Patagonia & Torres Del Paine

We arrived yesterday from our 32 day trip through the south of Chile. Needless to say, it was spectacular! We visited 4 national parks and at least a dozen cities & towns. Here is the first of our entries; we’ll be posting more in the coming weeks!

On Jan 15^th we flew to Punta Arenas, the capital of the Magallanes region (the region furthest south), which sits on the Straits of Magellan. From there we traveled 4 hours north by bus to Puerto Natales, capital of the Ultima Esperanza region as well as the gateway to the Torres Del Paine national park.

Patagonia map

Here is a shot from town of the mountains across the Ultima Esperanza sound set against a typical Patagonian skyscape. Beautiful!

We planned to hike the “W” circuit, a popular trekking excursion that takes you through many of the Torres del Paine highlights. After 2 days of preparations we bussed to the park to begin our 6 day 5 night trek.

Day 1- A view of the iconic cuernos (horns) from the ferry that crosses Lago Pehoe on the way in to the park.

Here is Jack at the beginning of the “W”.

A very windy 4 hour hike brought us from Lago Pehoe to Lago Grey, where we camped along side the lake, at the base of the massive Glacier Grey. This was one of our first views of the glacier spilling into the lake from the trail below.

Day 2- The next day we hiked an hour to the glacier viewpoint where some trail mates snapped this photo.

Afterwards we hiked back down to Lago Pehoe (5 hours) where we decided to camp for the night due to Jo’s blisters and our mutual exhaustion.

Day 3- The next day we headed off to the middle of the “W”, the Valle Frances where we set up camp (2 hours). We took this photo of the cuernos along the way.

After setting up camp we hiked 2 1/2 hours to the scenic upper Valley Frances. We spent the better part of an hour just watching snow tumble down from the mountain and enjoying its thunderous sound, bearing witness to multiple avalanches.

Day 4- The next day’s hike (2 hours) brought us to Campamento Cuernos, set between a rushing river and the milky blue Lago Nordenskjold.

There we took the opportunity to relax, enjoy the scenery and take advantage of the great weather. We also nabbed the best campsite! Here is Jack relaxing on the branches of our own personal recliner.

Jo on the bridge at Campamento Cuernos.

Day 5- The last leg of the “W”, and what most people come to the park for, the view of the Torres Del Paine themselves. Fighting powerful wind gusts and steep trails we made our way to the end of Lago Nordenskjold and then up to the Valle Ascencio (6 hours).

We set up camp at Campamento Torres and took a much needed nap. We had planned to climb to see the Torres at sunrise the next morning but due to beautiful sunny skies and the unpredictability of Patagonia weather we decided to make the trip that night. After an hour of vertical boulder scrambling we got our chance to see the Torres. Check out Jo on the “trail” in this picture, our campsite is in the patch of green way below.

When we arrived we were richly rewarded. The rugged mountains on right and left framed the Torres above a pristine lake, which was surrounded by a Mars-like landscape. Here we are in front of the Torres.

Day 6- Hiked out of Valle Ascencio to the end of our journey (2 ½ hours). Ice cream in a cup and a cold soda were well worth the inflated price at the park's convenience store!

While waiting for the bus we passed the time watching the guanacos, the llama’s wild Patagonian cousins who live on the flatlands around the park.

Here we are on the bus ride back to Puerto Natales.

Back in Puerto Natales we pigged out on a huge seafood dinner! Yum!


Chilean Paila Marina (fisherman's stew) not to be confused with the Spanish Paella, a little scary but really good!