Patagonia - Trekking in Torres del Paine (Chile)
We decided that the best (and cheapest) place to prepare was back in El Calafate so we hopped on an early morning bus there and booked 2 nights at a small hotel.
Our aim was to do the 7 day Circuit route of Torres del Paine which is a few days longer than the standard “W” trek which takes 4-5 days. In order to do this there were a few things we needed to do:
- Buy camping equipment
- Buy enough food for 2 people for at least 8 days without any supplies
- Organise a bus to Puerto Natales (the closest town to the park) and also sort accommodation there
We had heard that it was possible to do some fishing in the park so I enquired further about this at a fishing store in El Calafate. It turned out that there were definitely opportunities to catch sea-run trout and salmon. That was me sold so I ordered an entire spinning setup. The shop also had camping supplies so we ended up purchasing a small tent and sleeping mats too!
Next stop was the supermarket to buy our food. Gourmet was definitely out of the question… we stuck to 15min pasta packs (there were 2 varieties… broccoli and carbonara as I recall) for dinner, several packs of crackers, a jar of peanut butter, salami (for lunch) and honey, oats and raisins for breakfast. We got a ton of breakfast cereal bars to fill in the gaps too.
Das Rollende Hotel - Luxury on 6 wheels
The bus and accommodation were easily organized from the comfort of our room. The next day we were off! A 6 hour bus journey to
Driving through the Patagonian plains
Learning some Spanish on the bus
As the park is in
A bit about Puerto Natales from the Lonely Planet:
Puerto Natales: population 18.000
Let’s get right to the point - Puerto Natales is the gateway to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine and not much else. It’s not the most attractive town in the region (nor the least attractive) - but considering that it’s the departure point for the best national park in
Arriving fairly late at Puerto Natales, we checked into our hostel, Niko II Adventure (pretty weird name right?!). After a quick discussion with the staff about our trekking plans we were made aware that the weather in Torres had been very severe and wet the last week and that many of the bridges on both the Circuit route and W had been washed away. In flat terms we were told that the Circuit was not an option anymore and that the W could be hazardous too…. I almost thought Riverdance would break down crying at this point and I felt a similar disappointment.
We sketched out a basic plan that we hoped would work out given the circumstances but as we were moving to another hostel the next day we thought to get a second opinion.
Having a stroll around town ourselves, we felt the description by Lonely Planet was fairly accurate. Not much seemed to be happening in the town and just about every second person carried a backpack. The sky and clouds however were always quite striking and made for some very interesting and dramatic pictures
Sun setting in Puerto Natales
Skipping stones into the ocean
El Living Cafe... a pretty chilled out vegetarian place
Riverdance having some of the local Mate tea (very bitter but nice and relaxing)
Our next hostel, Lili´s Patagonicos was run by a 25yr old Chilean chap. The place had a fairly bizarre setup. The front lawn was dominated by two poles stuck in the ground and joined by some heavy duty synthetic strapping to form a sort of tightrope. It appeared that the staff tried to walk and jump on this rope all day….
The inside foyer had one wall that was converted into a climbing wall with all the grippings and angles you would expect of one in a typical gym. However, our rooms were fine and the rest of the place seemed fairly normal.
Our new hostel manager informed us that we should definitely do the Circuit and said that the problems on the route had all been fixed already and we would be sissy girls if we backed out. Now we were confused so instead of arguing anymore we just decided to get to the park and take it from there.
Booking our bus tickets and stripping our bags of everything except the bare essentials we were ready to go.
What we had to fit in our packs (excluding clothes and other essentials)
That evening we visited a local recommended seafood restaurant called El Maritimo for our last civilized meal in a while. We had calamari and mixed salmon and seabass cervice (raw fishcooked in lemon juice and chilli) to start. I had a salmon patillon (salmon steak cooked in a mix of peppers, bacon and cheese) while Riverdance had Sea Bass patillon. Some local white wines topped off an excellent meal.
El Maritimo (it had moved from it's setting on the ocean to a more downtown venue)
A delicious mixed Sea Bass and Salmon Ceviche (A local speciality which is raw fish "cooked" in lemon juice)
Sea Bass Patillon (a sauce of cheese, lemon, bacon and peppers)Falling asleep quite contentedly at a reasonable hour there was only one more thing to do.
The following account is a testimony to mettle, grit and determination
First a profile of our intrepid adventurers:
ADAM FRANKE-MATTHECKA
Adam and Bob II
Age: 25
Weight: 86kg
Likes: Bob, Bob II, racking up mosquito kills (total count stood at an estimated 500 squished mozzies), taking “shortcuts”, peanut butter on crackers, Thundercats
Dislikes: W hikers, W campsites, downhill sections, mosquitos
Star sign: Taurus
Quote: “If you can dream it, you can do it!”, “DIE MOSQUITO!!!… DIE DIE DIE!!!”
RIVERDANCE (aka RiverTrek aka Elaine Kinsella)
Riverdance with Marley
Age: Early 20s
Weight: between 30 and 80kg
Likes: Berocca, porridge in the morning, Marley, moaning on downhill sections, yellow rubber gloves
Dislikes: Mud, W hikers, W campsites, the toilet facilities (ie. the outdoors), downhill sections, mosquitos
Star Sign: Capricorn
Quote: “Owwww!!!”; “Uuuurgghhh!!!”; “I'm hungryyyy!!”, “loooooser!”
DAY 1: Administracion office – Campamento Serrano (7km, 2hrs, easy difficulty)
The
The weather report for the next 4 days was predicting sunny skies with odd bits of rain, snow, hail and gale force winds (in other words fairly typical weather for Patagonia). We took this as encouraging news as if they say the weather is going to be bad then you really know you are gonna get it BAD!
The plan we had worked out was to go to the
The most common route that tourists do at Torres is called the “W” after the shape of the path travelled. This typically takes between 4 and 5 days and the views are of the famous “Torres” peaks, and Glacier Grey. The Circuit as the name implies circumnavigates the entire range in a large circle. See the map below.
The river was about a 2hr hike from our stop so we strapped on our backpacks and set forth. The weather was stunningly clear but incredibly windy and when we reached the river it really did look amazing looking back at the mountain range
The Torres Range from Rio Serrano
We now know where the Toyota Hylux Adverts come from
Riverdance having her first taste of spinning for Salmon
We decided to start fishing where the river flowed out of Lago Toro. The water was a stunning azure and crystal clear. I arranged all the tackle and gave Riverdance a crash course in lure fishing which she picked up with great alacrity. Even though the wind was very strong it was fantastic just standing on the banks of the river admiring the views all around us. We tried for quite a while and didn´t get much luck. A fellow angler however managed to hook into a sizeable salmon! I was incredibly envious! This one weighed in at 10kg but apparently that is quite small. The previous week a 27kg fish had been landed… that´s a lot of sushi!
A nice 10kg Salmon for the pan
After some time we decided it was best to setup camp so we moved down to the site only to be told that they were “full”. I stared incredulously at him and the huge expanse of vacant spots. I thought he had to be joking. However he was insistent we could not stay there (even after we offered money). There was also no way to get back to our bus stop barring walking back the way we came. So we trudged back feeling fairly cheated and disgruntled. We caught the last bus in the evening and got a transfer to our campsite at the Hosteria de Torres. It was actually a very pleasant campsite and we settled down to a nice pasta and good nights rest.
DAY 2: Campamento Torres – Campamento Seron (12km, 4hrs, medium difficulty)
As our plans had changed slightly, we now decided that we would start the circuit that morning. Packing up tent, checking the map we got on the path for our first section… a mild 4 hr hike to Campamento Seron. Trekking also requires some very supportive comrades, so we picked up Bob and Marley (our walking sticks)
The weather was warm and calm and we made good progress. We crested the first major hill and descended into a riverine valley with a huge open plain covered in daisies. It looked fairly idyllic… but we were soon proved wrong.
The Torres peeking out in the background
What a lovely looking river valley. What could possibly go wrong down there......?
We guessed these were supply horses for the remote Refugios. One gaucho was herding the whole lot!
We took a short break in the sun to admire our surroundings. It took all of 10 seconds for the mosquitos to find us. The guidebooks all say that they are most active at dusk and dawn… well that was utter crap!! We were assaulted mercilessly throughout our walk in the valley. Thank god for insect repellant! We lathered ourselves with the stuff. It did stop them largely from biting us but not from hovering in a swarm about 15cm away from our faces. They even landed on our clothing and managed to get a few sneaky bites in through thin layers!! Some campers we met had not brought any repellant and out of sympathy I lent them mine to give them some brief respite. The mozzie victims were pretty easy to spot as they tended to run along the path with hoodies and long sleeves pulled up to conceal all exposed flesh!… rule number 1: DO NOT STOP EVER OR THEY WILL GET YOU!!
Along the way we spotted some interesting birds of prey along the path. They seemed quite unconcerned with our presence so we got some nice close-up pictures of them
CaraCara birds. They will apparently eat anything
We reached
Campamento Seron
Getting some cooking done with Heiko from Germany
Rice with Salami and poached eggs... tasted a lot better than it looked
The basic rule of the Circuit trek is to carry one set of clothes for trekking and one set for sleeping in. This ensures you are carrying the minimum weight, an important aspect when you have to carry around a heavy pack for 100km!
After killing all the mozzies that made it into our tent we managed to pass out quite swiftly.
DAY 3: Campamento Seron – Campamento Dickson (19km, 6hrs, medium difficulty)
It was my turn to cook some porridge in the morning. Adding some raisins and honey it was quite delicious. We scrambled the last 2 eggs with salami, applied generous amounts of insect repellant and packed up.
The trek to Dickson followed the main river (that flowed out from Lago Dickson) upstream. The valley was still in flood and the river had overflowed and formed a sort of swamp next to the banks. We tried to avoid these areas as much as possible, doing a bit of cross country trekking in the hills. Passing by Lago Paine 2 hours later we found ourselves at the back of the range and could even see the Torres poking out. On the opposite side we could see incredible views of Glacier Dickson covered in cloud (the pictures weren´t so clear unfortunately).
Heavy rains had caused the riverbanks to overflow and form a marshland. Goretex boots were a godsend!
Oxbow lake? Water was stunningly clear
One of the occasional pink ribbons guiding our way
All the berries in Patagonia are edible but that doesn't mean they taste good
Looking towards the Glacier Dickson in the distance. This was a particularly wet and muddy section!Arriving at Dickson we were fairly knackered and the wind had picked up a bit making the sweat on our backs turn to ice! The campsite itself was situated on a small promenade pushing into the middle of Lago Dickson and looked over by the Glacier. The views were spectacular and we truly felt isolated on this little jutting spit of land in the middle of a glacial lake! We managed to grab a very very cold shower. The cold and mosquitos were a social damper so we cooked up our meal quickly and retired for the night.
Campamento Dickson jutting into Lago Dickson and overlooked by Glacier Dickson on the right
DAY 4: Campamento Dickson – Campamento Paso (via Campamento Perros and
This was the day of judgement! There had been a fairly hefty storm the night before where we were kept up by the fear of our tent pegs ripping out under the fierce gales buffeting down from the glacial valley above us. We emerged unscathed and proceeded towards Camp Perros with vigor. After a 4hr trek where we passed a nice glacier, we arrived at Perros. A German couple who had been on the same schedule as us had already arrived and were preparing to carry on to the pass… anything that they could do, we could do too! A cuppa soup was prepared to warm the insides and then we were off again on a fairly serious uphill section. Popping in and out of tree cover we noticed that a strong wind was now blowing in from over the pass and into our faces… *groan*! It got even worse when a misstimed bootstep meant the death of Bob!!! Bob II however was quickly found and we resumed.
The open marshlands and highliand gave way to the Ewok forest and more mud
A small glacier en route to Camp Perros 
We didn't fancy this camp so decided to pass through it after a warm cup-a-soup
We came from waaaaay back there 
The final stretch!
We persevered and breezed past quite a few other trekkers. The final stretch was quite treacherous with a combination of a very steep slope loose, shale rock underfoot and a strong wind that was seemingly conspiring to push us off the edge. I almost lost my footing a few times! We finally reached the top of John Gardner pass. The views were spectacular! It is difficult to describe the view of Glacier Grey on the opposite side of the pass. It stretched out in front of us in a vast ocean of ice. The light would at times catch the glacier at different angles showing off an array of blue and grey spectra.
It's a pretty difficult thing to explain when you look over the glacier
The top marking pole had everything from tennis balls to girls knickers... now it was getting the SA national flag.... Shosholoza!
Victory!
We came all the way from the bottom
The emergency whiskey supply was brought out
Eating cake at the top of the pass - we deserved it!
After some time admiring the views on both sides we started the descent. It was getting late and even though we had made very good progress, we were tired and wanted to get to camp soon.
Downhill was torture… steep steps and shale made the going treacherous and by the time we reached camp, our feet, ankles and knees were in agony.
Some more incredible views of the glacier
Sweat became more of a problem than the rain
Here I am dozing off in front of the cooking stove
Ravioli a la Mush. This one was special as we dropped in a packet of tomato sauce... such luxuries!
The face says it all - "DO NOT MESS WITH THE IRISHWOMAN WIELDING RUBBER GLOVES AND SCRUBBING BRUSH"
DAY 5: Campamento Paso to Refugio Pehue (20 km, 8hrs, medium difficulty)
We got an early start this morning and we were flying downhill with Glacier Grey on our right. Some steep ravines and ladder sections made things interesting but posed no problem for our intrepid adventurers.
We moved through Campamento Guardas and then Refugio Grey (where we took a brief break) and arrived at Refugio Pehue (sitting on the banks of Lago Pehue) well into the afternoon.
We spotted some of the indigenous woodpeckers.
We had heard that bridges on the connecting paths between Pehue and Torres camps had been washed away and it was now very difficult and dangerous to trek. Lago Pehue has a Catamaran service to ferry trekkers across to our original starting point at the Torres camp so we hopped on.
Ferrying through the flooded basin to Campamento Torres
DAY 6: Campamento Torres – Puerto Natales (8km, 5hrs, medium difficulty)
Final day was spent viewing the Torres peaks and then heading back to catch the bus to Puerto Natales where hot food, warm showers and other such luxuries awaited us.
After some tearful goodbyes to Bob II and Marley we got on the bus.
Finished at last! We were very very smelly and tired
Mission was accomplished and all we needed to do now was cleanup and get some laundry done to spare people from the stench we had built up over the last 6 days! Celebrations were held at a local Lamb Asado restaurant where we had some of the best lamb I have ever tasted.
Lunching at El Living CafeWe spent another 2 days in Puerto Natales just relaxing and getting stuff organised. 2 days doesn't sound like long but we got really really bored and couldn't wait for the next leg.
Comments