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Published: March 5th 2009
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hola,
So puerto natales is another not much to see town. The whole town is about the national park, and gear shops, guides, treks, tours, its all about the tourist dollar here. We decided on a 5 day trek called the W, which is the shape and direction of the path you walk in, the W is actually an upside down M,,,, haha, heard that in town. anyway its a 5 day trek, 4 nights of camping, leaving on the 5th day. so the first day in natales we went to this little talk a local guide gives, all the information we need, and hints, tips for packing, food, so on. After wards we bought our supplies, went to our room unloaded as much weight as possible from our packs, re packed them and were ready to go. I knew early on i wanted as little weight as possible in my pack, lugging this sucker around for 5 days and 30 or so miles, ughhhh. So we ended up only buying 8 or so packets of soup, and some instant mashed potatoes for our meals.. mm mmmm. C had some better ideas about food, but i think the guy we
heard talk, and myself talked her her out of it, which in the end was a mistake, we should of listened to her, and used her ideas, we might have eaten much better!!! the first day its a 2.5 hour bus ride to the park from natales, then another 30 minute catamaran ride across a lake to our starting point. so off the boat, and start hiking at around 1pm. it was about a 4hr hike to the first camp, we arrived at 5pm, set up camp and ate a mixture of soup and instant mashed out of our shared (because i wanted less weight) bowl.mm mmmm. hike was nice, cool scenery the whole way, lots of up and downs, not much if any flat ground in the whole park. This camp we were at is right in front of another glacier, its pretty cool. The next day we had a 6 hour hike, again, really nice, up and down, but not too bad. now we are in the middle of the W. The next day we wake and the plan is to leave the packs at camp, and hike up the middle valley to a lookout about 2 hours
away. This day C woke up really sick, nauseous, like food poisoning, haha, no no it wasn't from our food. anyway she was not feeling well at all, couldn't eat, sick to the stomach all day. She still was a trooper and we did our day hike, 2hours up, 2 hours down. this was the valley de frances or something, really spectacular views the whole way. What was funny is that night we kepty hearing thunder, so we were waiting for the rain, but it never did. well while hiking the next day on the mountains you see all the ice pack,and then hear thunderous booms, it was the ice breaking up and avalanches of snow and ice falling down the mountain all night. So we got to see that happening, and just all around awesome views. so after 4hours, we arrive back at camp, grab our packs, and head out for a 3 hour hike to the next camp. C is sick all day, no food or water, but still did the hike, and only complained a little, haha. Well we find out one of the guys we met and was doing the same hike as us also was
sick all day, same as C, it seemed there was some type of 24hr bug going around. so we camp the 3rd night, C finally got some food down at dinner that night. well we wake the 4th day, and guess what, now i have that frickin bug, i wake up, and ooooffa, not good, nothing will stay down, everything is coming out,,, haha. Yes now i have this bug, and today is our longest day of hiking. well unlike C i am not a happy camper, and not a perfect trooper. I bitched and moaned most of the day, we hiked 6 or so hours to the next camp that day, and no food or water all day for me. Luckily we didnt get sick at the same time, im not sure C could of dealt with me and being sick. So after that long day we get to camp, and C is feeling better, but still hasnt eaten much, i have not eaten and feel like crap. well this is where only bringing soup hurt us, well we did have some snacks, nuts, raisins,, but when your sick like this, you can only put down some type of
foods, and the though of eating soup and instant mashed again made me sicker. we got some crackers from some other hikers, that helped, and a chocolate bar from one of the guys we chatted with alot, that also helped alot. Well the 5th day consisted of waking at 4.45am, and leaving your pack at camp, and hoofing it 2 hours to the top of the lookout to see the sunrise at the famous towers of the park. so we woke at 5, and headed out, i felt better, but the no food thing was really killing me , and C was also hurting with a lack of food in her body. anyway we mad eit, but wow, that was a tuff one, the last hour is really steep, using hands , over boulders, in the trees, was tuff. sunrise was so-so, got some red, but then a storm moved in on the peaks and killed the colors. but still was a pretty awesome sight. it was super windy up there, and quite chilly. so after the sunrise we then hoofed it back to camp, made it in 1.25 hours, packed up the tent, and then had a 3 hour
hike back to the main lodge, which is the end of our trek. 2.5 hour bus ride and back in natales. We decided to catch a bus right away the next day to punta arenas, the bottom of the continent, cause natales isnt worth staying anymore. We did go out for 2 big pizzas the night we got back into town,, and almost finished them both,, we were hungry.
Overall the park is awesome, impressive, huge, rugged peaks, great scenery. Oddly no wildlife, well some, but not big wildlife. they have birds, bugs, but not much else. nothing poisonous, no predators, well they do have the puma, but apparently no one ever sees them. Its odd not to have to hang your food cause of bears, or worry about snaked, or some other nasty thing. Its also very very touristy. when going hiking i like to think im in the back country, on my own, to a point. well you wont find that here, every day a bus load such as ours drops off another 100 people, all doing almost the same hike. so its a bit lame seeing the same people at each camp, each day, always passing
someone on the trail every 15 minutes. we met some cool people, and they helped make our hike better, but i could have done without the other 500 on the trails. There are also day trip tourists. the park is very into making sure everyone can see the sights. so people come in everyday just to go to a certain lookout, so you can be in your 5th hour of grueling hike, barely take another step, feeling good you are almost there, glad you actually made it, then some tourist with there sandals comes strolling by you, no pack, a bottle of evian water, and their brand new north face coat, and they get to see the same thing you struggled to get too all day.... ughhh. i know who cares, in the end its doesn't matter, but while hiking it does hurt the experience a little.
Ohh well, we did it, we feel great now, and are soo glad we did it. its a great place, not cheap, but wow, i know while i was hiking most days i kept thinking, holy crap, im in the andes, patagonia hiking, and camping,, who woulda ever thunk it...
now
off too the bottom, punta arenas
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