Torres Del Paine National Park
Trip Start
Feb 10, 2008
1
8
35
Trip End
May 17, 2008
Torres Del Paine,
Chile
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
So, after our great day of glacier trekking, we jumped in our itty bitty car and headed south towards the Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile. For those who are wondering what there is between northern Patagonia and southern Patagonia?? NADA. Absolutely nothing. It is about a 5 hour drive between the two spots, and all we saw was bare, rustic fields (flashback of Nebraska on our drive back to Toronto a few years ago). We did see 2 gas stations (the first one by the way, was out of gas). The most amazing thing about the drive were the crazy winds! Felt like the car was going to get blown to pieces any minute!
So, about 4 hours after our departure, we went thru the Argentinean border... then the Chilean border...then down a very bumpy dirt road...
Chile!!!
. Then through a pack of llamas (yes, I said llamas), and we finally arrived at the eastern base of the 5 days hike they call the "W" at Hosteria Los Torres. From there, we streamlined our packs into 2-dayers, and hiked about 1.5 hours into where we were going to sleep - Refugio Chileano. The hike was steep and tough on the old legs that had been in the car for 5 hours, but once we got to the Refugio - this little wooden house built into the side of the mountain by a little river, everything was all good. This place was great! We funnelled in there, threw our bags on our triple decker top bunk (was sooooo high!) and sat down to a warm meal - felt like summer camp! Met a few nice folks - a guy from Montreal (remind us to tell you THAT story later) and a nice couple from France, but we were off to bed early getting ready for our big hike!!Started out around 9ish the next morning with about a 1 hour hike up thru the woods, then took the "hard" trail to the highlight of the day. This trail was a little over 1 hour straight up - first through the woods and over streams, but then you were basically climbing boulders for about 35 minutes. But once at the top WOW! An amazing view of the 3 Torres peaks (three thin peaks which stand between 2000 and 2800 meters high), the Torres glacier, and at the base, a bright green lake. Absolutely stunning. You Yosemite lovers out there would have really enjoyed this!!! WE chilled up there for a bit and enjoyed the views, then headed back down for a pretty crazy descent. WE did another mini hike after that, but then felt we deserved a mid afternoon nap back at our Refugio and some reading enjoying the views down there.
Absolutely amazing day!!!! Heading south tomorrow... talk soon!
xxx
