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Published: August 6th 2007
Almost There
Tantalizing views of the mountains as we approach the park.Andrew here... we felt that I should write this one, given that I had a wicked grin from ear to ear for most of our trek.
We were finally going to be in the Patagonian mountains!!!! The trekking guide for this area was the first book I bought when we started to plan our year long trip... it was one of the destinations that I was most looking forward to.
We got off the bus at the Argentina-Chile border, and were almost blown off our feet. This was our first taste of the incredible winds that hammer the region for most of the year. We had heard some second hand reports of guys having to crawl along the trail, which worried Jen a little. A little wind, I thought... how much of a problem could it be?
After a couple of buses and a catamaran, we were finally at the trailhead just in time to set up camp for the night. We were very glad to have spent a bit more when we bought our lightweight tent, as it was getting blown around pretty well, even in our sheltered spot. Most of the other tents around were full
Ready to Head Out
Waiting for the fast cat to take us across the lake so that we could start our adventure! on mountain tents, which would have been my first choice, except that I didn't want to carry the heavy beasts around for six months! I'd spent about twenty hours researching different tent models (which Jen thought was hilarious) and this was going to be a true test of my choice.
The first day was spent hiking along Lago Grey for a view of the Grey glacier. The winds were strong but no problem, and we had some pretty cool views of the glacier on the way in. Having just come from the Moreno glacier two days before, we thought it was very cool, but we weren't overly impressed. Were we getting glaciered out already? It may have been because Jen's knees were not feeling great after an hour of downhill getting to the campground, and we just wanted to get there so we could drop the packs. We didn't even hike the extra ten minutes to the lookout, which we kicked ourselves for later! It was fun to play with the bits of ice (little mini icebergs) that washed up on the shore... we weren't expecting that at all!
We had a chance to test the temperature of
Location, location, location
Our camping spot the first night. the waters (really really cold) because we were chilling our beers in the lake. Iceberg cooled beer - how sweet it is. But a store at the campsite? We'd just hiked for three hours to get here, lugging everything on our backs! Where was our bloody wilderness? This is the dual identity of this beautiful mountain 'wilderness'... we wanted to be there because it has unmatched mountain scenery, and we were able to be there because it is accessible with regularly scheduled transportation. Unfortunately, this combination also makes it desireable for people with deeper wallets than us, and they have been paying to see this place in comfort for decades. Half of the campgrounds in the park are at privately run facilities that include mountain cabins, complete with lodging, meals and booze.
The presence of these lodges was a major sticking point for us on the trek. We didn't resent them (especially when we were enjoying a cold beer in the campers hut at the end of the day) but they did bring the excitement level down a big notch. When you lug a full backpack up a steep trail, you feel like you've earned the view and been
Icebergs on Lago Grey
Getting close to the mouth of Glacier Grey on the first day's trek. privileged to experience something truly wild. It's just not the same when you're sharing the view with people who've strolled up the same trail wearing jeans and carrying nothing but a water bottle, and you know they're leaving just in time to make it back for their three course dinner.
I still haven't worked out exactly how I feel about this softer side of the mountains. They saw the same sights that we did and hiked the same trails... did the fact that they didn't carry a heavy pack with full camping gear make any difference in the end? I thought about this quite a bit, as it really put the idea of being a 'tourist' into perspective. Nobody wants to feel like a tourist, and our whistle-stop tour of the world means that we don't have the time in any of our locations to really get off the beaten track.
In another way, the lodges saved my sorry butt, as I committed a cardinal sin of wilderness trip planning. We ran out of gas halfway through the trek. We were using our new backpacking stove for the first time, and the food we had, while dried, still
Glacier Grey
This view was a great reward after hiking a few hours with full packs. took a lot of fuel. This wasn't dangerous, as we had enough food that didn't need heat. It was life threatening however, as anyone who had seen Jen before her first coffee in the morning knows. I was completely embarrassed. It's not something I'll ever do again, and I was thankful that it was a lesson learned without great hardship. We were able to make do in the end, as most of our campsites were at lodges that had gas burners available in the camper's huts.
On the fourth day, we had stronger winds than we'd seen before on the trek. The trail ran across fairly steep hills, dropping down to cross several creeks before climbing the ridges in between. On one of these ridges, Jen was taken for a ride down the trail. The wind was so strong that it propelled her, running, straight towards a dropoff. Thanfully she wiped out, saving herself from tumbling down the hill. Needless to say, she was pretty spooked by the experience. For the rest of the day, we climbed each ridge as a team. I would walk directly behind her, holding her pack and keeping us both upright as the wind
The clouds moved in
We relished each glimpse of the mountain tops through the cloud cover as we made our way back to the starting point on day two tried to knock us off the trail. Fun! We didn't have any more serious incidents, but it did keep us on our toes for the rest of the trek.
The highlight of the trip was on the last day. The magnificent Torres (towers) del Paine. They were more impressive by far than they appear in anyone's photos, and a sight that was well worth the long steep climb up to see them. The last hour of the climb is through a great boulder field, where you simply pick your way over massive slabs of broken rock.
We enjoyed the company of several horses at our last campsite, happily munching the grass, and doing a great job of keeping the lawn looking beautiful. To add to my 'hardcore camper' misery, I couldn't for the life of me get our fire started. I didn't have very good kindling, so after an hour of farting around with it I went and gathered some. One of the campground guys (speaking only Spanish and looking very rough around the edges) came around, and decided that he had seen enough... he took my freshly gathered kindling and started up a roaring blaze with the
French River
The view just beside our camping spot on the third night. first match. He thought this was hilarious, and I had to agree. Very funny, but didn't exactly make me feel like a mountain man!
We headed back to the access town of Puerto Natales. We had originally planned to head back into Argentina to do another trek at Mount Fitzroy. Jen's knees didn't much like the downhill portion of the last trek, and they weren't going to take her happily around another mountain right away. We decided to leave that trek to another trip (what a great excuse to come back!) and head straight to northern Chile, but we had no solid plans on how we were going to get there. In a little over an hour, we booked a flight out of a more southern town called Punta Arenas for the next morning, booked the bus to get there, and picked up fresh sandwiches for the trip! As we boarded the bus, we had no idea where exactly we were going. It was only when we looked up Punta Arenas in the guidebook that we realized that we were going all the way down to the straight of Magellan. If we'd known that beforehand, we would have booked
French Valley Towers
Details of the impressive towers seen in the French Valley extra day down there to see the penguins!
We wanted a nicer hotel that night... it was pouring rain, we were still wiped from the trek, and it was Jen's birthday! We found a great little hotel, but weren't too happy about the price tag... $64 a night! That's what you pay back home!!! The price was right though, because when your wife wants a nice room for a night, it doesn't matter what it costs (even if it isn't her birthday). We celebrated by having a wild and crazy night at the local pub (one drink) before crashing.
The sticker shock wasn't so bad come morning as we had the biggest breakfast either one of us had ever seen. We were served juice, yoghurt, muesli, ham & swiss on a bun, pancakes with Dolce de Lece (caramalized milk), scrambled eggs, guacamole, cookies, toast and coffee. We ate it all, and even snagged some leftovers off another table. When on a budget, eat everything that's included in the price!
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