We had an average start that morning after breakfast.  We were dry, but skies were such that we started in rain gear and wore it most of the day. Within 15 minutes of leaving the campsite we heard and then saw the splash of Glacier Grey calving.  It sounded like thunder and the resulting waves quickly carried the relatively small bits of ice out into the lake. It was pretty darn cool.  We also loved seeing the rainbow hanging over the glacier and out onto the lake.  It was the first of 3 we saw on the circuit.  We figure they must be pretty common in a place where it can be cloudy, wet and sunny all at the same time.

An hour from Guardas is a lookout point along a cove.  We went down to the waters edge where a lot of small icebergs floated and collected.  Katie seriously contemplated stripping down in order to stand on an iceberg chunk.  They weren´t so stable though and it would have been an icy plunge to get there... Rather than be miserable the next four hours, Katie opted for the warmer, safer option of the ground.

From the cove to Pehoe took us about 4 hours - starting with a steep climb up and out.  The views from the top were pretty good given the wind and rain.  It was the only point from which we saw the three different points of the glacier come down to the lake.  Towards the top we looked back and could see the storms coming.  We moved faster trying to beat the storm than at any other time on the trek.  We were lucky in that it skirted us for the first couple hours.  The final hour down to Pehoe was pretty wet.

We passed a small glacial lake before dropping into the final valley- from which we saw the first signs of Pehoe´s turquoise waters.  Most of the lakes we had seen up until this point were fairly milky grey - so this one really stood out.

The Pehoe campground is a popular spot for tourists hiking the ¨w¨or other day hikers and was packed!  Despite the strong wind and rain there were 80+ tents that night.  Our views were minimal at best.  We briefly (30 seconds) saw part of the massif before it disappeared into the clouds.  Never to be seen again by us.

We were happy to have arranged for food here and spent a couple warm hours in the cafeteria.  Sleep that night was pretty poor given the incredible winds.  They were so strong that they tore the wooden directional signs off their posts.  And before we fell asleep that night, we heard a few frustrated explicatives as fellow campers went running for their tents.  Not all 80+ made it through the night.