In which we are actually inside the Torres del Paine national park.

here, we drive the main road to the other end, and back. mainly we’re scouting for a place to sleep, to catch optimal sunrise, and also seeing how long the road would take, as we’re planning to do a hike starting at the other end the next day.


A rainbow, in one of the few flat parts of the park.


Highly variable weather this day.


Serious guanaco is serious.


This is the sort of thing we flew to South America for.


Quarter moon over the park.


Just past the park entrance station.


The weather worsens as we take the road to Glaciar Grey. At this point, we’re contemplating a 1.2-mile long hike down to the glacier, but the weather has other ideas. We change our plan a lot.


At one point, we had thought that was one of the Torres (the other famous structure of the park) but then realized it was just Mount Middle Finger, with corresponding weather.


We turn around when the rain gets too intense, thinking we can come back to Glaciar Grey later. On the way out, a rainbow appears.


Purple flowers.


The Cuernos are temporarily hidden by clouds.


Clouds in all directions – but the sun is shining where we are.


Will the Cuernos reappear?


Same view, different camera.


Appropriate sign.


About the closest view we get of the Cuernos.


A bit of a terrain change as we pass the Cuernos.


Are the clouds clearing momentarily?


Side view of the Cuernos.


Another from the same viewpoint.


Martian settings chosen for this IR photo.


Add the guanaco to the list of creatures which are not transparent in infrared.


The sky is clearing in the distance.


I’m not sure how I managed to make this photo look like an old Kodachrome print.


Reverse Martian colors? Check.


We decide the clouds are clearest to the west. So we plan to head back that way after making sure that the starting spot for our hike does indeed exist.


Switching the fisheye to the IR camera for a moment.


And one from Dan, from generally the same place.


Back through the mountains we go.


An infrared photo with the red and blue channels unswapped.


Behold, the sun is out.


A very different scene than on the way in.


Good timing.


A silhouetted tree.


Close-up of one of the peaks.


No more light on the Cuernos. We got about a 10 minute sunset interval, and made the most of it.


The sky remains red a while longer.


A view out the sunroof. It was quite windy so we stayed in the car. This is a fisheye shot, converted approximately to cylindrical in Photoshop – thus the slightly wavy hills.


Sunset in infrared.


Same tree, just a bit later.


One last one for the night.