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Published: April 17th 2008
Puerto Natales Day 5 we boarded the bus from El Calafate to Puerto Natales, a rather pleasant 4 hour drive on a comfy bus with reclining seats. Apart from the fast steady climb to a great height through the Andes that set my ears wildly popping the landscape was fascinating. Barron plains of Connemara style scenary teaming with birdlife to the more chilly flatlands of snow....each landscape changing as we twisted and turned around the mountain roads. And, we saw..... the famous ´roadrunner' only of course this was a real bird of the Osterich family called a Nandu that the cartoon character was based on. Still we saw a roadrunner.
Upon arriving in Puerto Natales the starting point for the hike we set off to find a bed for the night. To describe our hostel as 'rustic' is more than accurate, in fact we think we were in the family spare room. Off we went to rent a tent, cooking stove and sleeping mats (for the decent price of 4,000 pesos/6 euro per night) and of course what was to be our steady, and by the end boring, high calorie/carb diet of porridge, pasta and chocolate and granola
bars.
7.45am and we were on our way to the Torres del Paine National Park for our 5 day / 4 night trek, over around and up mountains. Looking back I really had very little idea of what I was actually getting into.
Day 1 in what has become to be known as the 'Park of Pain' Backpacks on (mine around 10kg and Thomas´around 27kg), let's go. Our first destination was the Torres base free camping site (Campamento Torres). We arrived at the first of three entry points to the Parque National at Laguna Amarga. The first 15 minutes were a walk in the park, then we reached the base of the first mountain path, looking up it was steep and became snow covered. Here we go. Having not exercised regularly my level of fitness was not the best and it soon became apparent as to how tough these treks were going to be especially carrying the backpack. After several stops to catch our breath and rest our legs we made it to a more levelled off landscape ahead of the Refugio Chileno - however, the path to it was packed with snow, the path a
mere 2ft wide and a sheer drop down to our right hand side.....I felt very apprehensive, one wrong footing, the backpack could easily set you off balance. But of course (with some encouraging words about not looking down, keeping looking left, etc) we made it......on past the Refugio El Chileno (closed at this time of year already) and to the next even more difficult section. Through the forest avoiding (or not as the case sometimes was) the large dollops of snow and ice falling from the tremendously tall trees. The paths were very steep in places, tough enough going on the legs and more to the point - icy. On the rare occasions I allowed myself to really take in the scenary I felt as though I had been absorbed into a winter wonderland story.
After 4 hours and numerous stops to take photos and videos we had made it to the camp site after climbing up between 500 - 600 mts that day, it was snowed out and so Thomas had to dig out around 2ft of snow to clear an area to pitch the tent. After cooking Thomas then had to fashion a device together to keep
the mice away from the food. We had heard stories of other campers whose food stocks were devastated by the mice so this was essential. And so at 6.30pm we were in our sleeping bags and off to the land of nod, but it was freezing, really freezing and I managed to get very little sleep.
Day 2 in the Park of Pain Up before sunrise at 6.15am cold, tired and hungry - this was the big morning, we were heading up to the view point of the Torres del Paine (Mirador del Paine) to see the mighty pink granite towers turn a beautiful deep red when the sunrise hits the them. The path was waist deep in snow and made the trip almost impossible if it wasn´t for the Park Ranger who beat a pathway up at 5.30am that morning. It was so dark still that we had to follow the path with a torch, keeping careful not to step off the path as we quickly found out that you sunk in the snow - thank goodness for our wet weather clothes and thermals. We were around 15 minutes away from getting to the top (around 2500
- 3000mts above sea level) when we both looked and saw the top of the towers had turned a deep red. We switched on the walkie talkies and Thomas hastily sped off to attempt to scale the steep icy, rocky path before it was too late.....but it was. It was devastating to have missed it full on from the base and I nearly gave up the climb, it had been physically tough and emotional but Thomas called me on and we met our campsite colleagues up there. Everyone had been surprised at the demanding climb we had just gone through and my spirits lifted up as I realised I was not alone and had just acheived something so amazing which I never thought I could or would ever do. The trek back down was quicker as mother nature forced us to slide down the snowy path mainly on our bums, bumping and cracking into hidden snow covered boulders as we went.
After a hefty breakfast of porridge with jam and sugar, reheated hot dogs (yes, anything for some energy), coffee with lots of sugar, dried apricots, walnuts, a granola bar each, chocolate and some more warm coffee.... (sounds like
a lot, but it´s not when you´ve done nearly 2 hrs of walking before 9a.m) we packed the tent again and headed back the way we came heading for Refugio Cuernos.
The end of day 2 saw us rushing the last part of our hike as we were behind to reach the Refugio Cuernos and the sun was setting. Our already wobbling legs flew us through the last hour seeing us stumbling up and down steep rocky pathways, but we had no choice but to rush. After arriving, setting up camp and cooking... the mice found us.....it was too much for me after the 8 1/2 hour trek we had that day (yes, you read right, eight and a half hrs) and so we gave the tent a miss and slept within the Refugio itself. Or at least I attempted and failed yet again to get a nights sleep.
Day 3 in the Park of Pain We took it easy today and slowed our pace right down. We had already decided to give the French valley a miss and at first I felt a little weak at doing this, like I was giving in, but we
soon learned from fellow trekkers that the valley was impassable with the heavy snowfall, plus I was walking like a drunk by now as my legs were wobbling all over the place and Thomas' knees were giving in.
Today Thomas captured not 1 but 9 Condors on camera, these birds are amazing and incredibly large with wingspans that can stretch to 12ft, a rare sight. Our fairly gentle trek took us around 5 hours today (3hrs to Camp Italiano and a further 2hrs to Grande Paine) and enroute we must have heard at least 5 or 6 avalances from the mountain range we were trekking around, saw several stunning lakes of varying colours from deep ocean blues to turquoise glacier fed lakes. Finally we made it to the Grande Paine campsite where due to our fatigue we decided to sleep within the white 'Dome' tents, tiny versions of a biodome that are rented by the refugio and offer much more insulation and protection from the mice.
Another dinner consisting of pasta, cake (and cream), biscuits, chocolate, granola bars, nuts, apricots and coffee cooked in the kitchen area of the refugio and we were off to dream land ....
.... until, that is, Thomas was woken by a strange sensation of something scuttling over his sleeping bag. Whatever could that be? Was it a dream (as he told me ... like I believed him). A few minutes of shining the torch around the tent looking for .... that which Thomas didn´t admit to (he insisted it was a dream as everyone had been talking so much about mice the previous few days)... we went back asleep. A few minutes later we both heard the noise of chewing and scuttling and bolted up, Thomas with the torch in hand. This time we saw our little furry friend running around the edge of the tent back out the hole he came in through. Thomas proceeded to block it, and any other possible mouse entrance, and after removing the small mouse droppings our friend had left right beside my head, we drifted off again.
Day 4 in the Park of Pain Our last full day of trekking and we were heading off through the windy valley (and boy was it windy, gusts around 85kmph) to see the Glacier Grey. In places we could actually lean forward and the
wind held us back from toppling over. After a mere 2 1/2 hrs we reached the top of the view point for the glacier. Wow, this glacier was slightly larger than Perito Moreno and swallowed up a small land mass from the side we faced, it also seemed much much higher. Photos will be published on the blog later (no cable to upload right now).
An easy day today just 4 hours trek but upon arriving back to the campsite we discovered some fxxxxr had stolen our cooking equipment and a little food, presumably someone we had even been chatty with the night before as the camp wasn´t that full..... shame on you whoever you are.
Day 5 in the Park of Pain A quiet stroll around the increasingly windy campsite and views across another Glacier fed lake that feeds a strange turquoise colour into it and then at midday we got the catamaran back to civilisation.
Day 10, 11 and 12 of our trip - Punto Arenas to Puerto Montt and reaching Bariloche now back in Argentina As soon as we arrived back from the Park of Pain we caught a 6.30pm (3
hour) bus journey from Puerto Natales to Punto Arenas as we were catching a 3 hour flight on Day 11 from here to Puerto Montt. Which by the way if you ever do, prepare yourself for some wicked turbulence as the flight is caught up in the winds swirling around the Andes. Nauseating to say the least.
Punto Arenas is a quiet place which can be pretty much done in one single day (walk to a view point with views over the town and over the Straits of Magellan, the Plaza, lots of statues of Magellan and other great explorers, the port ... and lots of dogs (15,000 stray dogs apparently, with a population of 120,000, it´s not a bad ratio)).
Our stay in Puerto Montt consisted only of a short stroll to the supermarket, dinner with the locals in a diner (chicken and chips, steak sandwich for Thomas and a rather large 1l bottle of local beer) and an overnight stay in the somewhat dodgy ´Residential El Turismo´right beside the bus station. The 1/2l carton of local vino purchased at the supermarket for a mere 0.50 euro helped us off to the land of nodd.... after a
few warm slurps. 100% sophistication, we know.
Day 12 and we were up early again and off to catch the 8.30 bus to Bariloche (Argentina) via Osorno. After a comfortable 7 hour bus journey (in semi cama, i.e. fully reclinable seats, and with sandwiches and coffee served en route), some interesting views of the ever changing landscape (from the flat plains outside Puerto Montt to the rainforest on the Chilean side of the Andes on to the beautiful lakes on the Argentian side) we arrived in Bariloche.
This brings to me to where we are now.
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jaime
non-member comment
Wow
Wow good on you for gettting through all that treking michelle, the sites sound wonderful what an amazing exp for you both. Look forward to seeing the photos soon. Be careful and beware of the mice.....AHHH!! love you!! x J