ok so apparently moving to south america has done nothing to change the fact that i lag on writing blog entries. and here i thought i'd arrive here and all of my bad habits would disappear.... oh well! so anyway, we arrived at Los Cuernos and spent the night there. we were super bummed that we'd brought our own food for dinner there - they were cooking fish that they'd caught at 3am that morning in one of the lakes (or so the story went) and it smelled AMAZING. the next morning we got up and had breakfast in one of the most amazing breakfast spots i've ever seen. it's the photo down below.
nice picnic table with Cuerno Este towering over us (can't see it in the photo) and the French Valley beckoning in the distance. combine that with the greatest oatmeal ever - instant oatmeal with tons of sugar and powdered milk, plus a cup of whole milk heated up and poured over the top (they sell milk in the juice-box thingies here and yup, i carried 6 of them on the trip. might as well have been carrying rocks but oh my heavens it made for the most incredible breakfasts ever and was totally worth the extra 15 pounds in my pack....). and then we took a bag of jam (jam is sold in bags, not jars here. so we took a bag of it, cut off a small corner, and stored it in a ziplock baggie so it didn't get sticky all over everything) and drizzled jam all over everything. and if that wasn't fancy enough, rustyn had made his unbelievable coffee concentrate - he takes a bag of ground coffee and adds a few cups of cold water to it. 24 hours later he strains all the liquid out which makes the most wonderful coffee concentrate. since it's cold brewed, it removes all of the acidity from the coffee and when you add it to hot water, sugar, and fresh milk.....oh so tasty. so we had the world's most amazing breakfast in the worlds most amazing breakfast location - life is good!! sarah, it really doesn't compare to cereal bars and no hot drink, but it's a close second, ha ha ha! after we ate, i rolled myself back to my tent, packed up, and hit the trail. this is our long day - 12 miles from camp to camp. but it's super cruisy and was a really enjoyable hike. after a bit we crested a hill, which was the last time we'd have a view of the french valley. i took a few pictures and said farewell (for now) to one of the most amazing places i've ever been to. and in response, the French Glacier let loose a massive avalanche down the face. sweetest farewell ever!
on we went, enjoying the lowland scenery in front of us. i was bummed to be leaving the glaciated peaks but was stoked to check out the towers that Torres del Paine is named for (torres means towers in Spanish and paine means blue in Mapuche which is the language that the native people of Patagonia spoke). we discovered the shortcut that cut an hour or two off our time (yay) and laughed at all of the people wandering through the brush because they'd missed the shortcut and decided to make their own. eventually we got to Refugio Chileno where we were spending the night. ordinarily we'd push on and camp at Campamento Torres, one more hour up the trail, but we were a bit limited due to the tour and needed to stay at the refugios. really nice place and the people working there were awesome. i've worked in "wilderness" accommodation before and it can be really challenging and already some of the staff in the refugios were struggling to keep smiles on their faces. i think it's going to be a loooooooong season for them! but everyone working at Chileno was fabulous and we had a great night chatting with the other trekkers and sipping on instant asparagus soup. yum! the next morning our goal was to get up early and get to the base of Torres del Paine in order to hopefully see the towers turn red when the rising sun hits them. only problem is that the sun rises at 6am. and we were two hours from the base of the
towers (which is why people try to camp at Campamento Torres - it's an hour closer to the towers but there isn't a refugio there). but hey i'm no stranger to alpine starts, so i was up at 3:30 packing up all of my gear and getting ready to hike up the trail! we fired our headlamps up only to find that annette's headlamp was almost out of batteries and she didn't have any replacements. but no hay problema, i just lit up the trail for both of us and off we went! it was a pitch black trail through a forest i couldn't see but the temperature was perfect and we spent the next hour and a half thoroughly enjoying ourselves. we could see the horizon getting lighter so we knew we had to hurry in order to catch the towers before sunrise. the last half hour of the trail to the base of the towers was really challenging. it's all big huge rocks and finding the trail was pretty interesting. but eventually we crested the top of the ridge and finally saw what we had hiked two hours at the asscrack of dawn to see......or at least we saw where the towers should have been, because in their place was a beautiful wall of fluffy white clouds! total whiteout up there! snow was blowing in and the wind was picking up and we decided to make ourselves cozy just in case the towers decided to peek through the clouds. we had brought our sleeping pads (exped synmat is just the thing for 6am tower visits, fyi) and bags so we climbed in and fired up our stove to make some hot tea
. we were nicely sheltered from the wind and had an incredible mini-breakfast of cookes, chocolate, and tea. suddenly the rocks to our right went from dark to bright red - sunrise! amazing how quickly the sun hit everything and although the towers never appeared, we did get to see the red color that they would have turned. and the sunrise was unreal - the red color through the clouds below made the entire sky look like it was on fire. took some of the coolest sunrise photos ever! after a bit the snow was picking up and we knew it was time to go. we packed up and headed down into a snowstorm. made going down pretty sketchy in some places because the snow was so slippery. but oh my goodness, descending the trail through the forest blanketed by a couple of inches of snow - one of the most beautiful sections of trail i've ever seen and definitely an experience i'll remember for the rest of my life. there's just nothing like the muted sound of the forest in a gentle snowstorm..... we got back to camp and had another fantastic oatmeal breakfast. i managed to spill half of mine on the ground, but the birds were oh so stoked that i was sharing with them! it was still snowing so we packed up and headed out. 15 minutes down the trail we dropped below the storm into gorgeous sunshine and traded out all of our warm snow clothes for t-shirts....still can't get over how quickly the weather can change in patagonia! we continued down to Hosteria Las Torres, which is the 4 star hotel in the park. it's 4 stars because there aren't any other hotels in the area to compare it to, but it's pretty darn fancy especially when you're standing there in muddy clothes after not showering for 5 days.... they have horses running wild through the area (ok so they're not
wild horses and i'm sure there are fences somewhere so they're not really running wild but it looks cool) and we enjoyed chilling in the sunshine for a couple of hours before boarding the shuttle which would take us back to the park entrance. even this was an adventure! right before the shuttle gets to the entrance, it crosses a small bridge. this bridge is really dodgy (let me quote the sign that's posted there: Attention to all vehicles. Bad condition bridge, please let all passengers get out of the car, before crossing the bridge") so the shuttle stops to let all of the people out so we can walk over it before the shuttle goes across. then the shuttle takes 15 minutes to cross it - the shuttle has literally one inch clearance on either side and they go REALLY slow so that they don't nick the side and send the whole thing collapsing into the river below. no one will replace the bridge because this area of the park is on private land and the park wants the land owners to pay for a new bridge and they want the park to pay for it, so no one pays for it and eventually someone will be going for an unpleasant swim. but hey, it's exciting. after that we loaded up on our bus and had a lovely, though smelly, ride home. and that dear friends was the 'W' in Torres del Paine! one of the greatest treks i've had the privilege to do and one that i will be getting back on as soon as possible. rain, snow, sun, and wind every day (and often every hour)! it's pretty odd camping at the refugios because it's not really camping (or at least not really your typical backpacking camping) but you can do the whole thing at free camps which lack the hostels, flush toilets, cold beer, and crowds, which is a little bit more my style (ok so the cold beer is totally my style but....you know what i mean). my next goal is to the the entire circuit - it's a big 60-90 mile (depending on your route) circle around the park that incorporates the 'w' in the bottom of the circle. the top part of the circuit is incredibly remote and provides a nice contrast to the more heavily traveled 'w'.
i'd love to solo the trek; i really feel like i need a week to go out and challenge myself and sort the happenings of the last month out in my head....nothing like a trip into the wilderness to do just that. don't worry mom, it's totally safe! hope you all enjoyed the story and pictures - more to come! and the trail stays in brilliant shape through april so if any of you feel like coming down, i know of someone who would love to trek it again with you! hope everyone is well - till next time, enjoy life no matter what it brings and i'll see ya on the flipside! :) coke
nice picnic table with Cuerno Este towering over us (can't see it in the photo) and the French Valley beckoning in the distance. combine that with the greatest oatmeal ever - instant oatmeal with tons of sugar and powdered milk, plus a cup of whole milk heated up and poured over the top (they sell milk in the juice-box thingies here and yup, i carried 6 of them on the trip. might as well have been carrying rocks but oh my heavens it made for the most incredible breakfasts ever and was totally worth the extra 15 pounds in my pack....). and then we took a bag of jam (jam is sold in bags, not jars here. so we took a bag of it, cut off a small corner, and stored it in a ziplock baggie so it didn't get sticky all over everything) and drizzled jam all over everything. and if that wasn't fancy enough, rustyn had made his unbelievable coffee concentrate - he takes a bag of ground coffee and adds a few cups of cold water to it. 24 hours later he strains all the liquid out which makes the most wonderful coffee concentrate. since it's cold brewed, it removes all of the acidity from the coffee and when you add it to hot water, sugar, and fresh milk.....oh so tasty. so we had the world's most amazing breakfast in the worlds most amazing breakfast location - life is good!! sarah, it really doesn't compare to cereal bars and no hot drink, but it's a close second, ha ha ha! after we ate, i rolled myself back to my tent, packed up, and hit the trail. this is our long day - 12 miles from camp to camp. but it's super cruisy and was a really enjoyable hike. after a bit we crested a hill, which was the last time we'd have a view of the french valley. i took a few pictures and said farewell (for now) to one of the most amazing places i've ever been to. and in response, the French Glacier let loose a massive avalanche down the face. sweetest farewell ever! 
on we went, enjoying the lowland scenery in front of us. i was bummed to be leaving the glaciated peaks but was stoked to check out the towers that Torres del Paine is named for (torres means towers in Spanish and paine means blue in Mapuche which is the language that the native people of Patagonia spoke). we discovered the shortcut that cut an hour or two off our time (yay) and laughed at all of the people wandering through the brush because they'd missed the shortcut and decided to make their own. eventually we got to Refugio Chileno where we were spending the night. ordinarily we'd push on and camp at Campamento Torres, one more hour up the trail, but we were a bit limited due to the tour and needed to stay at the refugios. really nice place and the people working there were awesome. i've worked in "wilderness" accommodation before and it can be really challenging and already some of the staff in the refugios were struggling to keep smiles on their faces. i think it's going to be a loooooooong season for them! but everyone working at Chileno was fabulous and we had a great night chatting with the other trekkers and sipping on instant asparagus soup. yum! the next morning our goal was to get up early and get to the base of Torres del Paine in order to hopefully see the towers turn red when the rising sun hits them. only problem is that the sun rises at 6am. and we were two hours from the base of the 
towers (which is why people try to camp at Campamento Torres - it's an hour closer to the towers but there isn't a refugio there). but hey i'm no stranger to alpine starts, so i was up at 3:30 packing up all of my gear and getting ready to hike up the trail! we fired our headlamps up only to find that annette's headlamp was almost out of batteries and she didn't have any replacements. but no hay problema, i just lit up the trail for both of us and off we went! it was a pitch black trail through a forest i couldn't see but the temperature was perfect and we spent the next hour and a half thoroughly enjoying ourselves. we could see the horizon getting lighter so we knew we had to hurry in order to catch the towers before sunrise. the last half hour of the trail to the base of the towers was really challenging. it's all big huge rocks and finding the trail was pretty interesting. but eventually we crested the top of the ridge and finally saw what we had hiked two hours at the asscrack of dawn to see......or at least we saw where the towers should have been, because in their place was a beautiful wall of fluffy white clouds! total whiteout up there! snow was blowing in and the wind was picking up and we decided to make ourselves cozy just in case the towers decided to peek through the clouds. we had brought our sleeping pads (exped synmat is just the thing for 6am tower visits, fyi) and bags so we climbed in and fired up our stove to make some hot tea
. we were nicely sheltered from the wind and had an incredible mini-breakfast of cookes, chocolate, and tea. suddenly the rocks to our right went from dark to bright red - sunrise! amazing how quickly the sun hit everything and although the towers never appeared, we did get to see the red color that they would have turned. and the sunrise was unreal - the red color through the clouds below made the entire sky look like it was on fire. took some of the coolest sunrise photos ever! after a bit the snow was picking up and we knew it was time to go. we packed up and headed down into a snowstorm. made going down pretty sketchy in some places because the snow was so slippery. but oh my goodness, descending the trail through the forest blanketed by a couple of inches of snow - one of the most beautiful sections of trail i've ever seen and definitely an experience i'll remember for the rest of my life. there's just nothing like the muted sound of the forest in a gentle snowstorm..... we got back to camp and had another fantastic oatmeal breakfast. i managed to spill half of mine on the ground, but the birds were oh so stoked that i was sharing with them! it was still snowing so we packed up and headed out. 15 minutes down the trail we dropped below the storm into gorgeous sunshine and traded out all of our warm snow clothes for t-shirts....still can't get over how quickly the weather can change in patagonia! we continued down to Hosteria Las Torres, which is the 4 star hotel in the park. it's 4 stars because there aren't any other hotels in the area to compare it to, but it's pretty darn fancy especially when you're standing there in muddy clothes after not showering for 5 days.... they have horses running wild through the area (ok so they're not
wild horses and i'm sure there are fences somewhere so they're not really running wild but it looks cool) and we enjoyed chilling in the sunshine for a couple of hours before boarding the shuttle which would take us back to the park entrance. even this was an adventure! right before the shuttle gets to the entrance, it crosses a small bridge. this bridge is really dodgy (let me quote the sign that's posted there: Attention to all vehicles. Bad condition bridge, please let all passengers get out of the car, before crossing the bridge") so the shuttle stops to let all of the people out so we can walk over it before the shuttle goes across. then the shuttle takes 15 minutes to cross it - the shuttle has literally one inch clearance on either side and they go REALLY slow so that they don't nick the side and send the whole thing collapsing into the river below. no one will replace the bridge because this area of the park is on private land and the park wants the land owners to pay for a new bridge and they want the park to pay for it, so no one pays for it and eventually someone will be going for an unpleasant swim. but hey, it's exciting. after that we loaded up on our bus and had a lovely, though smelly, ride home. and that dear friends was the 'W' in Torres del Paine! one of the greatest treks i've had the privilege to do and one that i will be getting back on as soon as possible. rain, snow, sun, and wind every day (and often every hour)! it's pretty odd camping at the refugios because it's not really camping (or at least not really your typical backpacking camping) but you can do the whole thing at free camps which lack the hostels, flush toilets, cold beer, and crowds, which is a little bit more my style (ok so the cold beer is totally my style but....you know what i mean). my next goal is to the the entire circuit - it's a big 60-90 mile (depending on your route) circle around the park that incorporates the 'w' in the bottom of the circle. the top part of the circuit is incredibly remote and provides a nice contrast to the more heavily traveled 'w'. 
i'd love to solo the trek; i really feel like i need a week to go out and challenge myself and sort the happenings of the last month out in my head....nothing like a trip into the wilderness to do just that. don't worry mom, it's totally safe! hope you all enjoyed the story and pictures - more to come! and the trail stays in brilliant shape through april so if any of you feel like coming down, i know of someone who would love to trek it again with you! hope everyone is well - till next time, enjoy life no matter what it brings and i'll see ya on the flipside! :) coke
Great re-cap of the trip! I wanna do the full circuit too... hmmmmm.....
ReplyDelete