Torres Del Paine, Chile
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
We awoke early Thursday morning after a late night of packing. To our delight we found Chilean breakfasts are more substantial than Argentine ones. Instead of dry toast and jam there was yoghurt, pound cake, slices of ham and cheese, coffe, and the ubiquitous Chilean buns; white, round and flat with a dimpled top and always consumed at varying degrees of staleness. We figure they must bake them and wait two days before they´re sold. At 7:30 am we piled onto a bus filled with other trekkers bound for the park. We hoped they weren´t all on the same route as us. We planned to do the Circuit- a trek 123 km long taking 9 nights and 10 days which circled the Torres group of mountains; a cluster of jagged and distinctive peaks towering above the surrounding landscape. The trail also passes a number of scenic lakes and rivers with a traverse above the massive Grey Glacier. We picked up the trail from the main park gate; a bustling area made even more chaotic by a resident herd of guanacos which grazed and wandered the parking lot freely.
After 15 minutes of hiking we were relieved to see only two other couples had set out on the trail with us. With each group walking at its own pace we soon found ourselves alone having sped past the others. The first leg of the hike was an easy flat section. It meandered northwestward through shrubby plains and burned out forest and provided a short glimpse of the Torres, which would remain hidden for the next 8 days. The first nightñs camp was in an open grassy meadow. The grounds even included a sink, toilet and cold shower. It seemd a perfectly tranquil location until we sat still and swarms of hungery mosquitoes, which seemed to like the taste of Nigel´s blood, descended. As the evening wore on they got even worse. Fortunately, these mosquitoes were less hardy than their Canadian cousins; one light swat was enough to put them down and their bites tended not to swell or itch. The second day started off with the ubiquitous bowl of oatmeal before we set out for the campground at Dickson Lake. Allow us to brag for a moment about our breakfast; we don't eat just brad sticky oats. Over many past trips we have perfected oatmeal. It is a mix of quick oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, powdered milk and heaps of dried fruit. Even after 9 days in a row it is still enjoyably to eat. Getting back to the hike though, the map quoted a hiking time of 6 hours to the next site, but we did it in just over 4 with a lunch break. This map would prove to be dubiously inaccurate throughout the trip. The trail started out climbing steadily up and over the foot of an adjacent mountain before skirting above the Rio and Lago Paine
. Once past the lake we descended into a boggy, muddy lowland which we slogged through until climbing a steep ridge. The view from the top was a welcome one; Lago Dickson backed by glacier draped mountains and fronted by a small grassy meadow in which the hostel and campground lay. We were fast enough, having passed several other hikers on the way, to get a good site next to a picnic table. The campground had all the amenities: toilets, sinks and expensive hot showers, as well a small shed sold a variety of food items such as cookies, canned veggies, tuna, rive and even wine. A little expensive, but still reasonable considering the isolation. We would find these little stores at nearly every campground and discover that it was horses that carried the goods. Another interesting feature of the campground was the 5 horses allowed to wander freely. We had horses grazing on our campground, or perhaps we were camping on their grazing ground¿ After a night of rain and more mosquitoes, we broke camp early and set out for Los Ferros; our next destination. After a cold, windy, muddy and fairly mundane 4 hours of hiking we arrived at a campground sandwiched between the shallow Rio Los Perros and one of the parks lesser peaks. Thankfully the campground also sported an oil drum stove heated shelter constructed of tarps and wooden poles; rustic but warm. That night we were involuntarily serenaded by the bongo guys whose vodka-fuelled drumming stretched well past midnight. They were not our favourite's people on the trail as they seemed to follow us wherever we went
. Another early start was accomplished despite sore muscles and a poor night's sleep for Nigel, thanks to the budget sleeping mat. The first obstacle was the John Garner Pass which topped out at 1240 meters. It took a steady 2 and a half hours of climbing to reach the top. Starting out we crossed a muddy area below the tree line, accurately described as peanut butter, and then climbed above the trees to the head of the valley along a moderately slopping scree track. Despite a frigid gale, upon reaching the apex of the pass we had to stop and admire the view. Filling the valley below us was the massive Grey Glacier. At 30 km long and over 5 km wide, it proved that glaciers can still be a large and active force outside the Arctic Circle. We then follows a steep descent which wound its way down below the tree line and paralleled the edge of the glacier still far below. We camped that night at a nicely situated yet extremely dusty campground. A short side trail led to a lookout. From this point you could look down in the face of the glacier; a towering cliff of ice which would spontaneously drop house-sized chunks of ice into Lago Grey below. Day 5 was our most perilous day of hiking. We made our way along the shore of Lago Grey before cutting across a narrow piece of land to reach our destination; a Refugio and campground on the shore of Lago Pehoe. What made the hike so difficult was that the trail was cut as a traverse along the slopes of the mountain as it plunged into the lake. We followed a narrow track that clung to the side of the mountain and was exposed to ferocious and cold winds, due to fire that had destroyed all the large vegetation
. Some gusts were so strong that we would have to stop and wait until they passed or else risk being blown off the trail and down the mountain to the chilly waters below. Compounding the difficulty was the crossing of two steep and eroded ravines. This was accomplished with the aid of roughly constructed log ladders tethered to the cliff faces by a spider web of rope and wire. The pot of gold at the end of this rainbow was the Pehoe campground which offered a beautiful (and warm) cooking shelter and blissfully hot (and free) showers. On day 6 we made a short hike to campground Italiano where we set up camp and left our packs behind to do a short side trip up the Valle Frances. From here we were treated with sunny grandstand views of Cuerno Norte and the small, but very active, Del Fraces glacier which would thunderously drop chunks of ice into the valley below on a regular basis. The ensuing noise of the falling ice could be heard for miles. And on the 7th day we rested. We only hike for 2 hours to the Refugio Los Cuernos. We found a nice but windy campsite and whiled away the afternoon playing cards and dealing with some incredibly stinky laundry. We opted to buy dinner at the Refugio that night, which turned out to be a tasty 3 course meal, but unfortunately the quantities were insufficient to satisfy Nigel's trekking hunger. To add insult to injury, the Refugio had run out of both beer and wine! We left Los Cuernos early the next morning. The rest day was over and we had a lot of ground to cover.
From almost the doorstep of the Refugio we started to climb, and continued to do so for the next 3 hours. We got a short downhill reprieve just before lunch at Refugio Chileno. Here we indulged in a few luxury items: beer, cookies and some ludicrously expensive potato chips. They all tasted fabulous. We left Chileno and climbed for another hour to reach the Torres campground. We managed the days hike in 4 and a half hours, the map and guide book said in would take 7; we're pretty speedy apparently. By this point Erin was completely wiped out and insisted on a nap before attempting the final push to see the famed Torres Del Paine. It was a good thing too, ad this last stretch of trail was up a steep angle and consisted mostly of clamouring over glacial rubble. From the top the view was spectacular. It was a clear day and we saw the Torres towering above us in the late afternoon sunshine. Good thing for the sun too, as the usual frigid gale was doing its best to topple all of sightseers over. We snapped a few photos and took a few minutes to admire these awesome peaks we had come so far to see. Up here we also decided that we would not opt to return for the sunrise the next morning as this required a 4 am wake up and we were just too damn tired. We also decide that we would catch the bus back to town the next day instead of camping another night near the park gate; we were long overdue for a proper shower and a night in a proper bed. The upside was that day 9 was all downhill and we enjoyed an easy hike backtracking to the park entrance. Along the way we spotted some condors circling the skies, a Patagonia grey fox and some suspected puma tracks. We took a few last parting photographs before hopping on a bus back to town. We won't bore you with the details of our afternoon in town but we ended up looking and smelling a lot better.
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contrasts
It seems to be an area of contrasts: it's cold, then Nigel's in a T-shirt (or was that the only clean shirt he had at the time?), a hawk and a sparrow and one wasn't chasing the other; contrasting blue and white ice vs. the grey scree. We don't see much green. Here all we see is white today (March 5) - Shore Road blocked by 3 abandoned cars, plows off all roads. At least the hydro is on. We think you should stay there until spring. Love, Mom and Dad