This portage will definitely go down as one of the epic portages of all time. When we got to PC3 we were told that we would be able to continue. It was 3:30 (cutoff was at 2:00 PM) and we were dead tired. Our first order of business was to recharge our batteries and get our wits about us. We did spend way too much time deciding on a course of action, but that also coincided with our rest time. In the end we decided to take a risky gamble and use the small creek shown on the map east of PC2 rather than attempt to go straight towards the first lake..
The map - we progressed from right to left.
We portaged along the beach to the mouth of the creek and were glad to find that it could be paddled. We were able to paddle almost 500 meters before we hit our first beaver dam. This was still good progress, but because the creek winded all around we were not making good progress towards our end goal - just progress along the creek. We could tell that we were not the only team to try this route, there were signs of another team, scrapes on trees, mashed down areas and footprints. This route was risky time-wise, but it was also less physically demanding than the direct portage across the turba.
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| From Patagonia Videos |
As we progressed up the creek, the dams became more frequent. We worked the boats up and over each one. Dustin was now fully recovered and working hard with Joe to push the boats over the dams. Because we were in the water for most of this we kept our wetsuits on, but now we found that they either had holes in them or were leaking. Probably the prior. When a dry suit gets a hole it not only becomes a wet suit, it also fills with water that has no way out. My feet and legs were surrounded by what felt like 10 pounds of water. Everything on this island had thorns and tried to grab you. Even though this section was very slow, it was incredibly interesting. The creek was at times cloaked in dense lush forest, it would then open to a flow through grasslands, and then give way to an eerie landscape of dead trees. All the while beaver dams blocking the way every 200 meters or so.
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| From Patagonia Videos |
We eventually made it to the small mapped lake.
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| From Patagonia Videos |
We paddled the lake to the far side where we had another mapped stream. This turned out to be very clogged, so we backtracked and did a short 400 meter portage to a second lake that was parallel to the lake we were on. It was now starting to get dark. We knew we were alone (completely alone) on this island. The only other humans were racers that were very likely past PC3 and on to PC4. We paddled towards the south side of the island with one small stop for me to read the maps and determine where we would take out. We headed for the final take-out on the south side of this lake on Dawson Island. From here it would be the GREAT portage up and over what in Florida would pass for a mountain. The other teams had left us some nice boat paths to follow, so this was a great help - especially considering it was quite dark.
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| From Patagonia Videos |
We pulled the boats in twos, we pulled in fours. It seemed like we never stopped pulling the boats. These were Necky Amaruks, they weighed about 90 pounds. Add about 40 more pounds per person and you have some serious weight to pull. I congratulate all the teams that were able to hammer this portage.
See the Beaver dam - we had lots of those
Resting for a minute in the Turba
This was PC3 - a welcome sight
We can now add one more element to the portage, Turba. Turba is a reddish-orange spongy moss. Imaging portaging boats over dry sponges and you have the effect of Turba. As you portaged over the grass and evergreens the boat would slide. You only dealt with the weight of the boat and some friction. You would then see Turba ahead and you prepared for your momentum to simply stop. One two three PULL, One two three PULL. Past 11 PM, 12 PM 1 AM, 2 AM, 3 AM,... Finally as the sun came up I could see the final hill where we would switch to portaging downhill.
By this time Dustin had no confidence in my navigation and thought I was lost. I explained where we were and how far we had to go. After some team arguments Julie made the call - we would sleep. It was 5:30 AM, we still had almost 2 km of portaging and there was no chance of making the cutoff. We were too tired to put up the tent, we simply collapsed on the Turba (at least the soft turba was good for something). The sleep proved to be a great recharge, but now we had another issue, we were out of both food and water. The food was important for energy. Julie took charge and we all pooled our food and split it so that we could get as much as possible per person.
Water was a different matter - we were all dry in the throats, we had not passed a water source all night long. There were 2 small beaver ponds close to us. The water was dark and foul smelling. We added 3 times the amount of iodine we would normally add and used the last of our Gatorade to kill the rank flavor. The one bladder was going to have to last the team to the PC. Since this was shared water, you knew that every bit you drank was water other team members would not have.
We had one section that was the final push up a major hill. It looked impossible. We first carried all the stuff in the boats to the top - making the boats much lighter. We decided to have all 4 of us push and pull each boat up the hill. We pulled, the top got closer. We got the first boat up. We headed back down and with our spirits lifted by the success with the first boat. We got the second boat over the hill - we were almost there.
As we crested the hilltop we saw a nice route leading to the Fjord and a clearly visible lone red tent (PC3). We still had some ups, downs, and ever present Turbato go over - but we were there. Dustin found a pack of Skittles in his pack that gave all of us a huge sugar boost. We pulled and finally we got there. We were greeted by the 2 girls manning the PC, they were starting to get worried - it was after noon and we had been out a long time.
All that we cared at the time is that we had done it. It had been a 22 hour long portage leg for us. Had we been allowed to contnue (paddling now) we would have gotten in the boats and started paddling. This was not to happen - we found out that we were the second team pulled from the race (the Brazilian team Go Crazy never made it to PC2). It still felt like being the first person being voted off the island. Of course we were still a long way from Punta Arenas. Little did we know the ride back to Punta Arenas would be an adventure unto itself.
Next http://eaglinar.blogspot.com/2012/02/torres-del-paine.html
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