Trekking through Torres Del Paine

After our 36 hour stop in El Calafate, we headed towards Puerto Natales in Chile to start the second part of our Patagonian adventure. It took a 7 hour bus ride to get us from El Calafate to Puerto Natales, although at least two hours was spent crossing the border from Argentina to Chile. One of the downsides of going by bus is the long queues of people that have to get through the border controls before you can be on your way again.

Once in Puerto Natales, a small but lovely port town, we were greeted by the guide who would take us on our three day trek through Torres del Paine National Park. We were briefed on the route we were to take and were given all our camping gear to carry (yes, camping again!!). We each carried our own sleeping bag, sleeping mat, walking sticks, clothes for the trek, some food and a tent to share (which Joost carried). I even had to hire a rucksack as my lovely new rucksack with wheels was deemed inappropriate for such a feat. We were a little concerned with the weight we had to carry for the three days, but figured it would help us get fit along the way. Little did we know, we had signed up to trek through one of the more challenging areas for trekking in the world.

After a night in a nice hostel in Puerto Natales, we took the 7:30am bus on a two hour journey towards Torres del Paine. The bus was full, as were all the other buses that departed that morning, in part because it is peak season to visit Patagonia, but also due to the fact that there is only one entrance to the park that is open at present. Unfortunately, Torres del Paine has suffered a major fire in recent weeks (which is in fact still burning) that has burned down vast sections of the park. Only a portion of the park has been reopened, so all trekkers have to stick to certain approved routes.

Once we arrived at the entrance to the park, you could immediately see why people rave about the beauty of the place. It was truly the most amazing scenery I have ever seen.

Our first stop was Torres Campsite, which was approximately 11km from the entrance. The 11km would have been tough enough with about 15kg on my back (Joost had even more), but the rugged terrain and the steepness of the mountains we had to climb made it a massive challenge! The sun was shining and despite the cold wind, it was hot and sweaty and we had to protect ourselves from the extreme UV rays (it was factor 8 out of a maximum of 11 while we were there).

It was an extremely tough day of hiking, but the beauty around us kept us going. Once we got to camp, we got set up, and our guide suggested we do a further trek towards Silence Valley, an area of the park you can only enter with a guide. This was another 4km that we had to walk, there and back, but this time the terrain was near impossible. We only took a daypack with us for this hike and invited four other people we had met that day to join us as they had gone without a guide. As it turned out, we were the only group to continue on and make that additional trek that day, where we faced scrambling over boulders, super steep mountain sides and edging along rock faces with sheer drops beneath us. It was at this point that we turned around and headed back to camp, and when we got back we had hiked about 10 hours that day. A quick meal and a short while later, we spent the first night in our tent.

The next morning we had to wake up at 4am to start a 1 hour hike up another mountain in order to see the Torres (the three main rock towers) at sunrise. We had to hike up the steep rock mountain with only our headlights to guide us in the dark. It was very cold that morning, so we wore all the layers we had brought and spent the best part of 1.5 hours watching the sunrise.

We then had to make our way back to camp where we had some breakfast, packed up and headed on for our long trek to Cuernos campsite, on the other side of the eastern section of the park. We walked and walked and walked and walked, up and down hills, over rocks, gravel, rivers and streams.

As many of the streams, rivers and lakes are filled with water from the glaciers in the mountains, we were able to drink directly from the river, using the water to wash our fruit and fill our water bottles with.

We stopped for a quick lunch by a lovely lake, and by 5pm that evening we finally got to Cuernos campsite, totally exhausted, muscles aching and with blisters on our feet (I won with 8 blisters on my feet). We wondered how we would make it back the next day. The campsite was full of tents, but we managed to find a decent spot and had a nice pasta dinner with our guide and another trekker we had met along the way (who had not brought any warm food with her, so we shared ours).

The next morning we packed up again and were determined to make the final stretch back in time for the 2pm bus back to Puerto Natales. Despite the aches and pains, we powered through and with just a few stops, we managed to hike the final 11km in the estimated 4 hours.

We were happy to be able to sleep in a bed in another decent hostel that night and recover before heading on the boat the following day, but we were even happier we were able to experience the amazing beauty that Torres del Paine has to offer. Next time, we need to make sure we are a little fitter and more prepared for the challenging terrain we would be facing!

In total, we covered over 55km in three days.