Refugio Lopez

After our Easter celebration

we headed back out to Llao Llao with our backpacks and hiked into Refugio Lopez (refugios are mountain huts, usually with bunks and food service). Lopez is one of the largest, and more importantly it is pink! It was a 7km hike in but a huge steep uphill (total of 800 meters elevation gain). The kids did great hiking up in the heat on lots of loose dirt and rocks. I was tired so I can only imagine how they felt! We were super lucky and it was almost empty. The hut is 3 stories and can sleep 100 but only 6 other people were staying there so we had a bunk room to ourselves. It is above tree level with superb views over the lake and spectacular rocky peaks towering over head. We arrived at around 5 and the kids had a renewal of energy when they saw the fun rocks to climb around on. We cooked pasta for the kids and ordered Pailla !! from the hutkeeper. The other guests were from Poland, Canada and England so the kids were happy to speak english with other people. The harvest moon over the peaks was amazing! After a moderately good nights sleep we woke up and played around on the rocks and at the hut until lunch. I scrambled up to the peak and then the kids came part way up with Dave to meet me on the way down. The hike down was very speedy and obviously much easier than coming up! Kids said it was the coolest thing ever and were very proud. Everyone we encountered were very impressed that they had hiked the whole way. We ran into a guide who said he had never seen a 4 year old up there before which made cass very proud!!