Torres Del Paine

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From Puerto Natales we made our preparations to enter Chile's principal national park - Torres Del Paine, with the intentions of trekking the 'W' which should take us five days to complete. After taking note of various recommendations, we decided to enter the park via the river system.

Setting off early the next morning we board a tourist boat on the Rio Serrano and sail through the nearby narrow fjords spotting sea lion colonies, bird life and the stunning scenery that we have become accustomed to in Patagonia. As the boat sailed into the Parque Nacional Bernado O'Higgins it made stops at the steep glaciers of Seranno and Balmaceda. After the morning cruise we were ready to make our passage into the park. The final 90 minutes or so would be spent in a Zodiac. As the driver opened out the twin outboards this dinghy and driver put to shame the skills, speed and fun factor of the cruise ship we had left over a week ago. As the rivers we travelled through narrowed, the driver turned the boat through tight turns at speed, passing waterfalls along the way. Of course the weather had to have something to say - it chucked it down for almost the entire journey. It was by far the best way to enter the park rather than sitting on a bus - the speedy Zodiac was the highlight.

After entering the park and making our way to the campsite we pitched our brand new 'expedition' tent. A two-man tent that really only had room for one and a cat, let alone two with rucksacks.....i was starting to wish i hadn't been so stubborn about saving 500g of weight and had gone with Cecilia's preference of the slightly larger three-man option. Oh well - it didn't dampen our levels of anticipation about our pending hike of one of the park's famous famous trekking routes - the W.

Over the next four days we walked 79km of trails maxed out at an altitude of 1165m and bottomed out at 125m. We camped in some of the more obscure sites that I've been to but, above all, were left yet again truly amazed by the beauty, harshness and tranquility of nature.

The days were tough, walking through well-marked, visible trails, over gushing rivers (stepping stones!), up flowing streams, over valley ridges, through forests with ankle-deep mud trails - coupled with the odd promiscuous tree root waiting to trip the next heavy-laden trekker. Around each corner laid the next challenge, but with each thigh-straining challenge came the rewards of the next awe-inspiring panorama.

Personal highlights had to be the treks along Lago Grey to superb Glacier Grey and the climb up the French Valley. Both had different contrasting views and both left me breathless - although the breathlessness probably came from the 45mins I spent climbing up the waterfall-washed boulder fields to get to the lookout points.....

As we battled the driving rain and Patagonian winds one minute, literally the next the clouds would break, the sun out peer out and instantly light up majestically turquoise blue lakes, snow-drenched mountain ranges, sweeping emerald green hills and crawling glaciers emerging from far into the horizon.

We navigated from the not-so accurate maps to find the colourful flora on display in the lowlands underneath the gaze of glacier-carved mountains which give the impression of strangely formed rocks and display their own unique colouring from the different layers of rock type present.

The evenings were spent sharing the day's experiences with fellow trekkers. Some were continuing on from the W to do the whole 'curcuto' giving me itchy feet to join them. But thats another 5 days and a snow-capped mountain pass to tackle - time and equipment on that one!

After the sense of achievement set in on the final leg of the hike we left the inspiring park behind and the reward of showers and comfortable, warm (flat!) bedding awaited us. Never has a hot chocolate aboard a catamaran tasted so good!

As Grande Cerro disappeared into the distance so did the circuto - maybe next year.

Full Photos on Flickr

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