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After an exhausting night, and 10 mile hike the day before, we did not think we'd make the 15 mile round trip - so we packed very light, for a half hike (7 miles) - where we could see the glacier and make it back.
We caught a glimpse of a few pieces of the glacier which had cracked off and floated downstream - they had that beautiful blue hue to them which got us excited to trek on. Ridge after ridge, we hoped to see the glacier - instead just another ridge! We then saw a rainbow ahead - beautiful as it is, a bad sign of what awaited ahead. We doubled our efforts, and on the next ridge, we were happy to see the glacier ahead. It was incredibly large - bigger than we had expected (although farther than I hoped for :). The rainbow went right into the center of it (I was tempted to dig for the gold :). We spent some time taking in the view, caught some pics, and decided it was time to head back.
When we arrived in Puerto Natales, we immediately got some gourmet pizza (wood oven!), as we had planned a few days before. It tasted incredible! Jaimie even had a piece of my bacon - as we were very protein deprived :).
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How to describe a night of Chilean torture. The winds did not die down last night. We could hear the winds barrel down the side of the mountain through the trees - it was a screeching howl for about 15 seconds and then a silence while the wind made its way towards the tent. A few seconds later, the tent would vigourously shake, compressing to the point where it rubbed against our faces. This repeated every half minute for 8 hours. At some point, due to complete exhaustion, our bodies slipped into sleep only to be awaken minutes later with the tent brushing against us. At 6:30 am, we gave up, and decided to make an attempt for Glacier Grey. We packed and got ready - and were off by 7:15 am. 
The winds continued to challenge our determination to make this final hike. As we hiked through the valley between tall ridges, the wind howled down from the peaks. At some points, it was a challenge to walk into the wind - I would estimate the speed ~60-80 mph wind gusts - hurricane strength. I wasn't surprised to see no one else on the trail. 
After an hour into our return, we finally started seeing people on the trail - I guess they gave up on waiting out the winds (the wind had not let up though!). We had PB&J lunch and packed our campsite, ready for the noon catamaran across Lago Pehoe. As we rode, we once again joined in our favorite part of enjoying some hot chocolate on the ride - a big perk for the expensive ride :). As I was riding on top to catch a picture of the falls we had seen on the outbound trip, a huge piece of the glacier broke off of the mountain side - and I captured the plume from the impact. The glaciers break off each day - we have heard you can see the receding effects - I wonder if this is a result of global warming - and the ozone issues here. 
After our catamaran ride, we journeyed onwards to our 4 hour ride back to Puerto Natales. Unfortunately, the return ride was not as nice as the trip out - as it seemed everyone had very smelly shoes & bodies - the southern sun shined bright onto the bus, heating up the cabin with no circulation. I can almost smell the stench while I recall :) - it was bad!
We were excited to spend a night in the nice hotel there, Hotel Australis - but they were sold out (our reservation was for Friday). We found a few other hotels nearby but they were sold out too! The next hotel, Hotel Glaciers, had a room. We found the price ridiculous for the quality of the room, but were tired with the full packs and no sleep, along with the 4 hour ride. We settled for the room and were ready for bed pretty quickly. Despite having dinner at 5:30 pm, we were hungry again!! We went out next door for salmon and king crab (our second dinner) at 10 pm (which seemed to be the real dinner time anyways :) .. It was a good way to end the long day!