Beautiful Patagonia - hiking, camping and glaciars at the end of the world

Day 64 - 7th February
We spent the day in Puerto Natales planning our trip into nearby Parque Nacional de Torres del Paine.  Having spoken to some people about what they did or planned to do, read the books and studied the map, we decided on a 4-day, 3-night camping and hiking trip to take in most but not quite all of the  famous 'w' circuit.  Sadly the Torres has recently been devastated by forest fires - the park was closed until recently and some of the campsites remain closed.  The south-western corner of the park was affected, with the route between Glaciar Grey and the Valle Frances on the 'w' burnt and apparently covered in ash, so we decided to miss that bit, given our time limitations.  We hired camping equipment from our hostel and bought all the dried food the town's supermarket had in stock, packed up our bags and had an early night.

Map of Torres del Paine

Day 65 - 8th February

The bus to Torres del Paine left the hostel at 7:30, after an early breakfast.  We arrived at the park 2 hours later and set off on my first ever multi-day hike and first ever hike carrying equipment.  Jon was very kind and took the tent and cooking equipment, so my bag was quite light with just my clothes, sleeping bag, roll mat and the all-important camera.  Having studied the weather forecasts at the hostel we decided to head straight to the Torres themselves, as visibility was to be at its best for days.  The hike up to the Torres Valley started steeply and climbed for the first hour and a half.  With the backpacks on it was slow-going, especially as we kept stopping to admire the views.  Along the way we met a Canadian couple, Chris and Christina, who we proceeded to leap-frog up the rest of the trail.  Once re reached the top of the hill and began to descend into the valley the walking got much easier, although the famous Patagonian wind picked up.  The valley was beautiful, with a crystal clear river running through and ice-capped mountains on either side.  We stopped for a break at a refugio before continuing 1.5 hours up the hill to Camping Los Torres, a free campsite where we would spend the night.  The campsite was set in a sheltered wood, out of the wind and we found a great spot near the river. After setting up our tent and having a much-needed cuppa, we decided to hike the last hour's stretch to the Torres.  This last section was steep and involved clambering over boulders and moraine in strong winds, but the hike was very much worth it once we reached the incredible sight of the Torres del Paine, the spectacular granite towers, after which the park is named.  The weather was perfect, with 100% visibility, and we were even able to find a spot amongst the rocks to shelter from the wind, where we sat for almost an hour, admiring the amazing view.  

Torres Valley

Tea and cake

Mountains in the Torres Valley

Torres

Torres del Paine

After descending back to our campsite we cooked a hearty meal of soup and re-hydrated pasta and chatted for a while with the Canadians, before turning in for the night.

Day 66 - 9th February

We were up at a very civilised time for breakfast, only to discover that we had left the oats we had planned to use for porridge at the hostel. Luckily we had a plentiful supply of packet soup with rice and vegetables, which served as a hearty stand-in. We packed up our tent and set off on the day's hike. Our original plan was to walk to Camping Italiano, at the foot of the Valle Frances, the middle of the 'w', but that site was closed so we had to go instead to Los Cuernos, a refugio 2.5 hours nearer to us. That was great for today but would make tomorrow's hike into the valley a little tougher.  Along the route out of the valley the wind was so strong that it forced us to stop several times and blew us back onto the cliff face (at least it wasn't blowing the other way!).  We descended to nearly the bottom of the Torres Valley before taking a short-cut to Los Cuernos. This route cut off the steep bottom section of yesterday's trail and took us along the shore of a small lake. Once out of the valley the landscape changed to an undulating path through scrub land and rocky meadows with small lakes and woods. The sun was shining and we happily lost our waterproofs in favour of t-shirts. Along the way we were again playing cat and mouse with Chris and Christina, the Canadian couple, and we bumped into our German friend Birte, heading in the other direction. The initial part of the trail was relatively flat and easy and we made good time, but we reached some steep hills where we had to cross a headland in between two lakes and then the wind started and our progress slowed considerably. People had warned us about the wind in Patagonia and I thought we'd experienced its full force this morning, but nothing compares to the wind we experienced this afternoon. There was a constant strong wind, which was manageable, but the frequent gale-force gusts threw us to the ground or onto the rocks at regular intervals, and we frequently found ourselves crouching on the ground for cover, protecting our faces from the sand and grit that was being whipped around. We both had our sunglasses ripped from our faces and smashed on the rocks above, and below us the water from the lake was being whisked up into huge clouds of spray many metres high. Eventually, after much struggling, we made it to Los Cuernos, a small refugio with camping facilities. As it was the only campsite open in the area it was very crowded and we had to look for a sheltered spot to pitch our tent (not an easy task in that wind!) We found a small hollow surrounded by bushes and secured the tent with as many rocks as we could find. We saw around us that many other tents had been blown down during the day. Once the tent was safely up we took shelter in the refugio, but even in here the wind was shaking the walls and ceiling. We had a tasty dinner of super noodles, cooked inside the tent and settled down to sleep, with fingers crossed that our tent would survive the night.

Lago Nordenskjold

The view from our campsite

Readied against the storm

Day 67 - 10^th February

We woke to a perfectly calm, sunny morning to find that our little tent was still standing and that most of our kit was still dry.  Others on the site weren't so lucky and had had to sleep huddled together in the wind and rain at the back of the refugio after their tents had either collapsed or blown away!  Feeling thankful but tired after a less-than-peaceful night, we packed up our things. Overnight we had decided to cut our losses and end our trip a day early, partly because our tent was now soaking and covered in mud and partly because, with Italiano closed, the day walk into the Valle Frances would now take around 11 hours, and in order to make the midday ferry back the day after we would have to be up at 5:00am. So we had a leisurely morning and set off towards our new destination of Lago Pehoe, where we planned to catch the last boat of the day at 6:30 and be back in Puerto Natales tonight. With the sun shining and the wind confined to memory, it was a lovely walk along the shore of Lago Nordenskjold with views of Glaciar Frances in the distance. We reached Camping Italiano at the foot of the Valle Frances at around 1:30 planning to have a bite to eat and a short walk into the valley before continuing on our journey. Here our plans changed again – we discovered that the campsite was due to open at 5:00 this afternoon so decided to stay for the night, return to our original plan, and do a longer hike in the valley today. We left our bags at the campsite and walked up into Valle Frances, past the foot of the glacier that hugs the mountain on the valley's western side. We clambered over rocks, past a waterfall, over a river and up into the middle section of the valley. The walk was a little steep in places and slow going at times because of the rocky terrain, but without our bags it felt easy! We reached the Glaciar Frances mirador, about 1 hour below the top of the trail and stopped to drink in the amazing view. To the west was the beautiful front of the glacier, snaking its way down the mountain, to the west a bank of imposing granite peaks, to the south beautiful views over the park and lakes below and to the north further up into the valley with yet more snow-capped mountains. As we had started our day so late, not planning to do this hike, we didn't have enough time to get to the top of the trail and back and still be sure of getting a pitch at the campsite so we decided to turn back. At the campsite we were given a pitch in a sheltered spot next to the river, with fantastic views of the valley and glacier just beyond a screen of trees. We washed our muddy tent in the raging river and hung our damp sleeping bags out to dry in a nearby tree. It was a spectacular spot for dinner and a cup of tea, sitting by the river under the watchful gaze of the glacier, and we had a lovely dry, clean tent by the time we turned in for the night.

Lago Scottberg

Glaciar Frances

At Mirador Frances

Valle Frances

Day 68 - 11^th February

We had a very restful night and were up at 7:30 for breakfast and to pack up our tent, grateful that we were able to sleep here, 2.5 hours nearer the ferry, and didn't have to be up at 5:00! This morning we had a lovely gentle walk for 2.5 hours to Refugio Paine Grande, on the shore of Lago Pehoe. Again the sun was shining, the wind was mostly a breeze and we spent time drinking in the beautiful scenery on our last day in this stunning national park. Sadly this was the part that had been burnt in the recent fires and all the trees and plants were black and scorched.  It was a stark contrast to the beautiful green scenery of the last few days.  We reached Paine Grande in good time and ate the last of our food before boarding the 12:30 catamaran across the lake to Pudeta, where we caught the bus out of the park and back to Puerto Natales. We arrived back at our hostel at 4:30, gave back our trusty tent and other equipment, retrieved the rest of our bags and had a much needed shower. We both wanted to rest but we had a bus booked at 8:00 tomorrow morning and needed to sort some things out before then, so we spent the early evening packing and picking up a few things from the shops (I needed a new water bottle after mine was broken on the rocks and we both needed to look for new sunglasses). Errands done we headed to the bar at Erratic Rock, a local hostel and traveller haunt, for a well-earned beer and a bite to eat. We had planned on an early night but got chatting over tasty tacos to two very entertaining French guys, who had travelled down from Buenos Aires on an ancient motorbike, and a couple of other people, and ended up staying a little later than planned.

Burnt trees

The line of the fire stretching up the mountain

Guanaco in the park

Hooray I survived!  The catamaran back

Last view of the park across Lago Pehoe

Day 69 - 12^th February

Although we got to bed a little later than planned last night, we still slept well and woke feeling reasonably refreshed. We had breakfast and boarded the 5-hour bus to El Calafate in Argentina. The boarder crossing was really smooth, with no forms to fill in, although we did pass a big sign at the Argentinian border proclaiming the Malvinas Islands to be Argentinian! We arrived in El Calafate, a small town on the shores of Lago Argentino, and found our hostel easily. El Calafate is the nearest town to Glaciar Perito Moreno, the main reason we had come to this part of Argentina, and we booked some bus tickets to go and see it tomorrow. After a trip to the supermarket to stock up on supplies we spent a lazy evening in the hostel with pizza and wine.

Day 70 - 13^th February

Today we visited the magnificent Perito Moreno glacier, a 1.5 hour bus ride from El Calafate. So that we could have our long-awaited lie-in, we opted for the afternoon bus as we'd heard there would be fewer tourists there later in the day. Perito Moreno is not the largest glacier in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares but it is easily accessible and has one significant draw – unlike most of the other glaciers, which are receding, Perito Moreno is stable and actually advances each day, causing blocks of ice to break off the face of it and crash into the water, to the delight of visitors. It was a drizzly day and very cold, being next to such a huge wall of ice – the glacier is 60m high above the lake and descends 110m below it. It stretches for 30km back through the mountains to the Southern Patagonian ice shelf and is a pretty spectacular sight. We first took a 1-hour boat trip, travelling close to the face of the glacier, sailing amongst small icebergs that had broken off. Several people we know were lucky enough to have blocks of ice fall near their boat, but no such luck for us, although that didn't take away from the beauty of the ice face. After the boat the bus took us up to the mirador area, where the National Park has erected 3km of walkways snaking around in front of the glacier. We wandered them all, marvelling at the huge glacier with its splinters of ice, some of them hanging precariously, waiting to fall at any moment. As we walked we occasionally heard the ice creaking and moaning, and every now and then the sound of a piece falling into the water, but always just out of sight. Having explored all of the walkways we set ourselves up at a balcony to watch the glacier for a while, hoping for a calving – and patience paid off. After about half an hour of watching the same block of ice gradually losing small pieces it eventually came crashing down into the lake below. Tired and freezing but happy and in awe of the spectacular glacier, we caught the bus back to El Calafate.

Enjoying the boat ride

The huge scale of the glacier

The face of the glacier with broken ice

A piece calving from the ice face

Day 71 - 14^th February

Another early morning for the 8:00am bus to the town of El Chalten, in the north of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. We had originally planned to spend a few days in El Chalten, hiking in the nearby mountains, but our schedule has become tighter and we now only had time for a day walk. At the visitors centre, we met Anouk and Giso, our Dutch friends from Pucon, who were planning to stay here for a few days. We had a good catch-up and they decided to come with us on our day walk. Our original plan was to hike to Laguna Capri, around 2 hours away, from where you can get a good view of the famous Cerro Fitzroy, a jagged granite peak and the area's main draw. The hike was relatively easy and we reached the lake after just over an hour. Unfortunately our good weather luck had run out and Fitzroy was shrouded in thick cloud. Having made such good progress we decided to hike on to the next mirador at Poincenot campsite, an hour or so away in the foothills of the Fitzroy range. Again we made good time, arriving just under an hour later, but the weather hadn't improved and Fitzroy was still invisible. Despite not being able to see the main attraction it was still a lovely hike through beautiful valleys and woodland, and it was really nice to spend another day with Anouk and Giso. We made it back to town an hour before our bus was due to leave and were able to take up a recommendation we'd been given about a waffle restaurant there – yum! By the time we made it back to the bus station sod's law was in full swing and the clouds had cleared, giving us our one clear sight of Fitzroy across the town.

Woodpeckers in the park

Our cloudy view of Cerro Fitzroy

Beautiful valley

Day 72 - 15^th February

We spent today relaxing in the hostel, waiting for our evening flight to Buenos Aires. We had hoped to be able to take the bus but the cost wasn't much different and the bus would have taken 3 days!  Our flight was at 9:20 at night and we arrived three hours later in Buenos Aires, where the air was humid and the night a stifling 25 degrees - a dramatic change from the fresh winds and snow-covered mountains we'd left earlier this evening!  After the most terrifying taxi ride of our lives (think police chase video at break-neck speed!) we arrived at our hostel and settled down for a very warm night's sleep.