Torres del Paine and the W Trek: French Valley

Day 2

We retraced our steps back to Paine Grande Lodge. The W involves a lot of out-and-back hikes, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that hiking the other direction revealed entirely new and beautiful views. On the way towards the glacier, we had of course been looking towards the glacier and the lake that it feeds. On the way back we had a stunning view out over the rolling hills towards snow-capped peaks. 
At Paine Grande Lodge we kept going, approaching the Cuernos and skirting around lakes, until we crossed a raging glacial river and reached our next campsite, right at the mouth of the French Valley, which forms the middle leg of the W.

Marching towards Los Cuernos

The bridge to get to our campsite

In case you didn't realize where to refill your water. 
(hint: it's the river)

A glacial river and the source of our water

Matt icing his aching knee at a natural source!

Day 3

This day was a short hike- up into the valley to a lookout, then back out a few kilometers to our next campsite. The climb to the lookout involved a steep ascent at the end, but was otherwise one of the most pleasant hikes of the entire route. We walked along a glacial river, through shady woods, and enjoyed good weather the entire morning. Every so often the glaciers on the mountain side would break with a loud rumble. A few times we even saw the small avalanche as it happened. At the lookout we were surrounded by strange and striking rock formations carved by glaciers.

Another hiker was nice enough to take our photo. It came out crooked, so we asked for another one. He laughed, took a second photo, and said, 'there, that's better.' This is that second photo.

As usual, these glaciers were much bigger and much farther away than they appeared- their true size was evident when they periodically calved.

On the way out, we had a view out of the valley at a landscape dotted with stunningly blue lakes.