Torres del Paine- translation: towers of blue (though a more realistic translation is towers of PAIN)

Making our way to Patagonia and down to Torres del Paine was a must do for the both of us while in South America. Yes it is about as far south as most go, unless you can make it to Antarctica, and so this meant it would not be easy to get there.  In actuality, it is pretty easy to get there. There is an amazing boat that will take you from Puerto Montt through the fjords and drop you off in Puerto Natales after 3-4 days. We would of loved to do this, but it was outside of our budget, around $400 if I remember right for the cheapest cabin, but anyone wanting to go down I would recommend taking it one way. We opted for the bus. We were told this was a bad choice and being on a bus for 36 hours was going to be awful, it only took us 30. We did not feel this way at all. We left Puerto Montt at 11 a.m., paying $80 a piece, and after a few hours we were in Argentina. This was a beautiful drive, and we went though little towns that reminded me of Colorado and gorgeous lakes until the sun went down. Sleeping on the bus was- well sleeping on a bus. We woke up to what we were told was a boring drive, but we felt different. It reminded me of the great plains and after just watching (and loving) Dances with Wolves in Ancud- we could not help but see the similarities in landscape.

There are two boarder crossings on this bus ride, Chile to Argentina than back into Chile, but they are not bad at all. You are not able to take foods into Chile, especially fruits because Chile is amazing at their level of fruit production. They have the natural barriers of the Andes mountains to the east, dessert to the north, ocean to the west and mountains and cold to the south that they currently do not have the same pesticide issues that most of the world has, so they take their fruit very seriously. Anyways we make it across the boarder but then our bus stops, a truck with a trailor pulls up next to us and they unload everyone’s luggage into it, we are worried because we have never seen this done before but are told not to worry and just stay seated. We drive a few KMs up the road and everyone at the front of the bus is told to go to the back. We are going through a weigh station. Glad to know we just did the high majority to the trip at a safe weight.

Anyways, we make it to Punta Arenas and I run in and buy 3 of the last 9 tickets on the last bus to Peurto Natales (the third being for a guy from California we met on the ride named Brendan). We have 45 minutes before that leaves, we grab some cold empanadas (I don’t recommend these), juice and a candy bar and are off for 3 more hours to our final destination for that day. We arrive, it is 11, and we wander the streets looking for a hostel, and after a few failed attempts, find one that is perfect for us. It is called W circuit trek hostal and costs 8,000 cp ($16) each. The shower and bed were worth it and the free breakfast and great location made it that much better. We bought some last minute supplies, got our 2:30 pm bus tickets to the park and went out for pizza for a last meal. We were able to leave our bags at the hostel and we were off.

pre trip pizza

The bus ride to the park was fine, 2 hours with great scenery. We check in, pay the 15,000 cp ($30) entrance fee, each, and realize it is a little later than we expected. We paid the 2,500 cp each to have a van take us to the trail instead of walking the hour and a half because of our unexpected lateness and we start hiking.

Here is a map if you are interested. It may be helpful to have it open when reading.

There are two main ways that people hike the park, the shorter is called the W and is in the shape of a W. With this you hit some of the biggest sites like the towers. This is often done east to west, starting at Hosteria Las Torres and ending at Refugio Grey (they then hike back down and take the catamaran to a bus pickup). The other option is the circuit. The W is part of the circuit but it is also made up of walking once around the mountain range and then one over the range. This usually takes another 3-5 days to complete on top of the 3-5 that the W takes.

We chose to do the circuit.

We were dropped of at Hosteria Las Torres and walked up the first part of the W, towards the towers. We camped at Camp Torres, a free campsite and with our packs being the heaviest they would be, it was tiring. We decided that we both did not need our huge packs. Especially since this was Veronicas first real big hiking trip, she took the smaller backpack. But do not get me wrong, it was heavy. It weighed 25 lbs and consisted of our most dense objects (liquids, trail mix, cans. Etc). It was also continually reloaded, so throughout the trip my pack lost weight while hers stayed the same. She was even carrying the tent on the last day.

one of the refugios, not the one we stayed in though

can of beer (later used to make the stove) bread and cheese, and okay first nights meal

But we set up camp, and that night was brutal. Almost everynight was brutal and we were underprepared. We had bought some cheap sleeping bags, and when I say cheap I mean $10 at a store in Ancud and we thought we could get through it. Yes, we got through it but it was bad. We tried different tequniques, sharing bags for body heat, water bottles, and found that each just using their own worked best.

Anyways that night we tossed and turned and got little sleep, waking up to frost on our tent and it being about 6 am we decided to cut our losses and start to hike the last hour to the summit and try to catch the sunrise. We were slow moving but made it. There was fog on the towers but that didn’t matter. There was a special feeling between us and the other 20 some people who had also made the morning trek. The sun was wonderful to watch and it was COLD. Many people had brought their sleeping bags because it was cold just sitting on rocks, we did not get that memo and our butts froze. But we had made it and felt great.

sunrise at the towers

at the towers

look at those clothes-

covered in mist

We walked back to our tent and took an hour or so nap, then packed up and headed back down the trail. We were told to see the towers on the first day, so that if at the very end you wanted to see them again for what ever reason (bad weather the first time or maybe your body hadn’t endured enough pain), you could. We hiked back past Hosteria Las Torres, and up towards Camp Seron. This was a 4 hour hike, but we had some trouble finding the trail at the start. Once we were on it, the hike was beautiful. We did okay with the first 3 hours but that 4^th we started to get tired. It was all flat there was a road that ran somewhat along with the trail. We were confused, and tired and after an hour and a half had passed, thought maybe we had missed the camp. 20 minutes later we realize, NO, we are just slow. We set up camp, feeling a little defeated for being slow and make some noodles with a pesto sauce Veronica had whipped up and froze back in Ancud.

I like to use sterno when I am unable to make fires. Yes, it is slower than a stove, but in the end it works, costs less and is smaller than a stove. Well I looked and looked but did not find sterno in any of the cities. Instead of renting a stove I thought this would be a good chance to try a penny stove. This is a stove made out of two pop cans with pin holes, a penny and alcohol. It is pretty much free to make and I have heard some people who swear by them. After this trip, I would not recommend them if you are in a group, they may be okay for one person in a summer or warm night, but it left something to be wanted for us. Especially when heating up waterbottles for our sleeping bags to keep us warm at night, and I would have to refill and light the stove two or three times to get the full liter of water to come close to a boil. I also am no expert and was unable to get the results some penny stove veterans may be able to reach.

Anyways we have another rough night sleep but wake up feeling great. We have a slow start and start hiking at 11 am. The next camp is Refugio Dickson and it is 6 hours away. Long story short, we do it in 7 and are exausted. We get into camp just past 6 pm, relax and take showers (I know, the refugios are real nice, but I will get back to that later). We talk with some nice people, one of which lives in NYC and get ready for bed.

the back part of the circuit

able to drink water right out of the streams

It is about 845pm when Veronica realizes she does not have her seal. About a year before we left on the trip the two of us went to Chicago and because of a bet (where Veronica dared me to eat a hot pepper) she had to get me a present. I chose a buy one get one free stuffed animal octopus from the Chicago Aquarium, she chose a stuffed seal. We use them for pillows when we travel and more importantly conversation starters with people and children. Well the seal was gone. After a failed attempt at asking the non-english speaking campsite worker if anyone had found a stuffed animal seal, I took off. I thought he was probably lost somewhere in the last 10 minutes of our hike when we sat down. I started to run. I had a head lamp, though the sun was still up, and decided to turn around once it was dark. Well I ran to the next place I thought it may be, 30 minutes back, nope. It was starting to get dark but I didn’t want to turn around just yet. I ran another 15 minutes and it was not dark, but I had to keep going, another 15 minutes and there he was, smack dab in the middle of the trail. It was not a little past 10 pm and I was thrilled, but nervous. Yes there are pumas in the park but every sound I heard gave me the spooks. I jog back, and get a stern lecture when I arrive from the campsite director.

Him: You were here before weren’t you

Me: yes, I had to go back, my girlfriend dropped something important

Him: that? The thing in your hand?

Me: Yes, it is her nephews and she would be in huge trouble if she lost it (a small lie but somewhat true)

Him: Oh was she crying a lot about it?

Me: Yes (I thought that was a weird thing for him to say, but thought agreeing may be a good idea)

Him: That was against regulations, was it worth risking your life over?

Me: I am sorry, I did not go back that far, I did not consider it that dangerous

Him: you could have died, what if you would have fallen and broken your leg?

Me: I could fall and break my leg during the day, I could die at any time on the trail

Him: Okay fine

I was not sure if he stopped the conversation because he didn’t think I was listening, or now that it was over there was no reason to argue. I got back into the tent and Veronica was thrilled, though worried I had been gone so long. We fall asleep and had an early morning.

We were going to make it over the summit of the mountain and were the first ones up in Refugio Dickson. We leave by 745 am, though it was 15 minutes after we wanted to, we were still leaving more than 3 hours earlier than the day before.  We felt good in the cool morning and the shade of the forrest. And we made okay time. We take breaks every 30 minutes, first a 5 minute break, than after 30 minutes a 10 minute, using that method over and over. It was taking us an hour and ten minutes for every hour the map said and made it to Camp Perros just after 1. We sat down, had some lunch and relaxed before our next part, the 6 hour, most strenuous part of the trail. Up and over the summit.

I called her nonnwok- like ewok

sign explaining summit

towards the top of the summit

Veronica did this part much easier than I did, I was tired from the night before but her drive helped fuel me. Some of that trail was bad, flooded and steep, some was really nice. We made it to the top of the summit and saw the glacier, Glacier Grey. It was magnificent and enormous. We had been told to walk the trail counter clockwise because of the next part of the trail. We would be walking it down hill and people said it was much worse going up. This trail was very steep and did not have a lot of water access and I agree it would be extreme going the opposite direction. But we were beat, our knees were shot and it was tough. We pull into Camp Paso and sleep well. We have an okay morning, getting off about 10, feeling we needed the sleep. We make it to Refugio Grey in less than the time it said and this puts some wind in our sails.

DG

This was at the top of the summit, very special piece made up of sticks, bracelets, string, etc.

seal hanging out by ice

glacier grey- breath taking

We hear that the next refugio is 3.5 hours away and that it was the worst hit with the recent fire. It may or may not be closed to camping but if we can push through another 2.5 hours we can make up some real time. It is early afternoon and we feel good and decide to go.

does this not look exactly like a deer?

large rock that was split on the side of the trail, it reminded me of the ten commandments

This seemed like a good choice for the first hour. Than we hit where the fire was, with very little cover from the sun, we start to drag. We are given different stories from passing hikers how far we have left and our attitudes start to drop. We know we must be close and are told it is still an hour away. The sun is going down and we are on our last string. My knees are throbbing, my right shoe had fallen apart, I had to put a band of duck tape around to keep the sole on and my left foot has multiple blisters. A jolly bunch of day hikers with no packs passes us quickly and they are whistling. Instead of cheering us up, this breaks us, Veronica starts to cry from exaustion, we need to stop. We make it to the refugio and are told there is no camping. We rent a room and the cafateria hot dinner and are amazed. We had been given some money by Britt, the husband of the workaway, telling me to take Veronica out somewhere nice when we were down south. The refugio only took cash and without that money we would not have enough. It was a sign, and though the large portion of instant mash potatos topped with chicken and veggies would not normally be a nice meal, tonight it was gourmet. Thank you Britt, truly thank you.

the fire, this by no means shows the magnitude of the fire but it shows some up close damage

our food at the refugio. Question how many pieces of bread is too much to take? 6?

No, still not time to talk about the refugios. The next morning we were off at 740 am, we had 9.5 hours today, and that was with us skipping the middle vertical part of the W. With my boots being broken and my knee injurt from a year before being brought back, we were okay with this decision. This day was okay, ups and downs, a lot of rocks on the trail, more water breaks, and because of this, better attitudes. The second to last hour we hit a wall but then really pulled through, making that final hour in 30 minutes, with the fear of maybe missing our bus.

We make it full circle. Back to Hosteria Las Torres. Take the shuttle to the bus, bus to Puerto Natales and back to our hostal. We are beat, dead, limping. It would take us about a week before we could get past the pain our bodies were in.

my left foot after we finished the hike. I knew I was drinking a lot but still felt dehydrated. This must of been where all of my liquids were going to.

Here is the thing, we were trying to do the trail in 6 days, that would be hard for most, but our first day started at 530 pm. We were trying to do it fast to make it up to Mendoza, Argentina for their national wine festival. In the end, because of busses we missed the festival. But we also had some other trouble. Looking back I would recommend renting better sleeping bags. A good nights sleep can make all the difference in a hard hike. The stove may have helped if we could have boiled liters of water to stay warm, but it was what it was. Looking back, maybe we should of paced ourselves more, taken 8 or 9 days. But really I am happy with how we did the trail.

One of the nicest things about this trail is that you can drink the water, straight from the streams. I have never had this before and it cuts down on a lot of worry.

Okay now the refugios. There are a number of them throughout the trail and they are buildings, sometimes cabins, sometimes hotels. They may have bunk bed dorms or real rooms, they serve hot meals and cost a lot more than camping. But we were able to experience one, and though it was expensive ($30 a person per night, than $12 for the meal each), it really was not that expensive. We saw 30 somethings, parents with their kids and realized that not everyone wants to camp in a tent. If this brings more people to the beauty of Torres del Paine, all the better. It reminded me of something my older brother David would love. Being able to work hard, hike a lot, see amazing views and at the end of the day be able to spend a little more money for a hot shower, bed inside and warm food. Or maybe a family that had some people who loved hiking and others who just want to hang out with mountains in the back ground.

Anyways, I was very impressed with many things. With the park, with the mountains, with the glacier (this was very special) and also with Veronica. I took to calling her “Tough Nonns” and this seemed to fuel her. She was no wimp, and she was doing something that was kicking my butt. In Ancud she took on a new motto, that being, “don’t be a wimp”. I love this motto for the way she takes it and in order to get through the circuit at Torres del Paine, in 6 days, with cold nights, NO, you can not be a wimp!

the huge burgers we got the day after the hike. A hike is not complete until that reward meal and I feel burgers do that best.

Michael…