No search and rescue in Patagonia

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Before stepping into the some of the most isolated and unpredictable landscapes on earth we were told there was going to be no search and rescue in Patagonia. We were completely unperturbed while getting prepared for the 6 day hike. We were occupied with questions such as which packet food might sustain us the longest or whether our lack of weather-proof clothing might be an issue. But as we began to feel smaller in our surroundings and more far away from reality than ever before, search and rescue didn't seem like such a bad idea.



The hike is called 'The W' trail because that's what it looks like, a w. There are say 500 ways in which you can attack it so naturally we opted for the cheapest. It cost a fair bit of money to catch the catamaran across the lake to begin the walk at the base of the first u. So instead we stayed on the bus to the very last stop and walked the 18km to get there. This was a great introductory walk to get accustomed to walking with our packs because it was mostly flat easy walking.



On our first night we stayed at a paid campsite where we had access to toilets and showers. This was where we had our first and only shower for the whole trek. The winds on our first night were unreal. I'm not sure about the knots or anything but I do know that you had to have a firm footing to walk anywhere so as not to blow over. The winds held their strength the whole night, which really put our $20 tent to the test. We woke early smothered in its remains and obviously feared the worst. Luckily nothing was damaged, the wind had only pulled one of the support poles apart.



The 15km hike up to the free campsite Campamento Los Guardas was mostly uphill. Although tougher on the body, it was easy to muster up the will to keep moving when the view of Glaciar Grey kept getting better. It was like we were entering an alternate reality. The water of Lago Grey was a smoky grey blue with chunks of broken-off glacier floating on its surface. Every now and then you would reach the top of a hill or turn a corner and the grandeur of Glaciar Grey became all the more profound. Even the forests had a magic of their own. Every one we entered that was more beautiful than the last Coebbie would claim that he had finally found Fern Gully, apparently something he and Chey used to try and find (??).



The free campsite may not have had showers but at least we weren't getting torn apart by the wind. It was tucked safely inside the quiet of the forest above where the glacier apparently grows to in the winter. We sat at the lookout until we started to freeze. Our minds couldn't quite grasp the size of the glacier and surrounding mountains until the next morning when a ferry chugged up close to it. It was so much bigger than we had originally assumed. The whole scene took on a more awesome power after having something to scale it up against. It is moments like these that you realise how infinitesimal we are in comparison to the world. It always makes me feel so vulnerable, like at any moment a giant is going to come along and squish me without ever having realised I was there. I had this feeling with most of what we saw on The W trail.



The next day was a massive 22.6km walk but thankfully the steps we had to retrace back were mostly downhill. It put a fair bit of pressure on the ol' knees and ankles though and I think it was this day that I started developing a blister underneath the nail of my second toe. It started out just feeling like the nail was loose. But by the time I finally got a chance to scrub my feet back at the hostel, the nail was floating atop a bubble of blister fluid.



The walk to Campamento Italiano was sidelined by the views of iridescent blue lakes. The colours were a stark contrast to the black trees from bush fires of previous years. Italiano was again protected by forest and like every one of the free campsites it had it's own rushing creek with the clearest coldest water I had ever tasted. A splash of that water in your face in the morning was better than a coffee for waking you up.



We figured we'd take it easy the following day and hike the 7.5km up to the lookout without our packs. We felt light as fairies jumping from rock to rock. The last 2km to the lookout was almost a rock climb with how steep it was. We climbed to the highest rock, which felt like a massive hand had grabbed us and thrust us up and out of the forest. The magnitude of the view gave me butterflies and no matter how many photos we took it didn't quite capture how dramatic the scene was and how tiny we felt.



We practically ran back down to Italiano where we decided to stay one more night. This meant we had 21.4km to make the following day, which might have been ok if it wasn't snowing constantly or if the majority of the trip wasn't uphill or if the only snacks we had left were 8 prunes. Poor Coebbie copped one of my rare breakdowns. I think I may have starved to death in a previous life because I don't take hunger all that well. It didn't help either that Coebbie was listening to music the whole way and my mind went insane with only the sounds of shuffling feet and the odd bird to keep me amused. We were exhausted by the time we made it to the Refugio (you stay in these if you have money to burn) with still 5km to cover before we could set up camp. The men working at the Refugio laughed when I double checked that the hot water was free. So we indulged in a life changing cup of hot milo and shared our can of tuna. Ahh sanity slowly slipped back into place.



On our last night Coebbie went to sleep as soon as the tent was set up and I used the last of our gas to cook dinner. We had to be up at 4.30am to walk to the lookout and see the sunrise bounce warm colours off the Torres del Paine (Towers of Pain). It took some effort to wake our tired bodies so we were running a bit late. We had gone to a preparation discussion about the hike before we came and the lady had recommended taking our sleeping bags and mats to stay warm at the top of the lookout. So we struggled with our bag up the steep incline for 45 min. She had been right, it was snowing and bitterly cold and everyone could only stay so long before having to walk back down. Not us, we had our sleeping bags!



So we snuggled in our bed bags on the top of a rock with the sun rising behind us. The weather was getting worse and hence ruining any chance the sun might have had to light up the massive rocks. We posed for a photo then decided to skip across the rocks to have the Torres del Paine behind us. I had my feet poking through the bottom of my bag but hitched it up to move. As I was walking my grip of the sleeping bag slipped and hindered my jump from one large rock to another. Without a sound I fell forward head first. I'd never seen anyone move as fast as Coebbie did to get me up. After he looked me over and I assured him I was fine he noticed a spatter of blood on my hand. At that moment blood started pouring out of my head. All the other travellers were on their rocks starring. So as to save the little dignity I had left I ordered Coebbie to pose and the Israeli dude to take a photo. I couldn't put my head up though because blood kept going in my eye and all over my clothes. The cold wind stopped the blood flow soon after so we climbed underneath a large rock to get warm, watch the Torres and assess my injuries. The cut on my eyebrow was pretty deep, both my knees were bruised and one had blown up significantly. I was lucky because if I had fallen 30cm in any other direction I don't think I would have been posing for photos afterward.



Feeling frozen, hungry and a little tender we trekked back down, packed up and set off. Of all the steps I walked down, all the logs I jumped over and all the rocks I climbed it was on flat even ground that I rolled my ankle. It hurt more than my head and my knees but for the sake of saving face I limped on as fast as I could until we got to the Refugio. I clearly don't work before breakfast in the morning and I was desperate to find something before I broke a damn leg or something ridiculous. We were about 20 minutes too late for breakfast but I limped in with blood still oozing through my bandaid, dribbling something in spanish about not having any food and not having any gas to cook with. One of the guys there took pity on me after I started crying and hooked us up with a huge serving of fresh toast and jam. He refused to take money for it but we left him a little tip regardless. I would have promised him my first born child if I knew how to say it in spanish.



By the time we reached the bottom and waited for the bus to take us back to Puerto Natales I was looking worse for wear to say the least. Other than my swollen knees, bleeding head, torn hamstring, swollen and bruised ankle and blisters we had been wearing the same clothes since day one and we hadn't showered since then. Not to mention just general physical exhaustion after walking 100km over varied terrain. Meanwhile other than going down three belt notches Coebbie who had never trekked in his life looked no different after a good scrub and a long awaited reunion with his beloved cigarettes (it had been touch and go there for the last couple days). Absolutely ridiculous!



That night we ate a whole pizza each and shared a brownie and apple crumble for dessert. The apple crumble was so unbelievably delicious it tasted like the apples were picked moments before it was covered in cinnamon sugar and blasted in the smoky heat of the pizza oven. We may have been a little bias after living off 'just add water' meals for a week but it was intoxicating.



Regardless of a few injuries and bad body odour Patagonia showed us more profound beauty than we may ever hope to witness twice in one lifetime. It made you feel insignificant like an annoying itch on its skin. With those proportions and so much potential for injury we think maybe the national parks authority should reconsider their stance on search and rescue in Patagonia.



(note: I have only put a couple photos up for now because we are being kicked out of the cafe where we have been using the free wifi.)

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Photos

and we're off!!
This was the easy first day. A smooth 18km :D

only a couple birds
We really didn't see much in the way of animal life. Probably a good indication to stay away really :S

Fox?
He was so far away so lucky our camera had a pretty decent zoom.

dramatic huh?!
The clouds were clear one moment and moody the next

Aquamarine blue lake
I wish you could have seen how blue it truly was.

life after fire
The path on the first day was a graveyard of the fires that had swept through in the year before. The revival had begun though!

Cave?
We saw this cave looking hole in the mountain. Not sure if I'd like to camp up there.