonely Planet travel book suggested because of its immaculate dorms and billiard room complete with beanbag chairs.  The place was full so we ended up getting two beds in a less hip hostel a couple blocks away.   

Ushuaia is a beautiful port city of 58,000 people and is in close proximity to the Tierra del Fuego (trans- Land of Fire) National Park. (NOTE:  The southern most area of Argentina/Chile makes up the archipelago known as Tierra del Fuego discovered by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1520.  He originally named the area "land of smoke" due to all the smoke seen from their armada which was produced by the residing natives for warmth in the cold region.  Later the named was changed to "Land of Fire" to sound tougher.)   

After we became settled into our hostel we decided that eating fresh fish would be a proper celebratory meal as the sun went down on the first day of our 3 week adventure.  We ended up going to a gourmet seafood spot named Kaupe where king crab, scallops and sea-bass were featured in most of the delicious sounding dishes.  I started with a king crab and spinach chowder while Joe savored his arctic scallop seviche.  The seviche was one of the most amazing things ever eaten by either of us and the chowder was close.  For dinner we enjoyed fresh caught sea-bass.  The food and wine were brilliant and it made for a perfect first night.  

Day 2:  We woke up the next morning ready to explore both the Tierra del Fuego National Park and an island home to thousands of penguins.  Realistically it would be a challenge to fit them both into one day.  We were optimistic that we could do it and be able to enjoy them fully.  Before the bus picked us up at our hostel to take us to the national park we already had booked a bus to Punta Arenas, Chile for the next morning.  On the bus we mapped out a trek in the park that would have us picked up at 2pm by another shuttle back to Ushuaia so that we could make our penguin trip by 3.  Everything was falling into place for the day.   

The bus dropped us off at a road which lead to the trail head overlooking an area of the Beagle Channel.  It was especially a beautiful day considering it precipitates more than 90 percent of the days in the region.  We didn't experience a drop. 

 The weather was a little cool but the 6 mile hike kept us warm.  The entire trail was close to the shore and would weave in and out of the damp forest beside it.  We found ourselves constantly stopping to take in our environment before continuing the hike.  We heard little besides the soft thumping sounds of our boots on the moist earth and the rolling waves of the channel.   The trees of the forest were hairy with moss just as most things were in the wet environment.  We didn't see much wildlife on the hike and it was tough to distinguish the sound of the creaking old trees in the wind with that of birds that we could not see.  We enjoyed some well deserved power bars at the end of the trail while watching 3 black headed arctic swans floating together through the channel. 

The shuttle came a little late to take us to Ushuaia.  It was a 25 minute ride back on some absurdly bumpy roads.  I have no idea how I fell asleep on that ride but I woke up with a sore neck.  We pulled up to our meetings spot at the piers 5 minutes before our departure to our next adventure.     

There were about 15 of us on our 20 passenger bus equipped with our bilingual tour guild, Juan.  It was about a 1.5 hour journey with two stops before we reached our boat's departure point for the penguin rookery at Martillo Island.  One of the stops was looking across Brown Bay into Chile at the southern most settlement of the world, home to nearly 2,200.  The second was on a hill home to trees permanently affixed to look as though they are being blown viciously by the wind.  Our destination was a ranch that produced merino wool up until 1995 when a winter with record snow falls killed off all but a few of the sheep.  The ranch was originally home to an English missioner, John Lawrence, in the late 1800s.  The land was given as a gift in 1898 to the Lawrence family by Argentine president General Roca for John Lawrence's activities with the idiginous people of the land since 1873.   The ranch is currently run solely for tourism by his 70+ year old great grand son.    

There was a 25 minute boat ride to Martillo Island where Juan educated us on the island its surrounding.  He also explained the respectful way we should conduct ourselves on the island. After his speech I asked him if he would allow me take one penguin as a souvenir.  He laughed and told me that they don't let people do that anymore.  The Zodiac drove right up on the shore and we hopped off the front of the vessel onto a small island home to nearly 2 thousand Mangellanic penguins.  There are also close to 20 pairs of Gentoo penguins that live on the island as well.     

   
Our group spend about 1.5 hours walking the island, learning from Juan and taking loads of pictures.  I thought it was interesting that all the penguins on the island return every year.  The juvenile penguins come for a brief period to molt and the adults come to mate.  Also, once the penguins choose their mates they return to them every year to mate after being away for six months.  There are scientists studying the effects of tourists interactions with the penguins on the island.  Juan said the scientists hypothesize that because of human intruders there will be more successful births every year.  He explained that the females are extra protective of their eggs because of humans and this allows true predators less opportunities to steal eggs.  

There are few rookeries where two species of penguins coexist.  The Gentoo Penguins are the ones with the orange bills and they are a bit bigger in size than the Mangellantic Penguins.  It was interesting to see them interacting together.  The Mangellantic Penguins have better developed feet for walking, the Gentoo penguins look as though they have more trouble trying to balance when they walk.    

The males arrive before the breading season to dig a nest for the eggs.  Also before the males have a mate they try their best to dig a sweet hole and the single females choose their partners based on their personal standards of these holes.  

Joe and I thoroughly enjoyed the outing and fought every urge to pick up a tiny penguin.  Before we left we each made a phone call to our parents to christen the sat phone.  It was a long day two and getting a little sleep on the bus ride back was crucial.  Juan recommended a local seafood spot where we stuffed ourself with fresh trout, calamari and mussels while a couple of Argentines played folk music.  We played a game or two of Cribbage before retiring for the night.      

Patagonia Part 2: Torres del Paine National Park

Day 3:  We woke up at 6am to catch our 7 o'clock bus to Punto Arenas, Chile.  The bus was less than half full so Joe and me both had a pair of seats to ourselves.  We both slept from the time the bus left until 11am when we arrived at our first customs check point in Argentina.  We filled out our declaration forms, got off the bus and waited in line for our passports to be stamped.  Drug sniffing dogs gave our bus a good once over and we were on our way.

We traveled a good ten minutes before our bus stopped again on Chilean soil at the next check point.  The winds were ripping that morning and by the looks of Chile's welcome sign and flag, it was easy to tell that the wind is aggressive all day everyday here.  We got back on the bus and of course I passed the time by sleeping while Joe read.  

When I woke up our bus had stopped in front of a giant ferry.  We were all invited to exit the bus so we could enjoy some fresh air on top of the massive vessel.  Joe and I both went to the highest point of the passenger section and during the trip the wind was the strongest we'd ever experienced.  The entire voyage lasted about a half hour and and we were back on the bus.  We arrived to Punto Arenas, Chile at 6pm and immediately booked 2 seats on the 7:30 bus to Puerto Natales, Chile.  With our free time we found a local seafood spot where we had some whitefish with spicy sauce.  It was a good dinner before our 3 hour bus ride.  We played a game of cribbage as the sun set and during our game the Denzel Washington movie "Man on Fire" was played.  It broke up the trip nicely.  We arrived at Puerto Natales at 10:30 and were aggressively greeted by a small Chilean woman pushing her hostel on us.  After a while of trying to think of a better alternative we gave up and climbed into hear car.  A Brazilian Mechanical Engineer named Fabio joined as well.  The place was a dive but the shower was great and the beds were soooo comfortable.  Also Fabio toasted some bread for us with honey and butter and served it with hot chocolate milk.  He was planning on doing a 10 day hike at the Torres... I hope he had success.

Day 4:  We woke up at 6:30 and as satisfying as it was, we both confirmed that we could have slept another 4 to 6 hours.  We bought tickets the previous night for a bus into the Torres del Paine Nation Park.  This trip was the biggest on our to-do list.  We wanted to hike a trail called the "W" which was 52 miles creating a W shape coming in and out of the beautiful valleys of the national park.  On the way to the trail head we experiences such an incredible landscape with glimpses of granite peeks studded with glaciers.  We saw a diverse group of wildlife ranging from sheep, guanacos, a fox, various predatory birds to pink flamingos and ostriches. 
The 12 passenger van dumped us off at the front of the park. We payed our admission and took another shuttle to the start of the "W".  My camelbak water bladder decided to leak all over some of my gear so I was forced to attach various articles to the outside of my bag.  This may have been the first use of the term mountain trash (referring to my appearance on the trail).

Up, up and away we went.  It was already around noon so we had to get a move on to get our moneys worth out of the day.  For the first few hours the trail didn't stop climbing.  My legs weren't nearly conditioned enough to diesel up these hills but I gave it my best.  I just tried to keep up with Joe who just days before completed the Birkebeiner ski race in Hayward, WI.  

 
The landscape was indescribably majestic.  On certain passes the wind gusts almost knocked us over at points.  We were moving at a pretty good clip and reached the refugio Chileno a few hours into our trek.  

We set up camp for the first time on the trip and made a point to secure our stakes with head size rocks so the winds wouldn't take our tent while we were hiking.  We hydrated ourselves, ate a powerbar, packed a day pack and went up to the first lookout.  It was a bit hazy over the peaks but we figured it might clear up a bit by the time we got up there.

On our way up we walked into a couple guided by a gold-toothed Chilean and they suggested that we steer off the beaten path and take the Moraine up.  (Note:  Moraines are enormous rock piles on the sides of mountains that form after a glacier melts.  When the glaciers were advancing they pushed up against the mountains with such force that the sides of the mountains would crumble into the ice and snow where they stayed until the glaciers melted.)  This particular moraine was one of the better workouts my legs have seen.  My knees weren't too happy about climbing that bad boy but it was worth it for the view. 

At the top was the most magnificent view of 3 granite monoliths rising out of the ground like horns.  Small pieces of hale infrequently hit our outer shells as we tried to make sense of what our eyes were seeing.  The tops of the stone spikes weren't fully visible but it was impressive none the less.  While our knees took time to recover we enjoyed powerbars and took in the amazing view.  

We also made the call to go down to the lagoon and try some fresh glacier water.  I don't know about you but just looking at this picture makes me thirsty.  I can honestly say I've drank the cleanest, freshest, best tasting water that exists.  We were spoiled for a good week or so only drinking glacier water.  We headed back down and made it back to camp by 6 or 7.  The refugio had a cabin on the premises where we played cribbage, ate lasagna and talked to a Canadian couple that were traveling the world for 6 months.  We hydrated ourselves and crashed just after the sun went down.  

Day 5:  Before we fell asleep we plotted out the next day.  We didn't seriously figure the distances until the night after but we knew it was going to be a generous distance from point A to point B.  We wanted to got from our campsite to the refugio Italiano campsite to set our tent up and then head up to the next lookout in the Valley of France and back down again to sleep. 

We were lucky to have such an amazing day and all 12 hours that we hiked were glorious.  Coming out of the first valley was a decent down hill and we made great time.  The only thing that was slowing us down was the incredible landscape surrounding us.  At ever other opportunity Joe busted out his Gorilla Pod to take a team picture.  (Note:  the Gorilla Pod is a tri-pod made to attach itself to virtually anything... it rules and at every appropriate chance we "Gorilla Podded it".)

During the hike we came across a group of wild stallions.  It was one of those days where every 15 minutes we were seeing something more beautiful than the last 15 minutes.

  
The view was absolutely astounding.  The furthest mountains in the distance were snow capped and the hills between us and them contained glacier fed milky-turquoise lagoons.  We followed the lake until we reached the refugio Italiano relatively late in the afternoon.  We heard that the campsite was closed but we decided to risk it and start setting up are tents.  A park official immediately put the kibosh on that so we just left stuff to put up when we got back.  It was around 5 at this point and we had a decent climb ahead of us.   Eating powerbars all day with hours of exercise inevitably guided every conversation to being food related.  I can remember myself describing my favorite cheeseburger from Soblemans in Milwaukee with such detail that it was all either of us could think about for days.  We ended up making a sandwich of our own for dinner but I'll get to that.

 As the day progressed the clouds began to dissipate and the glorious granite spires showed their faces.  I've never smiled so much at the sight of rocks but these daddies were tickling my eyes with their glory in such a way where I could help but grin.   (It's getting late here and I'm fully aware that the previous sentence is beyond over the top but it made me laugh so I decided to keep it.)  We reached the top of lookout at around 7 or so and even being completely out of energy we were able to think about nothing beside what was in front of our eyes.  

As we hiked down, our bodies ached but we were completely contented.  This was why we came on this trip.  We climbed all day to get to this point and we reached indescribable beauty.  The most memorable moment of the entire 3 week trip might arguably have been in our decent down the Valley of France.  The sun was setting over the mountains on our right casting a beautiful orange glow on the granite peeks to our left.  In this time I commented to Joe, curious about the frequency of the falling glaciers on the mountains to our right.  Just after I finished my sentence a building sized glacier fell off the top half of the mountain and smashed into an avalanche as it worked its way down the mountain.  It's still tough to believe that we witnessed that.  Moments after the collision the valley was filled with a roar equivalent to lightning bolt striking within close proximity. 

On the way back to the camp we convinced ourselves that it was a mighty fine idea, boarder line brilliant, to make a sandwich using one chocolate and one peanut butter powerbar (yeah thats how hungry we were).  Even with a body in desperate need of nourishment it was tough to choke down.  I studied the map and asked joe what 36.5 Kilometers is in miles and we both laughed for a good five minutes, recalculating our distance at least four times.  We figured we hiked around 22 miles that day and it immediately made sense why everyone thought we were crazy when we told them what our plan for the day was.  Still as tired as we were we struggled through a game of cribbage before passing out hard.  

Day 6:  When we woke up our legs felt reasonably well considering what we put them through the previous day.  We had another late start waking up around 8:30 but we still figured we could easy crank out the 18 plus miles of the trail before the last ferry left for day.  It was turning into another perfect day with the clouds dissipating as we hiked.  

 
We made it down to an information checkpoint in fairly good time where we left our bags before challenging the toughest part of the trail.  We found out that the last ferry was to leave in just as much time as it would technically take to go to and from the Glacier Grey at the end of the valley.  Of course we decided to risk it and go on the adventure. 

   

The hike was 11K each way and it had significant up hills in both directions.  We reached some serious elevation where we could see enormous icebergs studding the lagoon from end to end.  The hike was really long and our stamina from the powerbars was running low.  

Glacier Grey was magnificent.  We climbed to a lookout on a tall hill overlooking the expansive valley of ice.  The ice extended as far as our eyes could see.  It was both jagged and beautiful at the same time.  It was tough to imagine the shear size of the ice field.  From our perch we felt small staring off into the vast distance between us and the glacier.  We took our time and Gorilla Podded it a couple times before getting ready to diesel back through the valley so we could make our ferry.   

We made it back in record time.  That 11 K stretch was the only time sweat was actually falling from our faces.  We were passing people in winter jackets.  We even had time to chill out in the cabin and play a game of cribbage before the ferry came.  I think the people at surrounding tables wish we didn't make that judgement call.  

We hopped on the ferry and made our way to the roof to check out the landscape from afar.  The ferry traveled a good 30K to get back to our starting point.  It was great to take a step back and see the great distance we traveled from.  The day was perfect and it made for many postcard quality shots.  This was the most beautiful national park either of us have been to and I hope some day I can come back to hike for a more significant amount of time.   

 
We got back to the town of Puerto Natales late and after booking a bus for the next morning to El Calafate, AR we grabbed a serious bite to eat.  As usual I looked like mountain trash.  Joe couldn't help himself from taking a picture.  We found a hostel with hot showers and comfy beds.  We were too tired to play cribbage before hitting the sheets.  That nights sleep was one of the best all trip.