Lago Grey and Glaciar Grey

After two very active hiking days today was a rest day for us -- a return to the short hike to Salto Grande and a three hour boat ride on Lago Grey for a close-up look at Glaciar Grey. The weather was exceptional -- warm and sunny with cloudless blue skies and very little wind. With such beautiful weather we briefly considered returning to The Towers, but decided that our knees would not be pleased with that decision. It was an almost three hour van ride to Lago Grey over the rutted dirt roads of the Park. We stopped along the way at several view points and to wait for a herd of guanacos to cross the road. Between 2600 to 2900 guanacos roam across the steppe of the park. ''The guanaco or wild llama, is the characteristic quadruped of the plains of Patagonia; it is the South American representation of the camel of the East. It is an elegant animal in a state of nature, with a long slender neck and fine legs.'' -- Charles Darwin The boat ride to Glaciar Grey took about an hour. Once there the boat maneuvered slowly along the edge of the glacier for about another hour. We took dozens of photos as each ice formation was unique. The bright sunshine accentuated the iridescent blue of the ice. As we were all entranced by the scenery, the crew came around with trays of Pisco Sours and scotch cooled by glacial ice. It was an unexpected treat. (see Day 5 photos)