We drove into Torres del Paine National Park on Sunday, Feb. 1st. We drove in on Y-290, which is a less used entrance on the south side of the park. We went this way because it went straight by the Campground, Camping Rio Serrano, that Grandma, Grandpa and the boys would be staying at for 3 nights while Drew and I hiked the famous W trek. The drive along Y-290 was actually lovely. We got to stare directly at the famous peaks the entire drive. It was cold and overcast that day, but we still had lots of clear views. I'd highly recommend this route to anyone heading into the southern part of the park.
This entire post is going to be filled with photos of the same peaks in Torres del Paine, taken on different days from different perspectives. You're probably going to get sick of them all, how many pictures of the same few rocks can one family possibly take, but it was so beautiful that we can't help ourselves. It's like a Grandma showing off pictures of her grandkids. By the 5th photo, the viewer is over it, but to the Grandma, each photo sparks a memory of another wonderful interaction that she can't help but share. So, share I will. The bulkier peak on the left of the picture below is Paine Grande. The peaks right in the middle are the Cuernos or the Horns, which to me look very much like tatas. The Towers are just barely peaking out, mostly tucked behind the peak on the right, which is Cerro Almirante Nieto.
After settling the boys and G&G into the campsite, Drew and I made our way to the Pudeto ferry dock where we were due to take the 4:15 ferry to the Paine Grande Campground. The ferry ride itself was chilly, again due to the overcast weather, but we were excited for our adventure.
The campground at Paine Grande is a funny one. If privacy and space is what you're looking for, this is not the campground for you. All of the tents are crammed right next to each other with just a few feet in between. The yellow tents are rentable for $50/night, so you could do the hike without carrying a super heavy pack. Lots of people using guided tour groups used these. We had our own tent with us, so we found a semi-quiet spot right at the edge of the grounds. There is also a proper "hotel" there too where you can rent a room with a real bed and have a proper dinner from the cafeteria. We saw lots and lots of older folks there to see the sites, more than we've seen on any part of our journey, and certainly, these comforts make it more accessible to them. But, you're going to pay for it, of course. The campers got access to bathrooms, showers, and a comedor which is a room where you can cook and eat.
The campground is home to several large falcon type birds that would fly around from tent to tent looking for scraps. They were beautiful, but it was strange seeing such a large animal acting like a house pet.
We woke up on Monday at dawn to begin our day hike to the middle section of the W which ends at the Britanico Lookout, which is arguably the most beautiful section of the whole thing. We would be hiking from Paine Grande to the Italiano Refugio, then hiking past the Frances Mirador all the way to the Britanico Lookout, and then all the way back again, which would add up to a startling 18 miles, hence the early start. It was nice hiking early as we had the trail to ourselves the whole way to Italiano.
The hike is rated as hard, but the 6 miles (one way) from Paine Grande to the Italiano Refugio was easy. It was only the section from Italiano up to Britanico that had substantial elevation gain, but even that part wasn't so bad. It was really just the overall distance that made it hard, which is why most people don't hike the W with day hikes like we were doing. Most people carry their heavy packs with them to Italiano, drop them there, do the uphill section with only a day pack, hike down, and then keep going with their packs a bit farther to camp at Camp Frances, making the hike only about 12 miles instead of 18. I'm not sure which way is better to be honest. Shorter distances but with a heavy pack or longer distances but with much less weight.
Once we made it to Italiano, a fog rolled in, and it filled the valley we were hiking up completely. We couldn't see more than 50 feet around in any direction, but luckily the trail was well marked. But, it meant we couldn't see anything of the peaks overhead. This same thing had happened to us to a degree when we hiked Cerro Castillo, so our plan was to continue to the end, and then wait there for as long as we could to still hike home in daylight to see if the fog lifted at all with the warmer afternoon temperatures. After we arrived at the Lookout, where we could see literally nothing, we put on every piece of warm clothing we had, found a little nook under some rocks that was less exposed, and settled in to wait it out. After about 45 mins, during which a few more groups arrived, I could feel some sunshine starting to work its way through the mist above our heads. I then heard someone gasp and start clapping, and, looking out, we saw our first glimpse of blue sky and rock peeping through a hole in the fog. Within the next 15 minutes, all of the fog lifted in amazing swiftness, and we were gifted completely clear skies and 360 degree views of the peaks surrounding us. It was magical and very dramatic. The photo below is one where the fog was still lifting, and then the next several are the views afterwards. I feel like a broken record, but at every new point on this trip I keep saying "This is the most beautiful place I have ever been," but I think this one has finally won. And it was so cool that it was almost at the end of the trip. Absolutely worth the crowds and the hype.
While we were hiking up in the fog, we kept hearing what sounded like thunder every so often, but we could see nothing. Another hiker confirmed to us that what we were hearing was actually ice cracking and falling from some of the glaciers that circled this valley. When we were hiking back down in the sunshine with clear views, we finally saw it happen. We weren't close enough to this to be in any danger, and the ice that was cracking off was actually quite small, but it was really cool to see. It went on all day long.
On Tuesday, our plan was to do a 15-mile day hike to the left side of the W out to Grey's Glacier. Drew, unfortunately, started feeling some pain in his knee at the end of our 18-mile hike the day before, so he decided to sit this one out. So, I went alone, which wasn't ideal, but I wanted to see it. So off I went.
Hiking from Paine Grande to the Grey Glacier Mirador, which is a bit more than halfway to the Grey Refugio, is pretty gradual with not as many views. But once you get around this one one hillside, suddenly you can see the glacier as well as some very striking, sharp cliff sides. The hike from here felt very different. There were two particularly steep sections down that I knew I'd have to save some energy for on the return trip. The glacier itself is beautiful.
On Wednesday morning, we took the 9:20am ferry from Paine Grande back to the Pudeto Ferry dock. The morning was gorgeous, and we had wonderful views from the ferry.
We then made our way back to the Campground to meet up with the rest of the family. Thanks again to Grandma and Grandpa for watching the boys so we could go do these more intense hikes. Seems like they had fun on their own, doing their own hike to the glacier but on the other side of the lake.
Once we had joined up with the family and took a shower, we began our drive back to the other side of the park. That drive took several hours, but we were going slowly, stopping to take in the views.
We ended our drive at Laguna Azul, which gave us views of the Torres Towers. Our original plan was to do the last right leg of the W on Thursday, which takes you to the base of the Towers. But the weather on Thursday did not look good, and with Drew's knee, we decided to skip it. I think we got super lucky with the good weather that we did have to do our Britanico Lookout hike, so we took our money and ran.
