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Published: December 16th 2007
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Lago Pehoe
The most beautiful blue glacial lake at the start of our walk After staying overnight at Punta Arenas we continued north on our journey to Puerto Natales, the town near Torres del Paine NP. We spent a day at Puerto Natales getting ready for our walk in Torres del Paine, and had a fantastic lunch at a pizza restaurant that we found by accident. We stayed at a hostel recommended by other travellers called Casa Cecilia. It was a bit overpriced (I thought) but they did serve good breakfasts and organised everything we needed for walking in the national park. We rented a tent (quite a good one) and they booked the bus for us too.
We caught the bus the next day to the mountains, and arrived at the georgeous blue Lago Pehoe ferry stop at about 11am. The ferry wasn't scheduled to leave for another hour so we took advantage of the break and walked up a nearby hill to see a small waterfall. The view was great although I didn't need to see the view as much as some of keen photographers who stood at the edge of the cliff for pics in the gusty wind. We then caught the ferry to where we had lunch. We then walked
Lago Grey
Lago Grey, near our campsite at Grey Glacier to Grey Glacier for the night where it was COLD! The cooking stove was working overtime to heat the water for dinner, and I didn't sleep very well because my feet wouldn't warm up.
The next morning we packed up and headed back to Campo PehoƩ and then east to Campo Italiano for the next two nights. Day 2 was one of the most picturesque legs of our walk, with most of the track winding through pretty patches of forest and alpine plants. The view of the mountains were fantastic and we took heaps of pics (luckily) in case the weather turned bad. As fate would have it, that was the last time we'd see these fantastic peaks. I was also starting to struggle in my boots, which I had been trying to wear in for six months previously, without much success.
The wind howled for most of the second night and we were a bit worried about the copse of trees behind our tent that were swaying precariously in the wind.. but they were still in place the next morning despite the gusty conditions. We left our big packs at the campsite and walked up the valley
Our First View of the Peaks
I think these peaks are a rhyolitic intrusion into a thick sedimentary package. to Campo Britannica. We re-evaluated and turned back early since we were walking into a blizzard, and there was no chance of views of the valley. So we collected our packs and continued on, mindful that it was going to be a big day - we were hoping to walk 26km in one day to Las Torres with our revised plans. Although it was a big day and difficult walk due to the steep hills and the wind, we were rewarded by passing along one of the most pretty lake beaches we'd seen. We decided to have lunch there just so we could spend some extra time taking in the views. By the time we arrived that night at Las Torres however, I could hardly feel my feet, and it turns out that I developed heel spurs from the lack of arch support in my not-so-good scarpas. I've since posted them home and never want to see them again!
We planned to walk up to the lookout at Campamento Torres on Day 4 but I retired early (actually after about 20 minutes) because my feet hurt so much. Pete went up alone and came back without seeing anything at
Whiteout
The weather on day 3 (and 4). There was no chance of views that day! all - he was in a blizzard again like the previous day! Although we'd sworn we wouldn't carry any wine or drink alcohol while we were at the NP, that night we indulged and bought a bottle of ridiculously overpriced Sauvignon Blanc to mull over our progress so far.
On day 5 we woke to the most spectacular views of the Torres we'd seen for days, with hardly a cloud in the sky. As we walked the 6km to the bus stop we turned back to see even better views than at the camp. In hindsight we would have allowed an extra day or two to compensate for bad weather, but we'd had a great trip, regardless of the bad weather and sore feet. We headed back to Puerto Natales and went straight back to our new favourite pizza restaurant for a good feed. We had planned a slow day in Puerto Natales so we did our washing (Pete has a particularly stinky polyester hiking shirt that desperately wanted laundering) and caught up on the news since we'd been gone. We then caught a bus to El Calafate after our day of rest.
There are good maps
Perfecto
Our view of the Torres on day 5 of Torres Del Paine NP available at http://www.torresdelpaine.com/ingles/secciones/02/a/mapas.asp#
We have Mel to thank who advised us to walk west to east, where most of the guidebooks suggest the other way. The wind advantage saved my legs a few times, and pushed us up the hill for most of the third day!
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