Torres del Paine, Chile

(m) The cruise disembarked in Punta Arenas (Chile) where we jumped on the first bus to Puerto Natales and checked into Hostal Las Carretas. This mellow port town serves as the gateway to Torres del Paine (Towers of Paine) National Park.

Torres del Paine is a three hour bus ride from Natales on a well maintained dirt road. The park is extremely popular, particularly in January and February, and arguably has the best trekking in South America. At the base of the eastern side of the Andes, Torres has an abundance of glaciers, lakes, rivers and breathtaking peaks which were indeed quite amazing. In addition, what makes Torres unique is the availability of “refugios” (basically rustic hotels) spread conveniently across the trek so, if desired, you can hike for five days and each night have a hotel room, hot shower, and prepared hot meal, what luxury! We planned to camp but would still end up enjoying a beer and one hot shower (well, Trin´s was cold) at these establishments along the way. Most trekkers opt for either the 8-10 full trek or the “W” which is an abbreviated 4-6 day version hitting most of the highlights the park has to offer. The W refers to the outline the trail makes on a map and is what we selected as our plan.

We spent the afternoon shopping for our rations. There is no dehydrated food available down here so creativity is key to come up with a palatable menu that is both nourishing and not too heavy. Thankfully Trin does a GREAT job at it.

We were amazed at how cheap our three course dinner with wine was, just $20, or so we thought. Our guide book (2004) mentioned 1 dollar was worth 700 Chilean pesos. Eventually we discovered with our weak greenback you will get just 450 Chilean pesos hence our supplies and dinner were nearly double what we anticipated though thankfully still inexpensive by American standards.

Day 1: 6am bus ride to Torres.One hour catamaran ride across Lake Pehoe to Pehoe campground.Hike up to Grey campground with some great views of Grey Lake and Glacier Grey.

The catamaran was packed with trekkers all with the same agenda as us, the W.

A view of Cerro Paine Grande from the catamaran.

Our first siting of Grey Lake, Glacier Grey, some vibrantly blue icebergs. Our destination is the far right corner of the lake.

Day 2: Backtrack the same way passed Pehoe campground on to Italiano campground. Our longest day, roughly 11 miles. Rainy and windy initially, Trin not happy. We have now completed an L. While in the tent, we can hear the sound of ice falling off of Frances Glacier high above us.

Cuerno Principal with Lake Stokenburg in the foreground

Day 3: A bit tired, we decide to diverge from the standard agenda and do the relatively short yet steep hike up to Britanico campground through Frances Valley and set up camp. Most people day hike up and back, without packs, and continue on to Los Cuernos campground. Windy, minimal rain, very cold. Day hiked from camp up to the mirador (view point) to take in the valley below and the surrounding towers and glaciers.

Trin cooking dinner in the wind/rain shelter at Britanico.

Day 4: The weather is great, hot and no wind!! Trek back down the valley is fantastic with 360 degree views, our favorite thus far. Pass Italiano and continue on to Los Cuernos. Shower, drink some beer, and play cards in the warm refugio.

Morning sun reflecting on what we coined "the sharkfin"

A shot back down the valley we came up the previous day.

Trin crossing the suspension bridge near Italiano looking back up Frances Valley and Glacier.

Trin washing peanut butter (which we ate every day) off of her hands in Lake Nordenskjold.


I went for a quick COLD dip in Lake Nordenskjold. Two unfortunate hikers saw me in my undies. It has been about 10 weeks since my last haircut, 4 weeks longer than ever before!

Cuerno Principal.


Trin refilling our water bottle. No water purification required in Torres or Fitz Roy!

Day 5: Low on money, food, and energy we shorten our W to a U with a long tail and hike out to catch the bus back to Puerto Natales.

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