After Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego, we took a bus up to Puerto Natales, Chile, via the Strait of Magellan (14 hours). From here, we planned to get back on the trail and backpack trough Torres del Paine National Park.As you've read, all of the multiple day hikes we had done up to this point were guided AND we never had to carry EVERYTHING we needed. After assessing the situation in Puerto Natales, we decided it was time to give the whole ball of wax a shot. We rented camping gear (tent, sleeping bags, stove), shopped for the most filling yet lightest food possible, and decided to do the "W" trail in five days.
The morning we were to catch the bus to the national park we woke up to the unwelcomed sound of consistent rain. From the research we had done the previous day we had found out that like much of South America the weather in Torres del Paine can change like "that" ("that" being a snap of the fingers). We were hoping that this theory would work in our favor and yeild sun by the time we started hiking.
We arrived to the park about three hours later and the rain persisted. We waited for the catamaran that would take us to our starting point bracing ourselves for 5 days of wetness.
Miraculously, after the short half hour boat ride the rain stopped. We continued holding our breath for the first hour or so after it had stopped. Then, finally, the sun made its premier appearance for the day. AND the goodness didn't stop there...it continued to stay dry for the next two days!
In our first two days we hiked up and down the first line of the "W"...by the way, it's a cursive "W". In the first 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) we were introduced to spectacular views of glacier-covered mountains, iceberg filled turquoise lakes, and the seemingly neverending Glacier Grey. While the scenery was worth every step, we were wondering how our bodies were going to handle another three full days of walking...the dogs were barking.
The third day we were able to leave our big backpacks at camp while we hiked up the Valle Frances and back. While we were hiking up the valley we were lucky enough to see one big avalanche and few smaller avalanches...all from a safe distance. The absense of the extra weight was nice for a while, we still had to come back to pack up camp, put on our backs, and hit the trail for the next camp. Thankfully, we only had to walk 2 hours until we reached our goal for the day.
While setting up our tent we struck up a conversation with a couple of Americans from Colorado. Turns out, they got bored one day and decided it would be a good idea to hike from the equator in Ecuador to the end of South America...through the Andes mountain range. After 22 months of walking, they should be completing their stroll in about 2 months. They have a killer website...check it out...we've posted a link on the sidebar.
The fourth day we woke up to a steady rain, but luckily it was pretty light. We hiked from 9:30am to about 5pm when arrived in our last camp at the end of the "W". The selling point for making it this far was a 45 minute hike to see the actual Torres del Paine up close and personal for sunrise.
That night was freezing cold. We woke up at 6am to scramble up a bunch of boulders to see the sunrise reflect on the Torres. Unfortunately, on the way up it looked like the clouds would be too thick for the sun to break through.
Luckily, we were wrong. The clouds actually seemed to enhance the colors of the sunrise. For just about three minutes, the Torres del Paine glowed bright orange! Absolutely magnificent! I think we even briefly forgot how much our feet and legs were hurting for a second.
After the show ended, we were faced with the reality that we had to get ourselves back down the mountain. Fortunately, gravity was on our side and it only took us 2 hours.
Overall, we hiked roughly 90 kilometers (55.9 miles) in five days. We celebrated the successful finish of our first "real" backpacking experience with a few cold beers while laying in the grass at the bus stop.
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