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Published: October 27th 2010
Having arrived in Puerto Natales on the Navimag Ferry, there was no other reason to hang around in the windswept city besides a visit to the internationally renowned Torres del Paine National Park. And it was well worth the visit - stunningly beautiful, in spite of the erratic weather conditions. Before we arrived at the point where you pay the entrance fee (15,000 pesos or US$30), the fields surrounding the road were jammed with guanacos - the wild, smaller relative of the llama, as well as the odd ñandu (rhea) or two. Torres del Paine translates as Towers of Blue - the most famous attraction in the park are these very towers, which are mountains of granite reaching over 2000m, independent from the Andes, which are made up of granite as well as sedimentary rock, which is why the tops of the towers are a different colour. The towers are not blue, but the Paine River and the many lakes definitely are - heavily coloured by minerals. As the park is 2 hours away from Puerto Natales, day trips are quite long and expensive. I opted for the popular “W” hike, which is a 4-5 day trek passing many of
the parks’ most beautiful attractions, and is roughly in the shape of a W. A day after arriving in Puerto Natales, I took the morning bus to the park, loaded with camping gear and 5 days of supplies. Instead of starting the W on the first day, which would require a catamaran ride across one of the many lakes in the park, I decided to do an extra day walking on trails around the lake, which are much quieter than the busy W. I was dropped off at the catamaran dock on Lake Pehoé, which is a stunningly blue lake surrounded by snow peaks. Unfortunately the weather was rather fickle, with light but persistent rain for a large part of the day. Close to the lake is one of the many impressive waterfalls in the park, Salto Grande, and 4km past here was a viewpoint looking towards Los Cuernos (The Horns), which are part of the towers. Unfortunately it was so cloudy I could barely make out their outline. I proceeded by walking along the shore of Lake Pehoé and then along the Rio Paine, stopping at different view points along the way, and then at another waterfall, Salto Chico,
where I also saw a very tame Patagonian fox. I was pretty much walking along the gravel road along the side of the lake and river for most of the afternoon, before taking a hiking trail through open land where there were hundreds of birds (mostly ibis and a type of goose) before reaching my camping ground just before sunset. Camping is only allowed in specific sites, of which there are not many (not that many free ones at least), so their position really dictated my route throughout the 5 days.
The first night was bitterly cold, mostly because the campsite was very open so the wind was a big problem. As it had rained more or less all night, the path the next morning was extremely muddy and flooded in place, so it took a lot longer than I had anticipated. I eventually arrived at the west shore of Lake Pehoe, where the catamaran from the other side of the lake docks, and from where I joined the main W route. The sun emerged for a brief time, lighting up the blue Lake Pehoe and the snowy peak behind, but before long it was cloudy and drizzling once
again. From Lake Pehoe, the trail heads to another lake, Lake Grey, and eventually to the Grey Glacier. This walk was also quite difficult, only because of all of the mud and flooded sections. The lake, with icebergs the size of houses floating around, was undeniably beautiful, but the wind along the whole lakeside was incredibly strong, which also made the walk a bit of a challenge. At the end of the lake is the Grey Glacier - most people don’t get past the refuge close to the face, but I headed to a free campsite another 90 minutes past this, and from here the views, looking down over the face and the gigantic field of ice behind it, was definitely more impressive. An hour past this campsite and the path was filled with snow (waist deep), but this was past the end of the W route so not an issue for me.
On the third day, I headed back along the path past Lake Grey and back to Lake Pehoe, from where I continued past Lake Skottsberg to the base of the French Valley and the Horns themselves. The weather was actually quite good, so I managed to
Geese
Quite a few of these, and always in pairs. If the male dies, the female finds a new mate; if the female dies, the male will die as well.get clear views of the Horns for the first time. I set up camp at a busy campsite at the base of the French Valley, before clambering over boulders to head towards the French Glacier, along the path constituting the central stalk of the W. I didn’t have time to make it to the end of the trail, where there’s a viewpoint looking across to the towers, but the views of the French Glacier half way up still made the walk worth while. I was lucky enough to see an avalanche whilst there as well. Plus it was so much easier walking this section without my heavy backpack!
Day 4 was the longest day, so I started well before sunrise. From the campsite in the French Valley, the path continued through woodlands along Lake Nordenskjold, and for the first time there was virtually no wind, so I was able to go from 6 layers of clothing down to a mere 3. As with all the paths, it was constantly climbing and descending, with flat terrain being somewhat rare. This path led all the way to the bottom right-hand corner of the W, but there was a shortcut signposted (not
on the map) to the top right hand corner of the W, so I took that instead, and this must have cut off 2 hours at least of my walk. This section was very steep uphill though, so hard work. The campsite for the last night was more or less at the end of the trail, close to a viewpoint overlooking the towers. After setting up my tent, I tried to get to this viewpoint, which is a very steep 1 hour climb up from the campsite. Near the top the path became treacherous with snow and ferocious winds; the towers were covered in cloud in any case, making the climb somewhat pointless.
By the time the fifth day arrived, I was quite glad I was near the end of the trek, as I was running low on food and my ankles and knees were shattered. But as the route I took was 118km in total, I think this was to be expected. Lots of people do the trek staying at the refuges on route, which are nowhere near as basic as I thought they would be (the ones I went into felt more like midrange hotels, which explains
why they charge so much), which must make life so much easier, only having to carry a small bag. The fifth day was definitely the best in terms of weather - the sun was shining for almost the entire day, which made a nice change. The walk was downhill nearly all of the way, following the Rio Ascención Valley to the upmarket Las Torres Hotel. This path was the worst for mud, simply because a lot of people hire horses to climb it, which do no end of damage. From the hotel, it was a short hike to the park entrance, from where the buses leave at 2:30 every afternoon, though I made sure I was there in ample time. I was back in Puerto Natales by 4:30pm; I spent the remainder of the day essentially just eating and resting.
The following day I moved on to Punta Arenas, 270km south of Puerto Natales, and the only large city in the far south of Chile. It couldn’t have felt more different from small and bleak Puerto Natales; Punta Arenas by contrast felt like any other Chilean city, with a busy centre, hundreds of shops, grandiose architecture and of course
Patagonian Fox
Waiting by the kitchen door to an upmarket hotel. a lot of people (120,000), making it the largest city in Patagonia, on either side of the border. It’s also the southernmost city in mainland South America, with Cape Froward (the tip of the mainland) not too far down the road. I wanted to spend a couple of days recuperating in the city before moving on to Argentina; there’s very little to do in the city itself. Its main draw is probably the penguin colonies, which I didn’t visit as I’ll be going to larger ones in Argentina.
Along the seafront, the outline of Tierra del Fuego is visible across the Magellan Strait. This is going to be my next stop, and from where the next blog will come.
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