Torres del Paine

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Trekking Torres del Paine
(Note: I am trying to write less and use photos more. The photos have descriptions of where we were. I am also several days behind as there was no internet in the mountains!) For five days we hiked in the Torres del Paine National Park, going from refugio to refugio, covering over 35 miles with snow and glacier covered mountains and granite spires towering over us. The weather, notoriously unpredictable here, was great; only one cloudy day with light snow the rest sunny. There was, of course, the wind, which on the final day nearly knocked us down several times.



This trek first takes you to the Torres del Paines themselves (Towers of Blue, Paine being a native word for Azul). They do 'tower' over you when you reach the lake at their base. It is hard to imagine the scale, as at that point they are over one mile higher than you are. (As you can see from the photo, they made John stand on his head--getting there at 4 a.m. to see the sun rise hit the spires.)



Every night we were in a refugio. These are mountain hostels where you can get breakfast, a box lunch to take with you, and dinner in a common dining hall. It is a set menu, you get what is for dinner and the food was good. The bedrooms are coed and shared, with up to 8 bunk beds in a room. Marcia always tried to have a bunk near me so she could hit me with a pillow when I started to snore. Each one was different, you hiked from refugio to refugio, but the staff in all were like your favorite summer camp counselors and cooks (we loved watching the cooks dancing to local music while preparing dinner) except they were also happy to serve you wine and beer.



The best part of the refugios were all the people you meet; and, as you are walking the same trek, you develop trail friendships. Our new friends included a young couple from The Netherlands, two newlyweds from the US (he a nature photographer that works in the Everglades and shared a lot of interests with John), a young man from Poland, couples from Brazil and Germany, and a raucous gang from the Ukraine. Every evening after we all came into the refugio we had dinner together, shared a drink near the fire, and talked about the day's adventures.



Wildlife, this being a park, were everywhere. We saw literally thousands of gunacos and, this being spring, many calves, a red fox, condors, birds and more birds, and, on the drive out of the park, pumas! Neither the photos nor my descriptions can capture the beauty and drama of the landscape we have trekked through, but I hope it gives you some idea.

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Photos

Sunrise Headstand
John really impressed by the 4:30 a.m. sunrise on the Torres del Paine.

On the trail
Another beautiful day in paradise!

Ice fall
Off the mountain in the French Valley.

Room with a view
Wake up to this and try and have a bad day.

Home sweet home
Our room (Guanaco of course) at the Grand Paine Hostel.