Please have a look at my Picasa picture site There are 35 more pictures of the portage day which I don’t want to insert here all seperately.

Pos: here
Loc: Laguna San Rafael
Acc: tent
Dist: 6,6 km (5 x 1,32 km portage)
Start: 10:00 End: 15:00

Never again…what a stupid way to spend a Sunday! I’d rather be paddling…I felt like in a bad movie like the German competition “Dschungelcamp” or like Crocodile Dundee in his worst performance.

But I chose this way, and obviously had to go through to continue! But how can you do such stuff for pleasure, like those two Italian guys yesterday, and even going back the same way and doing another portage somewhere else? I’d rather be kayaking.

Maybe it felt like that because I was alone. Being two people, and even men, and not only one single weak woman with the same amount of gear any one else is carrying, may feel different, easier, and maybe like fun.

Ok, well, I was working my way through kind of an exotic environment, ending up in a beautiful glacier lagoon, a day at the office would have been worse…so no complaints. But never again.

After I finished my update this morning from yesterday, which always takes me mostly more than an hour to write and send, it luckily stopped raining heavily, and was just a bit drizzling.

I figured today I’d save my dry suit for worse times, not risking to rip it anywhere today. The suit was too warm anyway, though I had the top down on the first section of the portage yesterday. But five layers of footwear on my feet (warm woolen socks, soft Gore Tex socks from the dry suit, light neoprene socks to protect the Gore Tex socks, high light folding waterproof boots out of kind of like truck tarp material, and my Teva sandals) made them shift easily when walking, plus the Gore Tex would wear out too much.

So I opted for my sweaty anyway kayak polar fleece underwear, plus my Gore Tex Paclite rain pants tucked into the boots, and the matching jacket handy for heavy rain or windy sections. I had thick neoprene socks on the bare feet, my folding booties plus the sandals on my feet. All this was the perfect gear for a muddy wet fight through the dense bush. I was not hoping to have to swim anywhere, or to step into water higher than my booties, which was right.

I thought I’d pack my two gear bags that heavy or rather so lightly, that I can carry both at once, and the rest would need to stay in the boat. Dragging it over the wet grass felt not too bad yesterday. Well, as long as the path was reasonable…

I thought I was through the worst part after exiting the tiny river and finding the “real” path”! I was camping very nicely on that spot, but it turned out to be the one and only reasonable campsite on the way. Just perfectly located!

I started walking with the two bags for about 100 m, got sore shoulders, dropped the bags and walked back for may kayak. This procedure I did two times, as dragging and carrying was a bit of a change. I had my gloves on for the dragging section, and kept them on for the carrying section, as grabbing heartily with my bare hands into the bushes to hold myself on difficult muddy and slippery parts was not really my favorite job.

The whole scenery, bushes, trees, grass, mud holes, were soaking wet this morning after the last night’s moderate, but continuous rainfall. Maybe it was good for dragging the kayak, but keeping anything or myself dry and clean was not possible. But you are getting used to it, and to the spiders dropping down the trees into the boat, into my bags and probably on my hair as well. But fortunately no dangerous animals here in this Chilean bush (I hoped!), and the spiders were small. I saw a few frogs across my way, some birds, that was it.

I knew from the satellite image there would be a tiny lake on the way, and the two Italians said you can easily walk besides it. When I came to the lake with my two gear bags first, I had to drop one, my shoulder’s wouldn’t take two any more. Plus the path became narrow and quite overgrown, only visible when you were looking on the ground. But it was clearly to be found, no problem. Plus the traces of the guys from yesterday were fortunately obvious as well.

With now one gear bag only, I was passing close by the small lake’s shore at the right side through quite some bush. I thought now as I could swap shoulders with one bag only, I could as well walk to the end of the path, to check it out what I’d to expect with my kayak.

I turned out to be obvious that you could put the kayak into the lake, by means of  a tiny river about 100 meters before. This was quite reasonable, as I’d rather be worse floating than well dragging! I could have loaded the boat fully again to avoid carrying the bags this section, but it seemed to be too much effort.

But I was not at the lagoon yet with the first bag! At the end of the lake, you had to climb down to the eventually quite steep lake shore, cross the swampy ground to the left side of another tiny river section, where I could keep on floating later with the boat. I wouldn’t call those sections”paddling”, as it was less wide than my paddle was long! But it seemed to be deep enough, and the path around this lake and beginning and end river section were obviously not made for dragging a kayak.

Two more small floating sections came along the way, one maybe 50, one maybe 100 meters long, which was worth to launch! No problem even though the water was overgrown with grass and lake weed.

One big birch tree had fallen just across those lake sections, splitting the floating section into halves. It first looked as if the tree was there on purpose to cross over walking to the other side, but obviously not. I climbed over first time with my first bag, kept on wading through muddy sections and small rivers, trying to step on the small logs which were occasionally lying across the path.

Eventually, I could hear the sound of the lagoon waves, and a fresh breeze came through the forest. I made it through with my first bag!

The view at the lagoon’s shore was marvellous, but it was just raining again, and quite windy. I donned my jacket, took my GPS and sat phone, and made my way back to where I dropped the second bag at the beginning of the small lake. Like it is always, walking the same way back goes much faster, and without load anyway.

I thought about loading the second bag into the kayak for the first small paddling section, but as I didn’t take my camera on the first walk, I opted for a second walk with the other bag and the camera. Otherwise I’d be missing the pics from the lake’s shore!

I walked fully to the lagoon again with the second bag, and light now on the second way back to the kayak, I could take plenty of pictures.

Launching into the tiny river was working all right, though I was rather dragging myself along the bushes with my gloved hands than paddling the first 100 meters. The 200 meters across the lake felt like been done with not more than ten strong paddling strokes, when I had to get out again to drag the kayak over a grassy spot into another tiny river section. I could not really walk there, but half braced on the kayak, I could push the boat through the wetland grass.

Fortunately, nowhere on the whole path were really swampy holes like yesterday where I really was in trouble. I was sinking here and there close to the knee, but I always felt some grass or plants underneath, no deep sucking mud.

The most tricky part was dragging the kayak over the fallen tree, which may be easier with the water on a higher level. But I had to do it on land! My god, this is a *sea kayak*, not a bush climbing device! It looked ridiculous half dragged on. And don’t even think with those two gear bags I already carried along to the lagoon my boat was empty and light weight…I’d have to carry another two bags to have it empty! But it was working all right with dragging.

I just strained my butt nerve again on one heavy pull…bad luck. Yesterday night, I had already heavy cramps in the inside of the other legs, which I’m sometimes getting after a super human heavy paddling day like on unsuccessful crossing to Isla Hornos. You are lying on your back stretched out, and just raising and bending the leg makes it cramp painfully, which is hard to shake, stretch or massage lose again….I think it must have come from yesterday’s hard work to pull that same leg out of the dangerous swamp hole…

But the highlight of the dragging the kayak over the whole way like in a bad slapstick movie came with the attempt of a last strong pull of the boat over a big tree into the lagoon – the toggle rope eventually broke, and I was flying in a high curve right with my backside on the (luckily) sand! Well…job done. 🙂

I usually drag my boat not on the toggle only, but I use my bow line attached to a (fortunately well glued in) fitting, leading in a loop to the toggle line, that the stress in divided onto both spots. In this way, I had dragged my boat already over all the low tide section in Argentina.

So far, neither toggle rope nor bow line broke or either of them had to be replaced…but it was obviously high time  now, not only to replace the toggle rope, but to check out my bow line and to cut out two worn sections at the beginning and at the end. It is the same rope I’m attaching myself to the kayak in big seas!

Arriving luckily with all gear and the boat in the lagoon shore at a small river mouth, I didn’t feel like instantly packing the kayak and to paddle a bit…it was quite blowing from the north over the lagoon, I was well worn out on both legs and shoulders, plus myself, the kayak and the gear was wet and muddy and full of small twigs, leaves and spiders allover… time for a big clean up!

The river water came just handy for cleaning body and gear. It took me about three and a half hours for that job, including small repairs. But as the water was quite teal colored, for drinking, I opted to melt a handy piece of glacier ice I was picking from the lagoon shore in my cook pot! Quite funny…to drink millions of years old water…but it is crystal clear, good sweet water! Maybe not for drinking on the long run…but after reaching the lagoon the first time I decided to dump all my drinking water in favour of getting lighter…I would have made do with the teal colour water. But I just paddled on the same water…

Today’s second section of this stupid portage took me five hours, and yesterday’s two hours makes 8 hours for covering exactly 1,81 km of ground…a very poor result! But the last Fjord land section should be the easier one…I hope!

Now, being inside the tent, clean,warm and dry, it is thundering and raining after actually a quite sunny and windy afternoon good for drying the gear…but good I’m done now for the day!

About 579 km left direct line to Puerto Montt, where I’m getting hosted by the parents of Meike Michaliik. Meike is a very frequent blog reader and -commenter, and offered her help. Thanks for that! Her parents, with German roots, own a restaurant named “Kiel”, my birth town! It is conveniently lying not in Puerto Montt directly, which is a bit of a detour paddling into the bay, but it is in Chincui located a few km left of Puerto Montt. My last section of the first leg will start there!