Amy 'n Rei

Day 1: Puerto Natales

We arrived in Puerto Natales yesterday afternoon after about three hours of bus ride from Punta Arenas. On our way to the hotel, we first stopped by the Fantastico Sur office to pick up the vouchers and have an orientation. Since we were too old for camping, we booked the deluxe package that includes transportation, hotel or lodge stay, and all meals during our W Circuit hike.

The bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine Nation Park was in the afternoon. Therefore, we had an entire morning to explore Puerto Natales, which was a charming small town. Our overnight hotel, Hotel Costaustralis, was right by the water. During our easy stroll along the water, we saw many birds and a few interesting sculptures.

After a quick lunch, we walked to the Rodoviario, the main bus station of Puerto Natales, to catch the bus to Torres del Paine National Park. The bus ride was about two hours long, with nice views along the way. We were able to spot quite some guanacos grazing on the hill side far away during our bus ride. I was hoping that we could have some closer encounters during the hike in the next few days in the park; however, no such luck!

When the bus arrived in Torres del Paine, all passengers were required to get off at the Laguna Amarga Ranger Station to register. This involved filling out forms, paying entrance fees, and watching a mandatory safety video. After all was done, we boarded a smaller bus to tonight’s hotel, Hotel Las Torres.

Hotel Las Torres was a comfortable, upscale hotel surrounded by the wonderful Patagonia nature. Our room had twin beds and a private bathroom. Since it was still too early for dinner, we went out to have a short walk and quick view of our surroundings. The real hike wouldn’t start until tomorrow. It was amazing to be able to see many beautiful birds and even a big hare (about the size of our cat!) during our short walk.

The hotel offered two shifts of dinner. We opted for the early dinner. When we were waiting to enter the dining room, we heard a gentleman joked: “These people must have all come from the United States!” This was indeed the case. Europeans were more used to late dinners. We were quickly seated, and were provided with a Pisco Sour drink each. There were many choices of main dishes and desserts, and they were all very delicious.

Day 2: Las Torres

We woke up early to get ready for our first day of W Circuit Hike — a 19-km round trip trekking to Base of the Torres. Fortunately we only needed to carry a small daypack for today’s hike, since we would stay at the same hotel for one more night. The weather was a bit cloudy. It’s not the sunny weather we were wishing for, but at least it wasn’t raining.

We had an early start after a fulfilling breakfast. We each also had a lunch pack provided by the hotel filled with snacks, fruit, a sandwich and a bottled water. The trail head was right by the hotel. The initial hike was easy. The trail passed through two wooden bridges (max. 2 persons only) and were mainly flat until we reached a junction. At the junction, we turned right to continue our trekking to the Base of the Torres, and that’s when the trail became steep.

This was a very popular trail, and it was pretty crowded during the reason. We met both individual hikers like us and group hikers led by their guides. The two-hour hike to reach the Chileno Lodge involved more than 1,000 feet of ascending, and required many breaks. We passed several groups during their breaks, and were in turn passed by them during our breaks. In this way we leap frogged one another until we reached the top of the hill very near to the Chileno Lodge. After that, it’s a short walk descending to the lodge.

Groups of people were all taking their morning break after the 2-hour strenuous hike near the lodge. The Chileno Lodge was owned by Fantastico Sur. It’s a popular stay for hikers who wished to have an earlier start to reach the Base of the Torres. Since we booked our package with Fantastico Sur, we were allowed to use the bathroom inside the lodge, and they also refilled our water bottles, which were already half empty.

We continued our ascending after a short break. Even though it’s still uphill hiking, the trail was no longer so steep. We met some early hikers, who were already on their descend. Two college-aged young men told us that it was very foggy when they reached the Base of the Torres a couple hours ago, and they couldn’t see anything! However, they were eager to continue their journey and didn’t want to stay there and wait. Well, considering their young age, there was a pretty good chance that they would return in the future. It’s not so certain whether we would be here again, we sincerely hoped that we would be able to see “something” there. The weather was clearing up, so there’s still hope.

It was a pleasant 1.5 hours hike to reach the Torres Range Station and Camping Zone, where bathrooms were available. The place was where those who wished to see sunrise on the torres (towers) would stay. A sign there indicated that it’s an one-hour hike to reach the Base of Torres, which was really an under-estimate, because this trail was much steeper than before. The last strech to reach the Base involved hiking through a very steep trail filled with pebbles and big rocks, and it was definitely not easy!

We met a young lady on her way down and asked what she has seen at the Base. She said she could see two out of the three torres, and it’s definitely worth the hike! This did give us hope.

After more than one hour of hard hiking and scrambling, with many breaks in between, we finally reached the Base of the Torres, and this was what we saw.

Wow!

We had our lunch at the Base with about 50 or more hikers and took many photos. During the one hour lunch break, we could see all three torres (towers), though not necessarily at the same time. The view was truly stunning, and we had to agree that it’s definitely worth the effort to get there.

Tonight we had New Year Eve buffet at the hotel restaurant. It’s wonderful to be able to enjoy champaign, delicious appetizer, main dishes and desserts after today’s strenuous hike. I had more than one dessert!

Day 3: Los Cuernos

Happy New Year 2017!

We had another fulfilling breakfast, received today’s lunch pack, and checked out the hotel to continue our journey. Today we had an easy 11-km (6.8 mi) hike without too many ups and downs from Hotel Las Torres to tonight’s lodge, Cabins Los Cuernos. However, we had to carry our big, heavy backpacks all the way.

The weather was cool and cloudy — very suitable for hiking. The trail to Los Cuerbos (The Horns) was more or less along the large, peaceful Nordernskjold Lake with the tall Amirante Nieto Mountain towering on the right. I felt privileged to be able to hike beneath the snow-capped mountains.

Since today’s hike was relatively short, we could take our time to enjoy the amazing views and colorful wild flowers along the way. We had a snack break on a giant rock beside the lake and took many photos.

W Circuit was one of the famous Torres del Paine hikes; O Circuit was the other one. The O Circuit, as the name has suggested, involves a circular (“O”) hike, while W only included the southern section of the O. Hikers of the O Circuit must follow the counter-clockwise direction. Therefore, they were hiking from west to east on the W Circuit. Since we were hiking from east to west (W Circuit can be hiked in either direction), we met several O Circuit hikers coming from the opposite direction. They all looked tired but exhilarated.

Today’s trail was much less crowded than yesterday’s hike to the Base Torres. We met several hikers who were also hiking the W Circuit. We would have many encounters with them in the next two days’ hike as well.

Cuernos del Paine (the “Horns”) came into view in the mid-afternoon. We also heard thundering rumbles, which were the echoes of avalanches. Peeks of icefield view afar showed the magnificent scenery we would see in the next few days, which filled us with exciting anticipation.

Suddenly we have arrived at today’s destination, Cabins Los Cuernos. We had a small but cozy wooden cabin to ourselves. There’s another bathroom and shower cabin to be shared by all cabin guests. We even had our own waterfalls right by the cabin!

The lodge also had a dormitory building and a campground, which were separated from the cabin group. But all guests would have meals together inside the big dining hall in the dormitory building. The hall was divided into two parts: an inner area for group hikers and their guides, and an outer area (still indoors) for individual hikers like us. Since there was no road (besides hiking trails) to the Lodge, it’s understandable that the Lodge won’t serve fancy meals as the ones we had in Hotel Las Torres. Dinner was only a plate of chicken with rice, though the food was pretty delicious. However, there were several dessert choices. A young lady took a photo of all the dessert plates they had on her phone, and passed her phone along to serve as the “dessert menu” for all of us!

Day 4: The French Valley

We had a very challenging hike today. Not only the hike was long (25.3km/15.7mi), we also need to carry our big backpacks half of the time. We got up early to have breakfast. The dining hall was already packed, because everyone wanted an early start.

Fortunately we had fair weather today. It was sunny but not hot — another perfect day for hiking. The first leg of the journey involved a two-hour hike from Cabins Los Cuernos to the entrance of the French Valley. There wasn’t a lot of elevation changes. However, the trail was rocky and uneven; therefore it wasn’t really an easy stroll.

We again saw the magnificent mountains, high waterfalls and beautiful wildflowers along the way. The track was packed with hikers doing the W Circuit — many of them we have met the previous day.

There’s a ranger station at the entrance of the French Valley. Through hikers all left their big backpacks on a clearing right in front of the ranger station before heading into the French Valley. There were also campgrounds and pit toilets in the area. The toilets were the worst I’ve seen during this trip!

Entering into the French Valley was where the climbing began. The weather turned foggy, and it started to sprinkle a bit. After about an hour of scrambling and climbing over giant rocks, we reached the first viewpoint Frances Lookout just in time to see a couple of avalanches afar. Avalanches were fun to watch as long as you were not in the path.

This was also the turning point for those hikers who did not want to continue to the Britanico Lookout. A young guy told us that he’s turning back because he has been to the Britanico Lookout before.

To reach the Britinico Lookout would involve another two hours of hiking one-way. We arrived at the Lookout point to have our lunch there. Though we enjoyed both the hike and the view from the Britanico Lookout, I could not say the view justified the additional four-hour hike. When we discussed this with fellow hikers at dinner, many shared the same opinion.

When we finally returned to the ranger’s station to fetch our backpacks, it was already mid-afternoon, and we still had another two hours of hike to reach tonight’s lodge, Refugio Paine Grande. Fortunately the last stretch wasn’t too hard. We first crossed a bridge over the French River and continued on a shaded trail in the wood. After a while, we reached an area of dead trees, which was the result of a catastrophic forest fire caused by a careless hiker back in 2011. Not only the scenery was barren and desolate, it was impossible to find a hidden spot for a bathroom break!

Eventually the turquoise Lago Pehoe came into view, and we realized that we were approaching tonight’s lodge, which was located at the lake shore. After about an half hour more hiking, we arrived at the Lodge Paine Grande.

The rooms in the lodge were dormitory style with shared bathrooms and showers. Our deluxe package guaranteed us a 2-person room by ourselves. Bathrooms and showers were just across the hall, which was very convenient. After a quick wash up, we joined fellow hikers to have a delicious dinner at the large dining hall downstairs.

Day 5: The Grey Glacier

Our last day’s hike consisted of an 11-km (6.8-mi) one way hike to the Grey Glacier and back. Some hikers opted to stay one more night at the Grey Lodge in order to kayak or to walk on the glacier. Since we have walked on glaciers both in Alaska and in the Canadian Rockies, we didn’t feel the need to spend one more day. This also meant that we would have to be back at the pier near the Refugio Paine Grande before 6 p.m. to catch the catamaran to cross Lago Pehoe.

At the breakfast table, a fellow hiker informed us that she saw two foxes frolicking in the field outside of the lodge. I quickly went out with my camera to check. When I was out, I only saw a fox sitting serenely in the grass field not too far away and was able to take a couple photos. Good enough!

Even though it was still pretty early, the trail was already very busy with independent hikers, group hikers, W Circuit hikers and day hikers from the refugio. There were many colorful wildflowers dotted the trail. We passed a group of hikers and overheard the guide pointing out Lady’s Slipper (flowers) to her group. There were indeed advantages going with a guide; you did learn more from the trip.

After about an hour’s hike we reached Laguna Los Patos (Ducks’ Lagoon), where we were able to see small chucks of blue icebergs floating on the lake. Another hour’s hike brought us to the Grey Glacier Lookout with fantastic glacier view but extremely windy!

The lookout was a turning point for those who didn’t wish to continue walking or when the weather was stormy. We still had good weather, and we weren’t too tired, so we decided to continue.

The trail then turned inland, and the Grey Glacier was no longer visible from the trail. However, the lack of glacier view was quickly compensated by beautiful waterfalls and huge varieties of wild flowers blooming along the trail. This was probably the best wild flower viewing trail during the entire trip.

We arrived at the Grey Lodge around noon, and decided to do some sightseeing first. A lookout point provided a closer view of the glacier. We also saw a group of kayakers gliding by.

It’s time for the lunch break. Even though Grey Lodge had a restaurant, due to its remote location one would need to have a pre-arrangement in order to have meals there. It was fine by us since we had our bag lunch provided by the refugio this morning. We were able to buy some hot tea and enjoy our sandwiches in the lodge restaurant.

It started to rain a bit, so it’s time for us to be on our way back. The return trip was cold, windy and wet. However, we couldn’t complain too much, because we had nice weather the last three and half days.

We returned to Refugio Paine Grande with an additional hour to spare. We were able to have more hot tea and some snacks before walking to the pier during a downpour to catch the catamaran.

This was the end of our W Circuit Hike. One more item was crossed out from our bucket list!

More on Punta Arenas

Most travelers to Torres del Paine National Park would pass through Punta Arenas, which was the big city around the area. It’s worth spending extra time in Punta Arenas to visit several interesting places:

• City Center Around Plaza Muñoz Gamero: Just like many old South America cities, the center of Punta Arenas is a green plaza with a big church. On some days (especially when there’s a cruise arriving) there are vendors selling their goods in the Plaza.
• Famous Houses and Museums: Punta Arenas has several mansions that were turned into musuems such as Palacio Sara Braun, Museo Regional Braun Menendez and Museo Salesiano Maggiorino Borgatello.
• Nao Victoria Museum: Nao Victoria Musuem is a small museum situated right by the Magellan Strait. There are replicas of several famous boats: Nao Victoria, HMS Beagle, Ancud and James Caird.
• Municipal Cemetery: The Municipal Cemetery is actually considered one of the top attractions in Punta Arenas. It reflected the past of Patagonia. Many rich and well-established families had a family mausoleum or crypt there; many were quite magnificent.
• Reserva Forestal Magallanes: The preserve is about 8km from Punta Arenas. It has several good hiking trails (senderos) that provide excellent views.

My favorite place in the area was the Nao Victoria Museum, which was situated right by the Magellan Strait with several replicates of famous ships and boats.

The Nao Victoria was a replica of Magellan’s ship of the same name. Visitors could climb on the ship to examine the interior.

The HMS Beagle was a replica of the ship Darwin was on when he was conducting his famous research on evolution.

James Caird was a lifeboat of Sir Shackleton’s ship Endurance. Sir Shackleton and some of his crew sailed James Caird through the notorious Drake Passage to reach South Georgia Island to look for help when the Endurance got stuck in the Antarctica ice.