Torres del Paine National Park

After spending ten days in Argentinian Patagonia we crossed the border back into Chile heading to the town of Puerto Natales. Here we prepared for our upcoming 5-day trek in the Torres del Paine National Park. The park is possibly the most famous national park on the continent and draws thousands of visitors from all over the world to gaze upon its natural wonders. We had planned to hike the W-trek, a route into the three main valleys in the park and the most popular route. We had booked our camping sites weeks in advance due to the popularity of the trek at this time of year. In Puerto Natales we met up with Susanne and Chris, fellow travellers we had first met in Ecuador, to hike together. We hired sleeping bags, a stove, cooking pot and a tent from the Erratic Rock Base Camp in the town. We had to practise putting up our tent in the plaza opposite the shop to prove we knew what we were doing. It was a small trekking tent and very light, just large enough for 2 of us to squeeze into with our bags. Food for the trip consisted of anything lightweight and that only need hot water for cooking. Porridge, rice, pasta, tortilla wraps, Nutella, tins of tuna, many cereals bars, salted peanuts and some chocolate. Chris decided to decant 2 bottles of wine into a plastic bottle for a treat on our first night! Emptying most of our belongings into a big sack to leave behind at the hostel, we carefully packed our backpacks with everything needed to survive 5 days. After a big last meal of cottage pie we were ready. It rained very heavily during the time we were preparing for the trek and we hoping it would stop so we didn't have to hike for 5 days in the rain!

Our food for 5 days

To get to the start point of the trek we first had to catch a bus to the national park entrance taking about 2 hours. Here we paid our entrance fee and watched a video about the rules of the park. Not having an open fire or cooking outside of designated areas was the most important. A fire started by a careless camper in 2011 burnt 40,000acres of the park, causing huge environmental damage. Next we hopped onto a catamaran to carry us across the lake to the starting point at Paine Grande. The water was an amazing turquoise colour and so clear as it was all glacier melt water.

Ready to begin

The starting point is at the bottom of the left hand stalk of the 'W' and our first day's walk was up to the top of that stalk before trekking the whole letter over the proceeding 4 days. We finally got going just before noon and hiked 11km over a rocky hillside to get to Glacier Grey.  Unfortunately most of the trees that used to cover the hillside here are burnt black and have not began to grow back following the fire, so it looks quite barren and lifeless. It took a while to get used to hiking with a heavy pack on, but after much adjusting of straps we got into our stride.Fiona and I had purchased trekking poles (we found them really useful on the Inca Trail) and they certainly made climbing and descending a bit easier. After putting up our tents we walked down to the edge of the lake to see the glacier itself.

Glacier Grey

On the second morning we left our bags at the campsite and hiked an hour further along the trail to see the glacier from above. The terrain here was very different from the day before as we walked through a thick forest of birch trees and moss covered rocks. There were also a couple of hanging rope bridges crossing ravines. Back at the campsite we had our lunch then did the opposite hike of day one back to Paine Grande campsite. This campsite was really good and included an indoor area for cooking and eating, which had amazing views of the peaks and lake at sunset. By this point we had heard from the park rangers that one of the rope bridges we were to cross the next day and been taken out of service due to being hit by a falling tree. This meant completing the 'W' via the usual route was now impossible, but we still had reservations for a campsite not far past the damaged bridge. We would have to come up with a new plan.

Paine Grande campsite

We caught the catamaran back across the lake, then a bus to the park entrance, then another shuttle bus to the other side of the 'W' on the third morning. This was time consuming and frustrating as we really wanted to be walking again. We would now be hiking an 'I' and a 'V' that weren't joined together.

View from the catamaran

Eventually we started walking at 3pm and walked for 6hrs to our campsite. It was a really hot afternoon and we frequently stopped at mountain streams to fill up our water bottles. The scenery was very different on this side from the first two days. We started walking through open meadows, then low bushes and eventually even along a pebble beach by the lake. This lake didn't have a glacier at it's source so was a beautiful deep blue colour rather than the turquoise of the glacier lakes. Our campsite for the third night was on a tree covered hillside above the lake. Due to lack of flat ground for tents, small wooden platforms had been erected amongst the trees, so we camped on them.

Hiking 6hrs with a heavy back pack is not enough of a challenge for Chris

Our hike started early on the fourth day as we had a long way to go. We hiked back along the way we had come the afternoon before, before turning off to head up towards the famous towers from where the park gets its name. It was very hot again and we made several stops to rest and cool down in the shade. Chris decided the scenery looked like it was from Lord Of The Rings and spent significant parts of the walk humming the theme tune! We also used the hike to learn some Norwegian, with Chris supplying us with 'Norwegian Word of the Day'. After arriving at our campsite in the late afternoon, we had a dinner of pasta before hiking up the last 1hrs steep climb to look out over the lake and towers at sunset. The view was incredible; the towers rose as huge pillars of rock from the lake which was glistening in the fading light. Looking over this amazing view I proposed to Fiona. Fortunately she said 'yes'!!!! We are both happy and very excited.

Las Torres Mirador

On the final day, we hiked back down to Las Torres hotel before lunch to catch our bus back to Puerto Natales. Back in town we went out for a meal of steak, grilled lamb and red wine to celebrate. Torres del Paine has a reputation for going through all seasons of weather in one day so we had packed accordingly. However we had been very lucky, experiencing only a light drizzle on the second day and mostly hiking in glorious sunshine. The whole trek was an amazing experience and one that we will never forget. We were very fortunate to be able to share it with Chris and Susanne who made it even more fun.