Patagonia: Torres del Paine National Park

More photos from this segment are here.

Last country, last national park, and last hike of our 190-day trip.

We took a 5-hour bus from El Calafate, Argentina to Puerto Natales, Chile, where we stayed a day to stock up on food and get Chilean Pesos. From there, it's just over two hours into Torres del Paine National park.

The W Trek is a popular five day, four night hike through the park. It can be hiked from either direction, and can be done entirely in tents or by staying in Refugios, although they must be booked well in advance during peak season. Since we had all our camping and cooking equipment, we opted for the true backbacking experience.

Here's roughly our route:

Day 1: It was cloudy and rainy at times. A boat took us to the start of our hike at Refugio Paine Grande. Some hikers, who traverse the W in the reverse direction, camp here for a night. We headed up to Refugio Grey, about 4 hours away. 

Even on a cloudy day, the views of Lago Grey were spectacular. You can see the glacier flowing down the lake. The hike, though, was pretty long and tough, especially with our fully-loaded backpacks.

It was raining when we got to the campsite, so we opted to eat in the Refugio that night. The food was surprisingly good! Since it only get dark for a few hours a night this time of the year, we were able to go for a walk after dinner. About 20 minutes away, we got an even better view of the glacier, and found this iceburg floating in the lake.

Day 2: The day starts by back-tracking to where we started yesterday, Refugio Paine Grande. Like most refugios on the trek, it has a small convenience store, a cafeteria, and basic rooms. 

The sun came out for our traverse to Camp Site Italiano! This was a fairly easy, three hour stretch. In general, we found that the walks took us a little longer than what was listed in the guidebooks. Several of the days were very long!

Day 3: We left our backpacks at the campsite to explore Valle Frances this morning. It was a beautiful but windy day. I had my hat on to keep dust out of my hair. This is the view from about halfway up. 

Looking up the valley, there are mountains on all sides.

After picking up our backpacks from the campsite, we headed out for Refugio Cuernos. Most of the walk was along the shore of Lago Nordenskjold. You can see in this picture sheets of water being picked up by the wind. We got some good sprays when we were walking close to the shore. We also didn't realize the importance of picking a sheltered campsite. We choose one with views and ended up with sand everywhere in our tent. Good thing we only have one more camping night left on the trip.

Day 4: This is the view we woke up to this morning. We set out early for another long, and probably the most challenging, day on the trek. 

First, it was five hours of traversing across mostly flat terrain to Hosteria Las Torres. No biggie, just a few river crossings.

The harder part came in the afternoon, when we had to trek up to the Torres Camp Site. Most of this 4-5 hour hike was fairly steep. Thankfully our backpacks are much lighter now. We hiked up so that we can be close the Mirador las Torres the next morning. Watching the sunrise over Torres del Paine (what the park is named after) is supposed to be the highlight of the trek.

Day 5: Our bodies were exhausted by this point. Every muscle was felt worn out. And I was sick of eating crackers, cookies, and chocolates. But we were up by 3am today! Time to catch the famous sunrise at Mirador las Torres!

It was a steep, one hour trek up from our campsite (although I'm pretty sure I was the slowest person on the trail that morning). At 3am and at a higher elevation, it was well below zero degrees celcius. Sadly, at the top, the towers were hidden behind a layer of clouds. This was the clearest view we had - not too bad. 

The way down was so much easier.

We made it to Hotel Las Torres, where we would catch the bus out of the park! We treated ourselves to some beer, pizza, and a (pretty sad) salad with the rest of our Chilean Pesos. This is where you would stay if you didn't want to rough it at all. The hotel offers day hikes and horseback riding in the Park. But then again, why would you spend so much time getting to the remote Torres del Paine National Park if you are not going to spend at least a few days emersed in nature?

After 190 days on the road, this is by far the fittest and darkest that I have ever been in my life. The W trek is not for first time hikers - it requires much more stamina than the Milford Trek in New Zealand. As my first time on a self-sufficient backpacking trip (i.e. carrying our own tent and sleeping bag, food, stove), I really loved the experience! I can't wait to go on more packpacking trips back in the US.