Trekking in Patagonia - Torres del Paine

One month ago if you asked me what I planned to do in South America, I probably looked at you with wide eyes and said "Patagonia." Chile's Torres del Paine National Park is regarded as the 8th wonder of the world and one of the top backpacking destinations. Over the course of our eight day trek, surrounded by mountains, glaciers, forests and epic landscapes, this park totally exceeded my expectations.

Initially Kate, Meghan, and I planned our trek for three, but after befriending a traveler from Brazil named Dimas, we quickly became four. We called ourselves "Team Milodon" in honor of a 3 meter tall prehistoric sloth discovered in a cave near Puerto Natales. 

The map and route of our trek is in the following photo with cranberries representing each campsite we stayed at during the week. Our path is called the full circuit aka the O aka the Q and typically takes 8-10 days to complete. Most travelers visiting the park complete the W on the south east side (we skipped the middle of the W).

Before diving into photos I should explain that, aside from its majestic vistas, Torres del Paine is also known for its intensely dramatic weather. When we asked people returning from the trek how it was they described a typical day featuring sun, downpours of rain, snow, and especially fierce wind. Days before we embarked we met a group of boys fresh off the trail who'd accidentally trekked through the closed mountain pass during a blizzard. 

As a complete anomaly we were granted with eight days of sunshine. Guides and rangers told us this was the best week of weather in the season and the longest stretch of sunny days they'd seen in TWO YEARS. We were insanely lucky and we knew it.

Every day we drank wild, unfiltered water from glacial and snow fed streams running throughout Torres del Paine. Everyone in Team Milodon had a silver mug for drinking delicious water and consuming our typically mushy meals.

We began our trek with los Cuernos, the horns, of Torres del Paine - possibly the most photographed feature of the park.

Hiking the valley of las Torres to see los Cuernos.

We saw horses and caballeros (Cowboys) several times during the trek. Chilean Cowboys have an excllent sense of style and wear barretes.

The following six photos are from our third day covering 18 miles and several distinct ecosystems: fields of daisies, shrub steppe, arid prairie, and lush deciduous forests included.

Siesta and snacks with a mountain backdrop.

And then all of a sudden we entered a forest straight out of the Great Pacific Northwest; we called this the Washington section.

Meghan taking a siesta next to a glacier, minutes from summiting the Pass (on the northwest corner of the map).

We summited the Pass and were greeted with an incredibly large glacier known as Glacier Grey. The ascent over the pass was a fairly steep thigh burning climb, the  other side was a destroy-your-knees descent. Torres del Paine has no concept of switchbacks. Life's not so bad, however, when you can catch your breath with a beautiful view. 

This ladder. It brought me terror and made me feel like Indiana Jones all at once! The photo below illustrates the jankiest cliff ascent I've ever seen.

Sunset at campamento Grey.

Hot days, cold, refreshing streams! Here's Kate cooling off (I followed suit).

A view of this beauty in the Valle del Frances.

The above two photos demonstrate the damage caused by an out of control fire from 2011. The park had serious regulations prohibiting all fires and requiring everyone to use stoves only in designated areas. 

The last scenic view as we left the park - headed south towards Administracion.

Some insights post-Paine

Within the first day of hiking Torres del Paine I quickly realized that this was not a remote, solitary backpacking experience, but a Trekking experience. The designated campsites were obligatory, featured bathrooms, showers, covered cooking areas, expensive food and beer, and in several sites cost more than a night at a hostal. They were filled with backpackers from all over the world. We met countless people from Chile, Israel (many on vacation from military service), and a handful of people from the Pacific Northwest! If it weren't for these concentrated campsites, however, the impact of thousands of annual tourists would have surely wasted much of the beautiful landscape. We wouldn't be drinking wild, unfiltered water. I switched my perspective, called it trekking, and embraced a different way to experience the outdoors. It helped that Team Milodon was the most awesome group to have ever hiked through Torres del Paine!

So, how does Patagonia's beauty compare to that of Washington's Cascade mountains?! It's a tough call. Torres del Paine gave me views of five glaciers over four days. Its landscape is epically beautiful. Washington's endless mountains and old growth forests with lush beds of moss enchants me in a way no other place can. I've kayaked through sunrise in the San Juans islands, fished for wild salmon in British Columbia, identified plants from Rainier to the Olympics, and walked through wild places that could house fairies or Tolkein's Middle Earth. My experiences outdoors in the Pacific Northwest have shaped my character and my understanding of how beauty looks, how beauty feels. For that, I'm forever hopelessly biased; I'm in love with an ecoregion.

To experience landscapes and beauty elsewhere in the world is to gain perspective on where you are and where you've been. With a deep sense of gratitude I embrace the energy, the unknown, and the incredible opportunity of travel.