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Published: March 7th 2013
Torres del Paine park
First view of the "Paine horns"Following our break in El Calafate we headed west to Chile and the famous Torres del Paine national park. We got picked up by our bus at 5am. The trip across the border was loaded with vast arid landscapes speckled with occasional sitings of rhea (large ostrich like birds) and guancos (wild llamas).
After ~6 hrs of driving with occasional bathroom breaks and view stops (one of which we saw the "devil horns", a pair of brown/grey peaks with black tips), we finally reached our destination...the Torres del Paine National Park. Due to many years of consulting, we have become lodging snobs and choose to stay at the Las Torres hotel (instead of camping!). The hotel is perfectly situated for the 9km Torres del Paine hike and makes for a great starting point.
The next day we started our "W" circuit hike by going up to see the base of the Torres del Paine. Paine orginally meant blue in the native language but after having done the hike itself, I believe the literal english translation of "holy s***...this hurts" fits better. However, the view at the end with the stone towers, waterfalls, and lake was phenomenal. Completely worth the
7 hr hike, the shin splints, and the blisters. That night (and the following couple) we slept well
The next day we bid adeau to the comfort of the hotel started the next leg of the W - French Valley trail. The hike to the trail was gradual with the occasional "Tree Cemetaries" as Cheri described the expanses of dried out/burned tree farms and the many ricketty bridges that look to have been constructed out of lincoln logs by 4th graders back in the 1980s. The hike through the actual French Valley itself though was pretty amazing. We hiked up a steep incline, through thick forests alongside a rushing river of glacier run off. ~1 hr in we started hearing the thunderous drops we now associated with the mini-avalanches caused by snow dropping off along the mountain. At the top we were rewarded with a beautiful panoramic view of the mountain, the hanging glaciers, and close up views of the "devil horns"
The final leg of the trip was a hike up to the Grey glacier to catch a boat down the Lago Grey (Grey Lake) to finish our trek. Overall this was the least intense of the
Torres del Paine park
Yeah, pretty excited :-) hikes, but still gorgeous and offered us views of lakes filled with mini icebergs. At the end of the trail we caught the boat and did a close up tour of the glacier. The glacier was impressive but not as awe inspiring as the Perito Moreno we saw in El Calafate!
Upon completion of the boat ride we headed to Puerto Natales where we gorged ourselfs on pizza, pasta, and hot showers (outside of the Hotel Torres del Paine, the refugios and lodges had less than impressive showers). The next day we took a bus further south to Punta Arenas, from where we will board our flight back to San Francisco!
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