The final day and the highlight hopefully of my 8 day and 150km trek around the Torres del Paine National Park. As I had to be up super early I woke at 2:30am and couldn't get back to sleep and so at 3:30 I was up eating breakfast, drinking hot chocolate and packing my backpack. The sunrise is at 5:45am so the aim is to start walking up to the mirador by about 4:45-5am (takes 45 minutes). I set off in the dark and the light rain and luckily there was only a couple of other people doing the same at this godly hour. The climb started straight away and the accent was very difficult even without a heavy backpack. I had all my warm clothes on and it wasn't long before I started to sweat profusely but I new when I reached the top it would be freezing and I would be thankful for all the layers. My feet unfortunately got wet from the sweat and the blisters started to hurt specially since we were walking over rocks. The accent seemed to go on for hours and get more and more steep with the rocks getting slipperier and slipperier and I was getting more tired. When the towers finally came into view it was an almighty site signifying the completion and the highlight of my trek. Even though it was still dark I could make out the towers and luckily there was not too much fog. I walked down to the lakes edge and found a nice spot to watch as the sun slowly rose and hit the towers creating a laminating effect. Wow what a truly beautiful site and for a few short minutes I could forget about all the difficulties and trials to get here - one of natures wonderful gifts and just a handful of people to enjoy the moment with. I made friends with a Chilean couple and managed to get them to snap a photo of me in front of the towers. I sat in awe of this glorious site and it wouldn't of been more then 20 minutes before a heavy sheet of fog came in and covered both the towers making them impossible to see. I waited for another 30 minutes in the freezing temperatures and then decided I had seen it at its best moment and it was now time to head down. The way down was quicker but still very difficult as it was raining heavily and every rock I stepped on proved to be a challenge. By 7:30 I was back at camp packing my tent, eating a bit of a second breakfast and loaded up ready for the long hike back to the admin office (about 5 hours). It struck me on the way down how tired I was and that this last part was certainly not going to be a walk in the park - going downhill is actually quite a lot harder and requires far more concentration and is usually where people hurt themselfs. I made it to the next campsite; Chileno in good time - rested a bit and then made my way down the steep decent to Hotel Las Torres. 2 hours later after arriving at the hotel I started my long walk back to the Administration office walking on glass with my blisters absolutely killing me. The first car to drive past after about 30 minutes was a Hotel driver and unfortunately couldn't take me however another few kilometers of walking and a bus came past and picked me up. There were no buses for another 5 hours and he was headed back to Puerto Natales now so I was very lucky - however I had to cop the very expensive $17 bus fare. The first thing I did when I got back was buy some avocados, eggs and salad and then head back to my host Gloria's couchsurfing house. The house was full of people with over 20 people staying and so it was hard to relax. I did manage to clean a few things and dry my tent and get a warm shower which was nice. I had to sleep on the couch in the living room which wasn't all that bad and by midnight I was passed out while the rest of the surfers went out to party.