The next morning I was up at 4am to catch a bus over the border into Chile, to Puerto Natales (via Punto Arenas). Unfortunately the border crossing took quite a while and I ended up missing the connecting bus at Punto Arenas and having to spend a night there. Fortunately I’d met some nice people on the bus: Aoife from Ireland and Craig and Fiona from Scotland, so we made the best of the situation by finding a nice hostel, cooking a meal together and enjoying a couple of nice bottles of wine!
The next day it was up early again to catch the first bus to Puerto Natales. It was actually good to have a spare afternoon there, as I wanted to visit the nearby Torres del Paine national park but hadn't yet planned a tour or trek. Most people do the famous “W” circuit, which takes 5 days/ 4 nights, but since I was rapidly running out of time in South America, I couldn't really afford to spend more than 2 nights in the park. I headed into a local travel agency to ask for advice and the guy suggested that I do 3 separate day hikes to see the highlights of the W, and that I could stay at stay at refugios (similar to hostels) in the park. This sounded pretty good. Unfortunately when he called the refugios they were all fully booked (serves me right for leaving it so last minute, in the summer peak season), so the only other option was camping. I probably wouldn't have considered this, except that Aoife was doing the full W on her own, and camping, which gave me a burst of self-confidence that I should be able to do the same! I'd also had a beer.
I headed back to my hostel loaded down with a rented tent, sleeping bag, mat and hiking poles and suddenly without Aoife around, doubts started to set in. I was completely un-prepared! I had no warm clothes for sleeping! The weather is notoriously extreme and changeable, and I had no waterproofs! I hadn't put up a tent in years and certainly never on my own! I’m not even a hardcore hiker! But of course I wasn't going to just give up without trying, so I consoled myself with the thought that I could just leave after the first day if I really didn't like it.
The next morning I apprehensively set off on the bus to the national park. After a bit of dithering I decided to camp in the very first camp-site, so that I didn’t have to lug my big rucksack on the trail (even though this meant I’d have quite a long return journey to do before dark). I found a nice spot and emptied the tent stuff out of its bag. Fortunately at this moment a friendly Argentinian guy appeared, saw me looking completely incapable, and offered to give me a hand (which ended up with him erecting the tent almost single-handedly while I handed him pegs).
Once the tent was up I started feeling more enthusiastic about the adventure and I quickly set off on the first day hike, to the Mirador del Torres: the main viewing point for the towers. This was an 18km round trip, which started with a fairly steady uphill climb around a mountain, then a really nice section through some shaded woodland, alongside a beautiful stream and finally a bit of scrambling across boulders to get to the main look-out point.
It was scorching hot so I was exhausted by the time I got there but the grand finale made it all worth it. The Torres looked spectacular and there were only a couple of other people there with me. Everyone was sitting quietly on rocks by the water, just gazing at the view. It was beautiful.
Soon enough it was time to set off on the return journey and I finally made it back to the camp-site at 8pm, exhausted but satisfied! After a quick baby wipe shower and a hot meal at the refuge it was time to settle down in my tent for an early night!
The sun rises at 4am here and the first hikers not long after, so I was up bright and early yet again and ready for another day of hiking. First though, I had to catch 2 buses and a boat over to the West side of the “W” where I set up camp again. We passed more beautiful scenery on the way and the boat trip was also spectacular.
The tent didn't go up quite so quickly this time and certainly didn't look as stable! But once I was fairly certain it wasn't going to blow away, I set off on my second hike, towards Glacier Grey. This was a 22km round trip and I was expecting it to be easier than Day 1, but it was actually harder (or maybe just seemed harder as I was totally exhausted after the first day!). It was one of those occasions when you keep thinking you must be nearly there, and then you turn another corner and see the trail stretching out as far as the eye can see, so after 3 hours in the burning hot sun, I started to lose motivation. I finally met some trekkers coming the other way and asked them how much further it was and they estimated another 45-60 minutes, which at my walking pace would probably have been 90 minutes. At this point I was half way down quite a steep downhill section and I knew that if I continued to the bottom I’d never make it back up so I finally made the call to turn back a bit early without doing the full hike. I think I probably still did 16-18km though and I saw enough of the glacier to be satisfied!
I must say that this national park is probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It really was stunning and so diverse: lush green fields and mountains, snow-encrusted peaks, sparkling streams and bright blue lakes. Every view was a winner. I would have liked to have had more time there... so that I could have done shorter hikes!
The final day hike would have been 28km and already that night I knew I just couldn't face it! I also would have had to get up really early and been pushing it to get back in time to catch the boat and buses back to Puerto Natales that evening, so in the end I decided to give it a miss. I had another early night in the tent and then headed back to town the next morning.
I was really proud of myself for camping on my own (well, there were loads of other people there but you know what I mean!) and the experience reminded me that I do really like camping! Similar to when I stayed in the hammocks in Colombia, it's not the best night's sleep but there's just something about going to sleep under the stars and waking up to the fresh morning air which I really like. Must do it more often!
Whilst waiting for the boat back, I had a bit of a "moment". I was sitting on the dock alongside a group of 12 Chilean friends who were quietly singing Chilean folk songs as one of them played the guitar. They had amazing voices and were doing some impressive harmonies and I just sat there with the sun rising up in a beautiful blue sky, gazing at the most stunning view, and feeling completely content. It was another of those perfect moments that I just wish I could bottle and keep!
The next day it was up early again to catch the first bus to Puerto Natales. It was actually good to have a spare afternoon there, as I wanted to visit the nearby Torres del Paine national park but hadn't yet planned a tour or trek. Most people do the famous “W” circuit, which takes 5 days/ 4 nights, but since I was rapidly running out of time in South America, I couldn't really afford to spend more than 2 nights in the park. I headed into a local travel agency to ask for advice and the guy suggested that I do 3 separate day hikes to see the highlights of the W, and that I could stay at stay at refugios (similar to hostels) in the park. This sounded pretty good. Unfortunately when he called the refugios they were all fully booked (serves me right for leaving it so last minute, in the summer peak season), so the only other option was camping. I probably wouldn't have considered this, except that Aoife was doing the full W on her own, and camping, which gave me a burst of self-confidence that I should be able to do the same! I'd also had a beer.
I headed back to my hostel loaded down with a rented tent, sleeping bag, mat and hiking poles and suddenly without Aoife around, doubts started to set in. I was completely un-prepared! I had no warm clothes for sleeping! The weather is notoriously extreme and changeable, and I had no waterproofs! I hadn't put up a tent in years and certainly never on my own! I’m not even a hardcore hiker! But of course I wasn't going to just give up without trying, so I consoled myself with the thought that I could just leave after the first day if I really didn't like it.
The next morning I apprehensively set off on the bus to the national park. After a bit of dithering I decided to camp in the very first camp-site, so that I didn’t have to lug my big rucksack on the trail (even though this meant I’d have quite a long return journey to do before dark). I found a nice spot and emptied the tent stuff out of its bag. Fortunately at this moment a friendly Argentinian guy appeared, saw me looking completely incapable, and offered to give me a hand (which ended up with him erecting the tent almost single-handedly while I handed him pegs).
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| Ta-daaa! |
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| Setting off... |
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| Slowly climbing higher... |
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| Mirador del Torres: tired but happy! |
The sun rises at 4am here and the first hikers not long after, so I was up bright and early yet again and ready for another day of hiking. First though, I had to catch 2 buses and a boat over to the West side of the “W” where I set up camp again. We passed more beautiful scenery on the way and the boat trip was also spectacular.
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| "Los Cuernos" - view from the bus |
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| "Los Cuernos" - view from the boat |
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| Hike 2: Setting off... |
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| Laguna Los Patos |
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| Lago Grey with Glacier Grey in the background |
The final day hike would have been 28km and already that night I knew I just couldn't face it! I also would have had to get up really early and been pushing it to get back in time to catch the boat and buses back to Puerto Natales that evening, so in the end I decided to give it a miss. I had another early night in the tent and then headed back to town the next morning.
I was really proud of myself for camping on my own (well, there were loads of other people there but you know what I mean!) and the experience reminded me that I do really like camping! Similar to when I stayed in the hammocks in Colombia, it's not the best night's sleep but there's just something about going to sleep under the stars and waking up to the fresh morning air which I really like. Must do it more often!
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| Not a bad place to spend the night! |
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| Perfect moment |
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