Torres del Paine
Photos of the trek. I offer the link at the beginning since I am no poet and will not be able to do justice to the scenery and the trek. I ran out of adjectives to describe the scenery by the second day of the hike!
Backpack contents: A pair of trousers, a shirt and thermals, tins of tuna, packages of pasta, salami, crackers, apples and a lot of dried fruits and nuts. Add to it a tent, a mat, and a sleeping bag. My first camping experience would see me sleep in a tent for the first time in my life, forsake a shower for 5 days, quite a hard thing for someone accustomed to a couple of showers a day. Food is all about survival: pasta, tuna, crackers, salami, apples and dried fruits and nuts. The return to civilisation never tasted sweeter.
Day 86, Wed Nov 24 Torres del Paine National Park
While Patagonia is a popular destination for tourists for its abundant natural beauty, it is also well-known for the unpredictable weather. As someone put it, one could have all 4 seasons within an hour. All of us were hoping for 5 days of good weather, as it could otherwise make it 5 cold and extremely long days. A cloudy day would also mean one would miss some of the views.
Woke up the morning to gale-like winds. Shower, breakfast at 6:30, final check and into the bus at 07:00. We arrive at administration, pay our 15000 Chilean peso entrance fee and then it is a wait for the catamaran to Paine Grande. The wind makes walking difficult and I was almost scared I would get blown away at times. Bright and sunny and afforded some stunning views otherwise.
The catamaran is late by 30 minutes, presumably due to the winds. The first day of the W is the hike to Grey from Paine Grande. The plan is to camp at Refugio Grey (camping fee 3500 Chilean pesos)for the night.
The backpack weighs well over a quarter of my weight and I find it hard going. I was worried after a while that I might not be able to finish the trek. However, more glorious views, some tough spots of fairly slow hiking and about 4.5 hours, we make it to Mirador Glacier Grey, a viewpoint over Glacier Grey. Refugio Lago Grey is but 5 minutes away. The folks at Refugio Grey are extremely friendly and welcoming. Refugio Lago grey is on a sandy beach by Lago Grey (lake grey). Huge blocks of ice, which dropped off from the glacier, float on the lake, as if to warn anyone foolish enough to fancy a dip.
Setting up tent first time on my own, cooking dinner over a portable gas stove in the cold and wind, was quite the experience. But one couldnt but feel happy after the views and the hike. The water at the wash basin is cold, but it is my turn to clean the dishes.
Off to bed at 10, after playing cards at the refugio and warming ourselves at the fire. One is not allowed to make camp-fires, with good reason, as the carelessness by some camper caused a part of the park to be burned down a few years ago.
Day 87, Thu Nov 25 Torres del Paine
Woke up early, as is my norm and woke everyone up. I would continue to act as alarm clock for the group over the next 4 mornings.
Porridge for breakfast and we are off again. Back to Paine Grande before heading over to Campamento Italiano, a free camping site. I always find hiking downhill harder than hiking uphill. It is slow go for me, but we still make it to Refugio Grande for lunch at noon. Aftera hearty lunch of crackers, salami and apple, we are off to Italiano. This stretch proves to be beautiful again, as we are fortunate enough to have another sunny, clear day. I feel it hard going still, but feel that my body is getting used to carrying such weight around and it seems a little easier than the first day.
Arrival at C Italiano in about 3 hours. It is a decent camping group out in the woods, surrounded by big trees. The facilities are a bit minimal, but they do have a few toilets and a place to cook, sheltered from the elements.
Set up camp, cook, eat and wait for the rest of the Navimag crowd, the ones who opted for the 3 day hike. It is cold and we all call it a day at 21:00.
It rained quite hard at night. I woke up a few times during the night due to the wind and the rain. But, luckily, the weather gods smiled again and the rain stopped around 04:00 or 05:00.
Day 88, Fri Nov 26 Torres del Paine
Breakfast of champions again: porridge and some hot water. But we are all quite looking forward to it as the hike to Campamento Britanico along Valle the Frances will be without a backpack. I felt quite buoyant, almost quite literally. It was a bit cloudy when we started, but the views again were stupendous.
A 6 hour roundtrip, including a stop for lunch and waiting for members of the group who lost their way and followed an alternate trail that led to nowhere. Back to to Campamento Italiano, take down tent, and off to Refugio Cuernos. We also hit by snow for about 30 minutes. It was cloudy on the hike back to Italiano, but cleared up soon enough to make the hike to refugio Cuernos quite enjoyable, even with the backpack back on.
It is a 2.5 hour hike to Cuernos, but it was for me the roughest section, with stones on the trail that made it hard to walk, steep sections going downhill. I was happy to make it to camp. There were even a couple of hearty souls who managed a dip in Lago Nordenskljöld, a beautiful aquamarine lake, but awfully cold.
Refugio Curenos costs more than Grey (5000 Chilean pesos), but the facilities are poorer than Grey and the service bad. It didn’t help that the camping ground was a bit rocky and that we were sharing space with horses. The camping ground was crowded as it is the meeting point of all the different alternates that one has for hiking Torres del Paine.
Off to bed surrounded by a lake on one side and gorgeous views of mountains on 3 sides!
Day 89, Sat Nov 27 Torres del Paine
This would prove to be the best day of the trek for me. My body having accustomed to the weight, I was quite able to take off at my normal walking pace. Most of the trail was uphill in the hills to Campamento Torres. I was off at a fairly frantic pace, leading the pack for the first time. The weather was gorgeously sunny, making most of us shed layers, and the views the best of the trek.
We make good time and get to Camp Torres in 6 hours, passing Camp Chileno on the way. Set up camp and then head up to mirador Torres, scrambling over rocks as the trail is quite steep in places. The view at the end of the tough hike is well worth the 4 days of carrying 15-20 kgs.
We head to bed early as it would need an early start to the day to catch the dance of colours on the torres during sunrise.
Day 90, Sun Nov 28 Torres del Paine
Wake up at 04:30 and hike up. Luckily the moon lights the trail. It is bitterly cold. The towers look beautiful, bathed in the moonlight, but wrapped up in sleeping bags as we are, we still cant wait for the sun to rise. We get about half an hour of sunrise before it turns cloudy. We leave the mirador around 06:30 to rush back to camp. Huge dark clouds loom threateningly over us. Fortunately, it doesnt start raining till we start walking. The wind makes parts of the hike quite difficult and treacherous. One could only feel sorry for the folks who were starting their trek.
Hosteria Torres in 2 hours and end up waiting for the bus to Laguna Amarga for a few hours at the posh hotel. The horde of backpckers in the lobby of a hotel which costs a few hundred dollars per night causes consternation to the folks whowork there. After a few hours of waitng and a 2 hour bus ride, it is back to Puerto Natales around 16:30.
Ah, the delights of civilisation. A loong shower, dinner with the group and a bed. Well, rather, a sofa since the hostel was fully booked. A horde of ill-prepare American girls packing at midnight cannot keep me awake!
I could only feel fortunate that while we faced the whole spectrum of Patagonian weather, we had great weather for most of the trek and that we only had to trek in the rain for 2 hours on the last day. It would have been quite depressing to have to hike in the cold, being wet and unable to see the glorious canvas on display.
I decide that I will buy camping gear and make use of what Seattle has to offer when I finally get back home- which is, hopefully, not for quite some time!
Tags: Travel
Damu