We left Punta Arenas on a short bus ride into Puerto Natales. There we left our bags at the bus office and searched out a hostel. Because we arrived early in the morning, we had some time to be picky. After visiting a few hostels and realizing that the Oregonian owned Erratic Rock was full we ventured back to a hostel on the Plaza de Armas that seemed decent. Our visit to Erratic Rock proved to be helpful as we were told about their ¨three o´clock talk¨ which answers every question you might have about the park.
Josh picked a fine local establishment for lunch, chosen because his guide book said that it had good sandwiches and the best book exchange in town. The book exchange was disappointing, but I got a peanut butter and banana sandwich with my own pot of earl grey tea so I was pretty stoked. After touring the town a bit and paying nearly $20.00 for some dried fruit and nuts for the hike we went to "the talk." The hour and a half discussion was based all around the parks features, trails, weather and how to prepare for the trip in terms of clothing, gear, food and route planning. We walked away with a lot of information and decided to extend our trip from three days in the park to four so we could complete the ¨W¨ trail. This trail included a catamaran ride to a trailhead, then venture along a lake to a camp near the base of a glacier, then return on the same trail and walk along a lake shore to continue up another valley full of hanging glaciers. After camping at the bottom of the valley we would continue along the lake and hike up another much deeper valley to camp at the base of Las Torres, the main feature of the park, three granite spires so steep they do not hold snow.
For the remainder of our final day in civilization we build a menu and shopping list and got some last minute supplies for the trip. FYI, anyone who plans to go to the park and wants to buy bread, DO NOT grocery at 8:00 at night. As a matter of fact, go to the store before you make your menu so you can see what’s in stock, we ended up taking canned food into the backcountry, not how I like to roll. Josh and I spent the remaining hours in the night breaking down our packs and repacking them with backpacking gear, so the luxury items were thrown into garbage bags and put into storage. While packing, one of the crazy bug bites on my leg started to act up. It caused my shin and calf to swell up and become very sore. Sore to the point that I couldn’t flex my calf muscles, I thought to myself I might just be doing a bus and boat ride for this trip. I went to bed praying for my calf not to be the size of my thigh in the morning because it was on pace for just that. By morning the swelling was down and like an old man’s hip my leg was pain free after a bit of stretching and cursing.
Our first day on the trail was great, there was sun and a lot of wind. The wind was tolerable because the temperatures were alright and there was no precipitation, yet. We boarded the boat, threw our packs into the heaping pile near the bow and sat amongst tourists from around the world (not a local in the whole bunch) drinking our hot chocolate. Once the boat arrived we were at what was essentially a resort. There were hotel rooms, a large camping area, hot showers, and an enclosed gazebo with hot running water and stoves piped with gas, all free for backpackers to use, well except the hotel. We ventured past this amazing locale after purchasing some bread and peanut butter and headed up to Lago Grey. This lake is named for the grey color that comes from the Grey Glacier that rests in the lake, unleashing icebergs pushed by the wind.
That night we camped on the lake, paying $7.00 each to camp in a tent we brought ourselves. That day on the trail we met Jamie a gal from Hood River, OR, Shin a nice kid from Korea (who had never been camping before) and Ella, a British gal who just got off an ocean research ship. We cooked dinner together and relaxed in the refugio, a small lodge in the camp, for some tea. That night while sleeping Josh and I were visited by a fox who tried to steal the food Josh had put outside the tent against the rangers´ warnings. I slept through the whole bit.
We awoke to a chilly morning, donned our hiking clothes, munched down some oatmeal, broke camp and trekked back to the lodge near the boat dock. We ate lunch in the luxurious gazebo consuming avocados and tortillas. Then began the death march, the route we were doing was usually set up for five days instead of four, so this was the day to make up some time. We would hike along Lago Pehoe, make camp at the base of the valley in Campo Italiano and then run up the Valle del Frances to see some glaciers and the backside of the Torres that the park is named after. We ran the first section of trail, completing a 2.5 hour trek in less than two hours.
After setting up camp we set off up the valley late in the afternoon with dinner fixins’ so we could eat at one of the higher camps. The wind was driving snow and rain into our faces and through our clothes. The conditions would have been tolerable if we knew there was some sort of refuge or great view at the end, but visibility was so low that turning back didn´t seem like a bad idea at all. We retreated to the camp and made dinner with the same crew laughing off the cold and enjoying some tea before bed...I remind you that the sun does not go down until well after 10:00, but we do. Falling asleep was difficult because it was so cold, but hearing the ice calving off the glacier upstream was somewhat comforting.
Ella furnished some fine tea that she pilfered from her research ship and served as good motivation for breaking camp. After breakfast we parted ways from the girls as they would be spending the night at the next refugio while we would lay down some big miles that day to cozy in for our last night on the trail. We took off ahead of Shin who would catch up with us. We made our way to the refugio at Los Cuernos which had a nice little dining room with a wood stove and a nice view of the lake. I used a bathroom that truly showed the impact that wind has on the landscape there…dirtiest bathroom I have been to outside a northern California dive bar.
We kept pressing on past the refugio without Shin and along the way had to put on sun screen and then snow clothes. During a break in the snow we stopped and had lunch in a small gulley. It was the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich served with beer I have ever had. Though it was short lived because another snow flurry scooted us out of the gully and back onto the trail…at least it brought a nice tail wind. We finally made the shortcut up to our next checkpoint and battled uphill to the next refugio.
In the sprint to the next top we passed a few groups. Once we got to the refugio and inside we noticed the people we blew past were some of our hiking partners from the first day! It really is a small world on the trail there. After stopping for some overpriced instant coffee we entered a forest reminiscent of the northwest. There was a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees being snowed on as we climbed higher up the river valley. We finally made it to the Los Torres camp where we checked in with the rangers and setup our tent.
After using a toilet with plumbing for the first time in a few days I walked out to hear a “Chris?” in a woman’s voice. My first thought was, “All of the girls I have met on the trail are either not staying here tonight or are already here.” I turned around and it was Antje, one of the German sisters! We exchanged hellos and chatted a bit as we both froze where we stood. Her and her sister had just made it into camp and were doing a modified version of the “W” and were camping for the night. The characters in that camp turned out to be a lot of good people. While Josh was making an amazing quinoa curry preceded by the last of our garlic bread we chatted with three guys, two of which were from Seattle proper. We also were part of a Hanukkah celebration that night complete with lighting the menorah and singing songs in Hebrew. It disappointed Antje when she didn’t see us singing the songs because for some reason she thought Josh and I were Jewish because we had taken her to a hostel full of Jews. (It turns out that it was the time of year that the latest Israeli military cohort was ending their enlistment, so they were all traveling South America!).
The next morning Josh and I were up at 4:20 to catch the 5:30 sunrise on The Torres. We packed up our gear and headed up to the viewpoint which had quite a bit of snow at the top. Waiting with about 15 other people for the sun to rise we made water for coffee and oatmeal. We got to see a postage stamp view of the sunrise, but it the clouds on the mountain were too thick to let it penetrate to illuminate the torres. We ran back down to camp, Josh starting to feel a scratchy throat was not a good sign so we packed up camp and he headed down to warmer weather. I hung out a bit longer talking to Antje and her sister. As thanks for looking at my wound/bites back in Punta Arenas I gave them our last two beers that we had hiked with the whole trip. Even though they were a canned lager they accepted them and I was on my way down the hill with a young Canadian fellow who was on his first camping trip ever and travelling solo.
To meet our shuttle in time I had to hustle ahead of him, I was able to have some really nice views of Patagonia all to myself and literally run down the mountain with my light pack. I met up with Josh at the hotel where the shuttle would pick us up. There we had the option of a $10.00 USD cup of coffee or a $14.00 USD plate of fries, we passed and dried the tent outside instead. Oddly enough, here we were reunited with our waiter from the California Cantina from Santiago; he was traveling with the owner and the owner’s mother. On the way back to town we saw a guanaco give birth and the best view of the park was from the bus window as we were leaving!
Back in Puerto Natales we settled in with showers and because Josh was feeling sick I took the gear back to Erratic Rock and then we met up at a brewpub for some food…A great burger and dessert that was! We went on a liquor run to buy some pisco. They had a modest collection in the store, we ended up getting the best stuff they had at $12.00 USD per 750 ml. I wish we could have bought more, but at this point space and weight was becoming an issue. I retired to an internet café to check out some pictures and blog a bit. As my time ran out on the machine I hurriedly paid the attendant and jogged back to the hostel as it was very cold once again, but it was time for a warm sleep for our last sleep in Chile.
A quantity of hostels charge deposits for room keys or things like towels and blankets, to guarantee that they’ll get them back when you leave.
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