At Sunrise

Trekking Part 1

Can’t imagine a more beautiful place to pitch a tent

The trek begins! After spending a night in a hostel so noisy I couldn’t fall asleep, I caught a very early bus into Torres Del Paine National Park to begin trekking. Because I was exhausted from being kept awake all night, I was planning to sleep on the bus, but the incredible mountain scenery kept me riveted to the window.

The trek started with the most difficult hike of the entire Patagonia trip: a 10 hour climb with an incredibly steep finish (climbing 500m elevation gain in 1000m at the end). Luckily, we didn’t have to carry our full packs on the hike (I estimate mine weighed around 15lbs), because we were camping at the start of it. We setup our tent under a towering mountain (see picture above), and hoped it wouldn’t blow away. Wind in the park can reach 190km/hr; it swept a man and his full pack 9m in the air and blew over a tour bus last year. Luckily, it wasn’t very windy when we were setting up camp, and we purposefully camped under trees and the base of the mountain to offer a little more protection during windstorms.

The hike was pretty steep most of the way to the top, and the last kilometer was killer. It was certainly strenuous for me. We crossed quite a few streams, which contained that beautiful turquoise glacier water. We also walked along several gorges, which reminded me of Ithaca. The trail was pretty popular, and we recognized several other people from the bus ride. Overall, the hike itself was great, even without that truly spectacular finale view.

The view from the top of the hike was incredible. All of a sudden, I could see steep mountains looming over a gorgeous turquoise glacier lake. My favorite part though was actually the sounds, standing in the valley of those incredible peaks. It sounded like a constant yet distant thunderstorm echoing throughout the mountains, but it was really the sound of little avalanches from the glacier. The way I described it doesn’t begin to do it justice. The sound was surreal- I hope to remember it for the rest of my life.

Here are some pictures from day 1:

Made it to the top!

The next day was our easiest day of the trek. Only 5 hours/15km of walking, but it was the first full day carrying our big packs the entire time. We left our camp at 9:30, after having a quick oatmeal breakfast. The first part of the hike was mainly uphill, but when we reached the first summit we were rewarded with sweeping views of the valley and a hidden river.

The entire hike was beautiful, getting to enjoy being surrounded by mountains and lakes. Every time I summited a mountain, I was rewarded with a new lake appearing in the distance. Each lake was a beautifully still, turquoise color. I was so happy when we arrived at camp! The thought of taking a shower was so exciting, I almost ran the last 30 minutes. I was in bed by 8pm, and even though it was still incredibly light out (because we are very far south), I had no problem falling asleep as soon as I laid down.

A few pictures from day 2:

Waking up on day 3 was very difficult. It had poured the entire night, so everything was drenched and damp. My sleeping bag had become a soggy cocoon that made me all pruney when I woke up. I didn’t want to put on wet clothes and pack up the wet tent and hike for many hours with a wet pack on my back, but I didn’t have a choice. It’s not like I could bail on the trail in the middle of a national park, many miles away from civilization.

The damp hike was worth it though. The day wasn’t super long either, but a hike that was supposed to take 6 hours ended up taking me 9. It was mainly that my body was still exhausted from the other days of hiking, so I wanted to take it slow. Nothing wrong with spending some more time on the most beautiful trail I’d ever been on. The mountains we camped under were surreal, one of the most beautiful mountain ranges I had ever seen.

For dinner, we mixed pasta with dehydrated potato soup, and I sincerely believe it was one of the best meals of my life. There was nothing that could’ve hit the spot better than starch on creamy, cheesy starch. And it was very cold that night (below freezing), so having something warm to eat was essential.

My favorite place to sleep.

Perhaps because I slept in the most beautiful place ever, that night gave me the recharge I needed to keep trekking. I woke excited to reach our next adventure- a glacier and a lake filled with icebergs floating by. The hike was an 8 hour moderate hike, and the weather was an incredible 70*F and sunny, making it a true joy to be out in the woods. The first few hours of the hike was through an area of the park that had seen a massive wildfire 6 years ago, so the path followed dead trees with their silver bark seemingly glowing in the mid-morning light. The burnt forest was very beautiful to be immersed in. All of a sudden, the trail went into a beautiful forest (which had covered the entire trail before the forest fire). At the same time, I saw my first iceberg in the lake. As we walked further along the trail, icebergs became regular sightings, until we could see the massive glacier they originated from.

We made it to the lookout point, then headed to the catamaran that would take us to the other side of the park. Due to the catamaran breaking down, we ended up waiting at the docks for 5 hours! But we made some new friends and watched this truly spectacular show of rock-skipping by a fellow trekker. It was frustrating though, because we got a lot of misinformation from the park rangers. At one point, we were told the catamaran was 10 minutes away (which would mean it had already left the other side of the lake, because it’s 30 minutes for a 1-way trip), but when an hour had passed with no catamaran in sight, the ranger admitted they were still working on fixing it. At one point, we were told we’d have to hike an additional 5 hours (in the dark, mind you) to a place a bus could pick us up. I decided I would just camp near the boat dock, instead. Luckily, at around 8:30 we got word that the catamaran had been fixed, and we were able to get on a boat that night. With the unexpected delays, we ended up going to sleep at around 12:30, making it our latest night of the trek.

Here’s day 4 pictures: