I slept well and awoke just after 10:00. The skies had turned brilliantly clear. Our guide, Payo, arrived during breakfast and outlined very briefly the 24 km hike he had planned. We climbed into the “Green Machine” and drove 15 km to the Hostería Pilar: Our first views of Cerro FitzRoy were awesome. It is immensely more spectacular than any photo can suggest.

We got off the bus and started on the trail to Lago de los Tres. I already knew that it would be hard for me to hike that distance this early in the trip. I never saw Payo, he took off and the students followed. Before long I was hiking with Guto, Jackie, and Raul. I told the students to go ahead. Raul and I walked together for an hour or so; then he went ahead. My solo walk through the Lenga forest was wonderful. The clear sky and perfect temperature added to the incredible vistas of FitzRoy and its surrounding peaks, cirques, and glacier.

At about the 10 km mark, a trail went off to Lago de los Tres. I had seen people climbing the steep slope up to the lake and decided it would take me too long to climb so I just filled up my camelback in the stream and started back. Had I had a map, I would have taken the trail back to El Chalten but instead I returned the way I came thoroughly enjoying my walk in the woods.

After two hours I reached the road. I stuck out my thumband was picked up by the first vehicle it was driven by a guide, named Teodoro, from El Calafate. We talked about geology throughout the entire drive back to town. As we entered El Chalten, I spied Angel's truck at a salteño bread store. Angel told me that Angela our cook had quit.

I sent some email and called my parents before walking back to camp. Phone calls are very cheap this year. Dinner was spaghetti. We saw a low shooting star that took a few seconds to cross the entire sky which was incredibly clear. As we went to our tents, I pointed out the Magallenic Clouds to some of the students. Everyone was exhausted; it didn't take long for anyone to fall asleep.