Torres Del Paine (Patagonia)-Prep and 1st Day of O Circuit
When I got to Puerto Natales, I had no reservations for accommodations in Torres Del Paine, and was really not sure how it all worked. As soon as I could, I began asking questions and gathering as much information as I could from the hostel owners and from tour companies. There are many ways you can tackle Torres Del Paine, but there are two main trekking routes that one can use to explore Torres Del Paine: the "W" circuit (62 miles), which is the most popular, and the "O" circuit (81 miles), which is a bit longer, and includes the backside as well as the W circuit.
There are two companies that operate the private accommodations around the park (one that operates most of the accommodations for the W and one on the backside, and the other that operates most of the accommodations on the backside, and one for the W), so you have to make reservations with both to complete the O circuit. It is a bit complicated, but I was actually able to book all of the accommodations (4 campsites and 2 lodges (fancy hostels) for the O circuit for a planned 7-day/6-night trek to begin in a couple days.
You also have the option of camping in pre-setup tents, but I opted to rent camping equipment, including tent, sleeping bag, mat, and trekking poles, which in hindsight, turned out to be more expensive then just using the provided tents at the camp sites. However, I got the full backpacking experience, as my backpack weighed close to 40lbs, including my laptop of course. I could have brought all of that equipment with me from California, and that would have been a good idea if I went straight from California to here and straight back, but renting it here rather than lugging it around Chile for two months seemed like the better option.
I actually had a pretty good rental experience, and the owner was a pretty cool young guy who was in the process of patenting a device for driving tent stakes into the ground. I think it just might be marketable, and I hope to see it in REI one day. So most of our conversation revolved around the patent process and his invention.
On the first day of my trek, I took a 2-hour bus ride from Puerto Natales to the entrance of Torres Del Paine. When I got there, I had no idea what the process was, so I pretty much followed the crowd--having to stand in a long line to pay the entrance fee and register, watch a short briefing movie on what to do and what not to do in the park, and then ride in a four-wheel drive vehicle that took over a river that is not supposed to be there, but was due to flooding. I was dropped off with a bunch of people.
At this point, I still did not know what we were doing or what we had to do, but a few minutes later, a shuttle bus came by and picked us all up, dropping us off at the welcome center. I figured at that point, I needed to find my first accommodation, which was either going to be a lodge or a camp site. Eventually, I got to a lodge, and nope, that's not where I was staying.
But as I was attempting to find Las Torres Campground, I saw a full-grown eagle with some critter in her mouth. She flew into a tree where she had a nest with some eaglets that she fed the critter who I suspect was dead at this point.
I eventually found the campsite, registered, and set up my tent.
The plan for the day was to hike one leg of the W up to Mirador las Torres ("View of the Towers") and hike back down, spending the night in my tent--about an 8-hour roundtrip hike.
The day was forecasted to be sunny, and it was anything but. As I started up the mountain, there was an ominous cloud billowing down from it.
. . . and that is what I hiked into. First it was rain, then it was sleet, and then it was a full-on snow storm . . .
I wasn't much concerned about the direct affect that the weather had on me, but much more about the weather ruining my view of Mirador las Torres. As I was hiking up I saw lots of sad faces coming down--not a great sign, and with each passing hiker my heart sunk. And after a four-hour hike up hill, this is what I saw.
There was a nice turquoise lagoon, but Torres was no where to be found, hiding behind the clouds at the far end of the lagoon. In fact, I initially thought that the two rock formations in the second photograph were the Torres, and my thought was to myself, that's it? Even in direct sunlight, those would not be so impressive. So I made my way down the mountain in a sour mood, wondering if the hype over Torres del Paine was blown way out of proportion.
I did see pockets of blue sky on the way down . . .
. . . and I keep looking back at the Torres, hoping for a miracle that it would clear up. But every time there was a little blue, it just disappeared.
It just was not going to happen that day. Complete disappointment, and I had a four-hour hike back down the mountain I still had to finish. I was not a happy camper--literally . . .
. . . and the terrain did not exactly make it an easy hike . . .
I attempted to salvage my day, by taking pictures of whatever I thought were scenic on the way down. So when there is rain, there are waterfalls.
I went back to the lodge, which was operated by the same company that operated the campsite, and had a nice warm sandwich and a Pisco Sour (actually two, because the waitress felt bad that they ran out of pizza), while being grateful that I was inside rather than outside, even if it was in my tent.
That evening, I cozied up in the nice warm lounge of the lodge with my computer and did work until midnight. As I was leaving to go back to my tent, I took note that there really wasn't anyone around to monitor the place, and that they kept the outside door unlocked. So I thought to myself, hmmmm, if I needed to stay another night at the end of my trek without reservations, this might be a nice place to do it . . .
#Torresdelpaine #patagonia #Chile
There are two companies that operate the private accommodations around the park (one that operates most of the accommodations for the W and one on the backside, and the other that operates most of the accommodations on the backside, and one for the W), so you have to make reservations with both to complete the O circuit. It is a bit complicated, but I was actually able to book all of the accommodations (4 campsites and 2 lodges (fancy hostels) for the O circuit for a planned 7-day/6-night trek to begin in a couple days.
You also have the option of camping in pre-setup tents, but I opted to rent camping equipment, including tent, sleeping bag, mat, and trekking poles, which in hindsight, turned out to be more expensive then just using the provided tents at the camp sites. However, I got the full backpacking experience, as my backpack weighed close to 40lbs, including my laptop of course. I could have brought all of that equipment with me from California, and that would have been a good idea if I went straight from California to here and straight back, but renting it here rather than lugging it around Chile for two months seemed like the better option.
I actually had a pretty good rental experience, and the owner was a pretty cool young guy who was in the process of patenting a device for driving tent stakes into the ground. I think it just might be marketable, and I hope to see it in REI one day. So most of our conversation revolved around the patent process and his invention.
On the first day of my trek, I took a 2-hour bus ride from Puerto Natales to the entrance of Torres Del Paine. When I got there, I had no idea what the process was, so I pretty much followed the crowd--having to stand in a long line to pay the entrance fee and register, watch a short briefing movie on what to do and what not to do in the park, and then ride in a four-wheel drive vehicle that took over a river that is not supposed to be there, but was due to flooding. I was dropped off with a bunch of people.
But as I was attempting to find Las Torres Campground, I saw a full-grown eagle with some critter in her mouth. She flew into a tree where she had a nest with some eaglets that she fed the critter who I suspect was dead at this point.
I eventually found the campsite, registered, and set up my tent.
The plan for the day was to hike one leg of the W up to Mirador las Torres ("View of the Towers") and hike back down, spending the night in my tent--about an 8-hour roundtrip hike.
The day was forecasted to be sunny, and it was anything but. As I started up the mountain, there was an ominous cloud billowing down from it.
. . . and that is what I hiked into. First it was rain, then it was sleet, and then it was a full-on snow storm . . .
I wasn't much concerned about the direct affect that the weather had on me, but much more about the weather ruining my view of Mirador las Torres. As I was hiking up I saw lots of sad faces coming down--not a great sign, and with each passing hiker my heart sunk. And after a four-hour hike up hill, this is what I saw.
I did see pockets of blue sky on the way down . . .
. . . and I keep looking back at the Torres, hoping for a miracle that it would clear up. But every time there was a little blue, it just disappeared.
It just was not going to happen that day. Complete disappointment, and I had a four-hour hike back down the mountain I still had to finish. I was not a happy camper--literally . . .
. . . and the terrain did not exactly make it an easy hike . . .
I attempted to salvage my day, by taking pictures of whatever I thought were scenic on the way down. So when there is rain, there are waterfalls.
When I got to the bottom of the mountain, I looked up one last time to see what I had hiked out of.
I went back to the lodge, which was operated by the same company that operated the campsite, and had a nice warm sandwich and a Pisco Sour (actually two, because the waitress felt bad that they ran out of pizza), while being grateful that I was inside rather than outside, even if it was in my tent.
That evening, I cozied up in the nice warm lounge of the lodge with my computer and did work until midnight. As I was leaving to go back to my tent, I took note that there really wasn't anyone around to monitor the place, and that they kept the outside door unlocked. So I thought to myself, hmmmm, if I needed to stay another night at the end of my trek without reservations, this might be a nice place to do it . . .
#Torresdelpaine #patagonia #Chile
Comments
Post a Comment