Patagonia Part 2: Torres del Paine National Park

Day 3:  We woke up at 6am to catch our 7 o'clock bus to Punto Arenas, Chile.  The bus was less than half full so Joe and me both had a pair of seats to ourselves.  We both slept from the time the bus left until 11am when we arrived at our first customs check point in Argentina.  We filled out our declaration forms, got off the bus and waited in line for our passports to be stamped.  Drug sniffing dogs gave our bus a good once over and we were on our way.

We traveled a good ten minutes before our bus stopped again on Chilean soil at the next check point.  The winds were ripping that morning and by the looks of Chile's welcome sign and flag, it was easy to tell that the wind is aggressive all day everyday here.  We got back on the bus and of course I passed the time by sleeping while Joe read.  

When I woke up our bus had stopped in front of a giant ferry.  We were all invited to exit the bus so we could enjoy some fresh air on top of the massive vessel.  Joe and I both went to the highest point of the passenger section and during the trip the wind was the strongest we'd ever experienced.  The entire voyage lasted about a half hour and and we were back on the bus.  We arrived to Punto Arenas, Chile at 6pm and immediately booked 2 seats on the 7:30 bus to Puerto Natales, Chile.  With our free time we found a local seafood spot where we had some whitefish with spicy sauce.  It was a good dinner before our 3 hour bus ride.  We played a game of cribbage as the sun set and during our game the Denzel Washington movie "Man on Fire" was played.  It broke up the trip nicely.  We arrived at Puerto Natales at 10:30 and were aggressively greeted by a small Chilean woman pushing her hostel on us.  After a while of trying to think of a better alternative we gave up and climbed into hear car.  A Brazilian Mechanical Engineer named Fabio joined as well.  The place was a dive but the shower was great and the beds were soooo comfortable.  Also Fabio toasted some bread for us with honey and butter and served it with hot chocolate milk.  He was planning on doing a 10 day hike at the Torres... I hope he had success.

Day 4:  We woke up at 6:30 and as satisfying as it was, we both confirmed that we could have slept another 4 to 6 hours.  We bought tickets the previous night for a bus into the Torres del Paine Nation Park.  This trip was the biggest on our to-do list.  We wanted to hike a trail called the "W" which was 52 miles creating a W shape coming in and out of the beautiful valleys of the national park.  On the way to the trail head we experiences such an incredible landscape with glimpses of granite peeks studded with glaciers.  We saw a diverse group of wildlife ranging from sheep, guanacos, a fox, various predatory birds to pink flamingos and ostriches. 
The 12 passenger van dumped us off at the front of the park. We payed our admission and took another shuttle to the start of the "W".  My camelbak water bladder decided to leak all over some of my gear so I was forced to attach various articles to the outside of my bag.  This may have been the first use of the term mountain trash (referring to my appearance on the trail).

Up, up and away we went.  It was already around noon so we had to get a move on to get our moneys worth out of the day.  For the first few hours the trail didn't stop climbing.  My legs weren't nearly conditioned enough to diesel up these hills but I gave it my best.  I just tried to keep up with Joe who just days before completed the Birkebeiner ski race in Hayward, WI.  

 
The landscape was indescribably majestic.  On certain passes the wind gusts almost knocked us over at points.  We were moving at a pretty good clip and reached the refugio Chileno a few hours into our trek.  

We set up camp for the first time on the trip and made a point to secure our stakes with head size rocks so the winds wouldn't take our tent while we were hiking.  We hydrated ourselves, ate a powerbar, packed a day pack and went up to the first lookout.  It was a bit hazy over the peaks but we figured it might clear up a bit by the time we got up there.

On our way up we walked into a couple guided by a gold-toothed Chilean and they suggested that we steer off the beaten path and take the Moraine up.  (Note:  Moraines are enormous rock piles on the sides of mountains that form after a glacier melts.  When the glaciers were advancing they pushed up against the mountains with such force that the sides of the mountains would crumble into the ice and snow where they stayed until the glaciers melted.)  This particular moraine was one of the better workouts my legs have seen.  My knees weren't too happy about climbing that bad boy but it was worth it for the view. 

At the top was the most magnificent view of 3 granite monoliths rising out of the ground like horns.  Small pieces of hale infrequently hit our outer shells as we tried to make sense of what our eyes were seeing.  The tops of the stone spikes weren't fully visible but it was impressive none the less.  While our knees took time to recover we enjoyed powerbars and took in the amazing view.  

We also made the call to go down to the lagoon and try some fresh glacier water.  I don't know about you but just looking at this picture makes me thirsty.  I can honestly say I've drank the cleanest, freshest, best tasting water that exists.  We were spoiled for a good week or so only drinking glacier water.  We headed back down and made it back to camp by 6 or 7.  The refugio had a cabin on the premises where we played cribbage, ate lasagna and talked to a Canadian couple that were traveling the world for 6 months.  We hydrated ourselves and crashed just after the sun went down.  

Day 5:  Before we fell asleep we plotted out the next day.  We didn't seriously figure the distances until the night after but we knew it was going to be a generous distance from point A to point B.  We wanted to got from our campsite to the refugio Italiano campsite to set our tent up and then head up to the next lookout in the Valley of France and back down again to sleep. 

We were lucky to have such an amazing day and all 12 hours that we hiked were glorious.  Coming out of the first valley was a decent down hill and we made great time.  The only thing that was slowing us down was the incredible landscape surrounding us.  At ever other opportunity Joe busted out his Gorilla Pod to take a team picture.  (Note:  the Gorilla Pod is a tri-pod made to attach itself to virtually anything... it rules and at every appropriate chance we "Gorilla Podded it".)

During the hike we came across a group of wild stallions.  It was one of those days where every 15 minutes we were seeing something more beautiful than the last 15 minutes.

  
The view was absolutely astounding.  The furthest mountains in the distance were snow capped and the hills between us and them contained glacier fed milky-turquoise lagoons.  We followed the lake until we reached the refugio Italiano relatively late in the afternoon.  We heard that the campsite was closed but we decided to risk it and start setting up are tents.  A park official immediately put the kibosh on that so we just left stuff to put up when we got back.  It was around 5 at this point and we had a decent climb ahead of us.   Eating powerbars all day with hours of exercise inevitably guided every conversation to being food related.  I can remember myself describing my favorite cheeseburger from Soblemans in Milwaukee with such detail that it was all either of us could think about for days.  We ended up making a sandwich of our own for dinner but I'll get to that.

 As the day progressed the clouds began to dissipate and the glorious granite spires showed their faces.  I've never smiled so much at the sight of rocks but these daddies were tickling my eyes with their glory in such a way where I could help but grin.   (It's getting late here and I'm fully aware that the previous sentence is beyond over the top but it made me laugh so I decided to keep it.)  We reached the top of lookout at around 7 or so and even being completely out of energy we were able to think about nothing beside what was in front of our eyes.  

As we hiked down, our bodies ached but we were completely contented.  This was why we came on this trip.  We climbed all day to get to this point and we reached indescribable beauty.  The most memorable moment of the entire 3 week trip might arguably have been in our decent down the Valley of France.  The sun was setting over the mountains on our right casting a beautiful orange glow on the granite peeks to our left.  In this time I commented to Joe, curious about the frequency of the falling glaciers on the mountains to our right.  Just after I finished my sentence a building sized glacier fell off the top half of the mountain and smashed into an avalanche as it worked its way down the mountain.  It's still tough to believe that we witnessed that.  Moments after the collision the valley was filled with a roar equivalent to lightning bolt striking within close proximity. 

On the way back to the camp we convinced ourselves that it was a mighty fine idea, boarder line brilliant, to make a sandwich using one chocolate and one peanut butter powerbar (yeah thats how hungry we were).  Even with a body in desperate need of nourishment it was tough to choke down.  I studied the map and asked joe what 36.5 Kilometers is in miles and we both laughed for a good five minutes, recalculating our distance at least four times.  We figured we hiked around 22 miles that day and it immediately made sense why everyone thought we were crazy when we told them what our plan for the day was.  Still as tired as we were we struggled through a game of cribbage before passing out hard.  

Day 6:  When we woke up our legs felt reasonably well considering what we put them through the previous day.  We had another late start waking up around 8:30 but we still figured we could easy crank out the 18 plus miles of the trail before the last ferry left for day.  It was turning into another perfect day with the clouds dissipating as we hiked.  

 
We made it down to an information checkpoint in fairly good time where we left our bags before challenging the toughest part of the trail.  We found out that the last ferry was to leave in just as much time as it would technically take to go to and from the Glacier Grey at the end of the valley.  Of course we decided to risk it and go on the adventure. 

   

The hike was 11K each way and it had significant up hills in both directions.  We reached some serious elevation where we could see enormous icebergs studding the lagoon from end to end.  The hike was really long and our stamina from the powerbars was running low.  

Glacier Grey was magnificent.  We climbed to a lookout on a tall hill overlooking the expansive valley of ice.  The ice extended as far as our eyes could see.  It was both jagged and beautiful at the same time.  It was tough to imagine the shear size of the ice field.  From our perch we felt small staring off into the vast distance between us and the glacier.  We took our time and Gorilla Podded it a couple times before getting ready to diesel back through the valley so we could make our ferry.   

We made it back in record time.  That 11 K stretch was the only time sweat was actually falling from our faces.  We were passing people in winter jackets.  We even had time to chill out in the cabin and play a game of cribbage before the ferry came.  I think the people at surrounding tables wish we didn't make that judgement call.  

We hopped on the ferry and made our way to the roof to check out the landscape from afar.  The ferry traveled a good 30K to get back to our starting point.  It was great to take a step back and see the great distance we traveled from.  The day was perfect and it made for many postcard quality shots.  This was the most beautiful national park either of us have been to and I hope some day I can come back to hike for a more significant amount of time.   

 
We got back to the town of Puerto Natales late and after booking a bus for the next morning to El Calafate, AR we grabbed a serious bite to eat.  As usual I looked like mountain trash.  Joe couldn't help himself from taking a picture.  We found a hostel with hot showers and comfy beds.  We were too tired to play cribbage before hitting the sheets.  That nights sleep was one of the best all trip.