After a few weeks in hot northern Argentina, I was ready to head back South towards “El fin del Mundo” (the end of the world) and cool off in the mountains. We made it to Puerto Natales and spend a few days getting ready for our hike. This time we are actually carrying all of our supplies including stove, tent, sleeping bags, and food! The hike is in Torres Del Paine National Park, and right next to the Argentinian border.
Preparing for the Trek
It took a few days to get to Puerto Natales with an overnight in Santiago, but we actually had an additional stop in Puerto Nott where a few people got off the plane, some got on, and we continued on.
It was a pretty small airport, we walked right from the plane to the baggage claim and we managed to find a shared shuttle to take us to our hotel in town. We found some pizza for a late lunch and used the evening to relax and start to take stock of what we needed to find in town for the Trek.
One of the days we walked around the town, checking out the hands sculpture, a skate park, a swan built into the sidewalk, and a very Instagram famous old pier. There were several people trying to take pictures for posting so we didn’t spend too much time trying to get the fancy picture.
We had to do a bit of shopping at the grocery stores to find options for lunch and breakfast, since we only brought backpacker meals for suppers on the trail. For breakfast we found things to make our own hot breakfast, and we assembled some wraps with salami, cheese, and some flavored cream cheese. We asked the desk at our hostal about fuel for our stove, and they had an extra free one someone had left a partial container, which was great!
We make sure to find tasty food before we left to carb-load, so we’d have plenty of energy for hiking!
W Hike Day 1:
Puerto Natales to Chileno
Finally the day of our departure arrived, we asked for a box breakfast at 6:30am from our hotel, checked out, and walked the seven or so blocks to the bus station.
The bus station was so busy! At least 7 buses were there, most heading to the park but some were going to El Calafete in Argentina, and another to Punta Arenas a few hours south in Chile. We got on the right bus and enjoyed some of our breakfast on the bus and I even napped a bit over the 2 hour drive.
At 9am we arrived to the park where they had to scan our park passes we purchased online, and then those of us starting on the east side of the park got off to catch a different bus to the welcome center near the hotels. We used the facilities at the welcome center and then started our hike! Our goal was to get to the Chileno Campsite for lunch, which was 5 miles away and over 1000ft of climbing.
The trail was so busy, for those staying at any of the lodges or the campsite, it’s often a day hike. We were one of the few with big packs since we were staying farther up. We had to stop quite a bit just to cool off! We both had pants and I had started in base layer with a puffy vest but had to take that off pretty early so I didn’t get too sweaty. It was fairly sunny and not much wind at all to cool you off.
It was a beautiful day, the “windy pass” wasn’t really windy. And was the first view of some spectacular mountains beyond. We hiked down a little from there to get to the campsite, crossing several little streams and waterfalls.
Since we were camping here for the night, we stashed our big packs in the restaurant and just took our day packs to get to the top. It was easy going for awhile through the woods, some gentle up and down slopes on dirt paths. A few spots were steeper but it was always generally going up. Eventually we made it to the Base Torres ranger stop. Here we rested a little and had a bit of sugar for energy before continuing on to the steep portion.
Not long after we got past here the rocks started, most of them like steps and sometimes we had to hike right up a stream.
Finally, we made it to the top, at 2800ft! This is Mirador Torres, the view point for what this whole park is named after. It is common for people to climb one or several of the towers, and it’s even featured on the 1000 Chilean Peso bill.
What a view! Just as we were leaving a sound like thunder came behind me and an avalanche of snow let loose across the lake. By the time we reached the ranger station again they had already closed the trail up to the Torres so everyone could get down safe in the light. My ankles and feet were already pretty tired from navigating the rocks and I was so ready for dinner.
It was another few miles back to Chileno campsite, and overall we hiked nearly 10 miles with over 3800ft ascent. We were able to check in and thankfully we had the closest platform, yet it was still up several tall stairs. We grabbed our bags, setup the tent, and then dug out our dinner for the night. Mr. Wander chose the mac and cheese and I had Chicken and dumplings and we both had a tasty beer from the restaurant.
The thing we didn’t realize was that the restaurant would have hot water for us, so we didn’t even need to break out the cooking pans or stove. You could do this hike without bringing a tent or food but the cost was a $300+ at each campsite. Since we were both pretty tired after the long day, we decided to go back to the tent and relax and read before bed. It was really nice listening to the river tumbling over the rocks all night.
W Hike Day 2:
Chileno to Cuernos
This morning we decided to sleep in since we thought it was going to be an easy 3-hour hike. Spoiler It was not.
After getting our tent and sleeping bags packed up we had our breakfast. It was amazing how busy it already was at the campsite when we got up. Between day hikers that had an early start and others that made it to the top for sunrise it was hard to find a table for our breakfast.
About a mile down the trail we split off towards Cuernos, heading west. It was really nice here because there were fewer rocks and we had the trail nearly to ourselves. Those that come from the welcome center or any of those campgrounds or lodges would take a more direct trail along the lake.
This was a day full of stream and sometimes bog crossings. A little after we met up with the main trail from the welcome center, we came across a pretty deep bog like area. They had some boards laid out but even those would sink once you stepped on them and both of our feet were nearly drenched by the end of that section. At the next big stream we took the opportunity to clean off our shoes so they’d be less muddy.
Our plan was to have lunch once we got to the campsite, estimating about 1pm and hoping to check in after 2 like the last spot, but the distance kept seeming farther away! Apparently their distances aren’t that accurate on some of the signs. It was finally 3pm when we still had a mile or so to go when I finally got to a point I couldn’t keep going without more calories in me.
Refueled, I was able to continue and we made it to Cuernos at 4pm! We were able to check in and set up our tent right away. We got our water refilled and relaxed outside the main lodge a bit to just sit and rehydrate after the day. In total we hiked 8 miles with 1686 ascent, despite hiking downhill for the first half of the day.
We went and got our meals, this time swapping flavors, and while they rehydrated we snacked on some doritos we bought along with a few beers. While eating, some of our friends showed up who were doing the O Hike and were staying at the same camp that night. These were friends we had met in Nepal and somehow we had all messaged Christmas greetings and found out we had similar travel plans! We chatted a bit until it was time for their dinner. Meanwhile we had talked a bit to the guy who set up his tent next to us and found out he was biking through Chile and Argentina a total of 700 miles and he was in his 4th week. He was taking a “break” by hiking the W!
W Hike Day 3:
Cuernos to Paine Grande
The next day we had an option, either we could go direct to Paine Grande, our next campsite, or we could do an extra bit up to Mirador Frances and/or Britannica that we had heard really good things about. As tempted as we were, I was already dealing with a resurgence of my foot issue that plagued me at the end of the Camino last fall and it was already a pretty long day with the packs we were carrying.
So, we decided not to punish ourselves too much and just hiked to the Paine Grande campsite. It was a good decision as it was still another 8 miles with more ascent than the day before.
It was fun to see different sets of snowy mountains appear as we made our way over different hills. Finally we arrived and got our first view of Lake Pehoe.
We got in early in the afternoon and was able to check in right away and set up our tent. This time they didn’t have platforms except for some of the tents of theirs you could rent. Instead there was a field that you could chose your own spot.
It sprinkled on and off as we set up the tent and were happy to relax a bit on our mats before dinner. We used the hot water once again for our meals, mine was the Pad Thai that was surprisingly extra spicy and his was biscuits and gravy. We purchased a round of beers and a sour each, one Pisco and one Calafate. Pisco is a liquor made from grapes that is most well known in Peru, but Chile also tries to claim origination. Pisco sour is the most popular way to have it, and they were pretty good, but the Calafate was the favorite here as it is a sweeter fruit from this region. The beer we had liked the most on the trail was Calafate from Austral brewing.
Got back to our tent just in time for the wind and rain to start to kick up. Didn’t rain hard, just in spurts, and a ton of wind. We were glad we put extra rocks down on our stakes.
W Hike Day 4-5:
Rest Day and Transfer to Puerto Natales
The next morning it was still really windy and rainy. We were both feeling pretty rough after all the mileage that we weren’t used to. We opted to make it a rest day and spent most of the day staking extra ties onto the tent, eating our meals, and when the rain let up a bit we walked near the lake.
We had gotten a bit sick of the same wraps for lunch, so we opted to eat our dinners for lunch and ordered a pizza with beers for dinner that night, which really hit the spot. That evening we had a bit more rain but the wind had finally died down.
The following morning dawned beautiful, and we just had to wait for transportation. After packing up and having breakfast we went down to the dock, but the boat was nearly 30 minutes late. We boarded and enjoyed some beautiful views. It was a bit windy and sprinkled a little but overall a nice journey across the lake.
After 30 minutes we got off and were all hurrying for our bus, past the massive line of people waiting for the boat on the other end. Thankfully the bus waited for us all and we got on board.
The bus first went back to that main entrance where we came in several days before, and that route was so pretty with lovely mountains and Mr. Wander even found a juanaco or two. At the entrance, the bus picked up the rest of the passengers and in about 2 hours we were back in Puerto Natales.
Our room wasn’t quite ready so we found some pizza and pasta and hand lunch with our friend from Nepal. She informed us they decided to join us on our next adventure, so we were excited to get to spend more time with them. We used the rest of that afternoon to shower, do a little laundry, and repack our bags with the items we had stored at our hostal.
Next Time
We start the next week in Chile with a 30 hour ferry through the Fjords, past several striking glaciers, until we arrive to Puerto Williams, one of the southern most towns in the world. We relax with a view overlooking the Beagle Channel and get to enjoy a delicious barbeque put on by our Ecolodge. Until then, Ciao!
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