Trekking in Torres del Paine - Days 1 & 2

A short (only 6hrs!) bus ride took us over the border to Puerto Natales, Chile, a little seaport town that is close to Torres del Paine National Park.  Getting food for the trek proved to be a little harder than anticipated – the main supermarket had a terrible selection and we had to visit a couple of smaller stores to get everything we needed.  At the same time we were trying to sort out onward travel after the park, which was equally frustrating!

We had dinner at a great vegetarian restaurant with Lauren, an Australian staying in our hostel.  There was a lot of talk about exactly what we were heading off to do – Torres is famous for beautiful scenery and infamous for its Patagonian weather!

Day 1
That night the wind started to really pick up and in the morning the weather was anything but promising – driving rain and very cold when our bus picked us up.  It wasn't quite so bad when we arrived at the park.  By the time we had signed in, caught the catamaran across the lake to where we were going to start, the wind had dropped and the clouds, although threatening, were not actually raining.

There are a number of treks in the park, including an 7-8 day circuit around the Paine Massive itself.  That sounded like it was going to be a little tough considering the weather conditions so we opted for the more popular W trek, so called because of the shape it makes.

Off we set from Paine Grande, to do the lefthand part of the W, up to Glacier Grey.  The walking wasn't hard (except for the 5 days of food in my pack) and we made good time.

The camping at Refugio Grey was a pleasant surprise – a spacious grassy area amidst the trees, with a cooking shelter and hot showers! Well worth the price.  It's a very popular campsite so there were a lot of people – but  that's the case everywhere on the trek.

Glacier Grey in the distance, the refugio is the tiny silvery roof on the righthand side

The ferry showed the true size of the ice calving off the glacier

Only 10mins from camp you could get much closer to the ice

Lovely but cold

Interesting ice shapes

Day 2
Overnight rain stopped in time for breakfast and packing up the tent.  We retraced our steps back to Paine Grande for a quick lunch break.  Then we headed across the bottom of the W, to Campamento Italiano.  The walking was pleasant, with good views across the lakes, but still pretty overcast.  The weather was starting to change with the wind rising and clouds coming and going.

Italiano is situated under the beech trees, tucked at the bottom of Valle France (French Valley).  It was very sheltered but quite damp, and very busy!  We wandered around for a while before finding a tent site to put up the only non-dome tent in the park.

Returning the same way in better weather

An extensive fire ripped through the park last summer, leaving huge areas of burnt trees

The changing weather gave us glimpses of Los Cuernos

Los Cuernos later in the evening

Further South and Perito Moreno Glacier

Our travel plans hit a slight bus schedule/border crossing issue that called a halt to our plans to go rafting for a day in Chile.  Instead we had a spare 3-4 days to fill – what to do?

Southern Patagonia was calling to us, so we decided to head south a little earlier.  The last 24hr bus ride was uneventful and we arrived into El Calafate on time.  The big draw for El Calafate is its location; near the border to Chile to get to Torres del Paine, near El Chalten for trekking and close to Perito Moreno Glacier.

Perito Moreno  Glacier is huge and one of the few glaciers in the area that isn't retreating.  It covers the same area as Buenos Aires!

Approaching the glacier on a boat

The imposing front of the glacier

Striking spires in the ice

For exhorbitant sums you can walk on the edge of the glacier . . . not something we wanted to pay for

The glacier meeting the land

A fresh perspective - the far side of the glacier from land

Bombs away!  It was great fun waiting for enormous, building-sized pieces to crash into the water . . .

. . . creating tremendous noise and splash.

The obligatory tourist shot

The colours and textures and sheer size of the glacier were impressive

Lago Puelo

A cloudless day in El Bolson was a good opportunity to catch the bus to Lago Puelo for a relaxing day trip.  It's in a national park so there were hiking trails and picnic areas, plus lots of locals enjoying a nice sunny Sunday.

Looking across Lago Puelo.
Lakes, mountains; everywhere you look here is full of them both.

Chimango Caracara - very common in this area . . .

. . . very curious of people and opportunists for any food you might leave out.

In flight

The park had an interesting wetland area that was full of tiny, lightening quick birds and plenty of insects.  Ben had a great time while I was happy to be taking it easy.

Small dragonfly

Brilliant colours

The double winged larger variety

Hielo Azul Trek

After four days of on and off rain we were determined to get some more trekking done.  There was a popular three day loop that sounded good, so after picking up vital supplies off we set.

To be hit by a slight snag - the taxi driver dropped us at the wrong place.  It was deeply frustrating as we could hear the river and knew that the bridge was right there, but as it was private land with some big dogs we had to back track down the road, hoping we could figure it out.  After an 2hrs walking and getting 3 lots of conflicting information on where the trail started we finally found a sign - not what we needed with a decent distance to cover, not to mention the near 1000m climbing we needed to do.

It was 2pm by the time we crossed the river to the trail proper - very late to be setting off when the sign said it was 7hrs to the refugio!  But our trekking book said it was 4-6hrs, and it wouldn't be dark til after 9pm so we decided to press on.

A large ringed kingfisher waited patiently for Ben to change lenses - very obliging

The first rickety bridge crossing.
Ben couldn't work out why I was going so slowly, until he started himself - the boards were pretty rotten!

The first 2.5hrs from the bridge was some serious climbing; we decided that Argentine trail blazers don't really believe in switchbacks . . . Then it levelled out a little, but still with plenty of climbing.  At 6pm there was a sign that the refugio was still 50min away and after 7hrs on the go we decided that we would camp right there, in a nice clearing beside the river.

The next morning we were a little stiff and sore, but quickly reached the Refugio Hielo Azul (Blue Ice).  The weather had closed in a lot so we set up camp and lazed around, instead of heading up to see the glacier Hielo Azul.

Nearly at the refugio

Refugio Hielo Azul

We were very lucky to spot the rare Andean Mountain Cat, found in a diverse range of habitats . . .

. . . but especially warm ones!
This is Guia, the refugio cat, who was very helpful setting up the tent and going for short walks with us

Lovely campsite, luckily free from falling branches

The weather was considerably better, though still cold, when we set off the next morning, which was just as well as we had a decent amount of ground to cover, plus a big descent.  Much beginning of the walk was in the beautiful beech forests, occasional clearings and swampy meadows gave us some lovely views.

Another bridge crossing

Through the beech forest

The trail traversed across the ridge line, past Refugio Natacion, where we stopped in for a brief chat with the hut keeper, then dropped sharply down to the Rio Azul (Blue River).  The descent was steep and rocky, but we made good time.

The Rio Azul living up to it's name

We had only seen two other hikers on the first day until we got down into the Rio Azul valley, which is a very popular day hike.  Quite different from the popularity of the trails around Bariloche!

After following the river upstream for 30min, admiring the intense colour of the water and the dramatic, deepening gorge, we crossed the river to  Refugio Cajon de Azul - literally Drawer of Azul.  Canyon might be a closer translation, as the water is drawn into a canyon that is 40m deep and only 3m wide.  The Refugio is on a little working farm and we were welcomed by the very friendly owner and his multiple cats.  There were even hot showers to wash the dirt off - luxury!

Dinner time at Refugio Cajon de Azul

The fourth day was to be a relatively easy 12km walk out down the river and into a small settlement.  It was a very picturesque walk next to the river, with occasional day trippers and horse riders going by.

Another rickety bridge

Looking back up valley

The last bridge of the day

We crossed the last bridge and headed up towards Warton, the little settlement where the shop could call a taxi for us.  On the map and trip description this looked quite short, perhaps a km or two.  It was more like 3km of trudging up a surprisingly steep gravel road.  It wasn't all that far but it certainly felt it!  Finally we rolled in to Warton, really just a cross roads and a store with two horses tied up to the fence.  The owner called a taxi for us and while we waited we enjoyed a cold drink and a great view back the way we'd come.

Leaving Bariloche

After being based in Bariloche for a few weeks it was time to head south to El Bolson, a couple of hours away.  We enjoyed our time in Bariloche, particularly the fine selection of chocolate and 80% chocolate icecream - yum!

Spectacular sunsets just seem like a given here, as seen out our bedroom window

The full moon over the hills across the lake

Easy overnighter up to Refugio Frey

A short bus ride to the bottom of Cerro Catedral skifield brought us to the start of the trail to Refugio Frey.  It's one of the most popular refugios in the park, so we had the tent with us and I was hoping that it wouldn't be too cold.

The first couple of hours skirted the side of the mountain through low bushes and burnt trees, affording nice views across Lake Gutierrez and back towards Bariloche.  Then the trail started to climb up through the beautiful beech forest.

After some climbing we started to get some good views . . .

. . . so very different to our hikes in Peru.

Even though it wasn't a long hike I was still rather glad to see the refugio

It wasn't far from our previous outing but the mountains are very different . . .

. . . extremely jagged and very popular with rock climbers.

While I stayed in the warm chatting to Brazilian rock climbers, Ben waited outside for the moon to rise.

The Tarptent in action on a pretty tight site.

Refugio Frey and Laguna Toncek

The weather had been much warmer than our last trip, so we weren't in a rush to head off.  On the walk back down we heard some bird sounds off the trail so Ben quickly changed lenses.

And this was what we heard - Magellanic Woodpeckers

The female doesn't have the bright head, but her crest is rather lovely

The tock-tock-tock of the bug hunting woodpecker

These little lizards have been everywhere on our hikes . . .

. . . as are these more interestingly coloured ones

Bivvies are a little more upmarket around here . . .

. . . complete with cross and bell.

The route back took us down to the shores of Lago Guiterrez and into the fierce wind that had started up.  Very glad to be heading back to civilisation!