The images of the perpendicular peaks of Torres del Paine were a major draw for choosing to come on this Patagonia tour. I liked that we got to go to multiple locations for hiking and sightseeing across Patagonia, but in the back of my mind was the experience of seeing the image of those peaks that I had seen so often in pictures.
The tour I was on was doing an abbreviated W-trek with three of the four “legs” being done as part of the tour. We drove from El Calafate across the Chilean-Argentinian border to Puerto Natales, a large coastal town that had a lot of restaurants and stores and was the gateway to the Torres del Paine National Park.
After one last night in the hotel we headed off for two nights of camping and three days of hiking.
Day one was the experience of seeing the iconic Torres del Paine peaks. The hike was about 20 kilometres there and back from the Visitor Centre. There was a short section of flat land down the valley before we started to climb, first through a forested area, but then through rocky terrain in the top half. Winds came on strong as we got to the more open areas, but the gradual climb made the hike feel easier than what we had experienced in El Chalten. At the top we rounded a corner and the vision of the Torres del Paine peaks and the deep blue mountain lake presented itself. Although it was a busy place with many other groups also coming up it was good to spend some time seeing this amazing site of Torres Del Paine.
The second day had us bused to Lake Pehoe so we could take a catamaran across to the main camping site at Paine Grande. We dropped our large bags off at the visitor centre and set up for another 20 kilometres hike up the middle section of the W to the Mirador Francais or French Lookout. This trail had some more technical parts where we were walking across small rivers and some steeper sections, but it was very manageable. The view from the lookout was a near 360 degree view of a glacier with views of the backside of the Torres del Paine mountain back at the valley we climbed from with the large mountain lakes and other mountains of the park extending outwards.
The last day of hiking in the Torres Del Paine Park was to a lookout over Grey Glacier. This was a partial day as we were catching the catamaran and bus back to Puerto Natales just after noon. We hiked the five and a half kilometres to the lookout while facing some strong gusts of wind that occasionally knocked us off balance. The view was wonderful of the glacier and the valley spreading out. It was very fulfilling to have had these three days of hiking in this iconic park.
BorealHiker 