{"id":244,"date":"2018-01-01T23:51:33","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T23:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/?p=244"},"modified":"2026-10-18T16:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T16:38:25","slug":"hiking-torres-del-paine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/01\/hiking-torres-del-paine\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiking in Torres del Paine, Patagonia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our first trip to South America took us all the way to the Southern tip of the continent, to Chilean Patagonia.\u00a0 Having recently gotten more into backpacking after our awesome experience in New Zealand, we were eager to try the 5-day W trek (named for the route traced on the map) in Torres del Paine National Park.\u00a0 Making reservations early, even for camping, is essential.\u00a0 We\u2019ll cover planning in a separate blog entry.<\/p>\n

We knew Patagonia was remote, but we weren’t quite ready for the amount of travel time required to reach the starting point of the trek. \u00a0Chile\u2019s main international gateway, Santiago, is a 10+ hour flight from most of the US, frequently with a connection. \u00a0The flight to Punta Arenas, the capital of Chilean Patagonia, is another 3 hours due South by plane. \u00a0From there, the park gateway town of Puerto Natales is a 3 hour bus ride. \u00a0Finally, it\u2019s another 2 hours on a bus to get to the park\u2019s entrance, and then yet another connection via bus or catamaran to get to the starting points of the W.<\/p>\n

Along the way, we spent 2 nights in Puerto Natales to prepare for the trek.\u00a0 We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of food, specifically carb-loading at Pizzeria Mesita Grande and the delicious Chilean cuisine at Lenga.\u00a0 The complimentary 3 PM talk at Erratic Rock<\/a> was informative and is recommended before setting off on the trek.\u00a0 We also picked up some trekking poles which were helpful to save the knees on longer descents and help with stream and mud crossings.\u00a0 Wandering outside to explore the town was a good introduction to the gusting winds and rapidly-changing weather conditions; we enjoyed strolling along the waterfront gazing at the snow-covered peaks.<\/p>\n

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Puerto Natales<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We caught a 7:30 bus to the park.\u00a0 The ride is quite scenic, passing through the pampas (plains) and spotting occasional guanacos (llama-like creatures) while approaching the Torres del Paine massif.\u00a0 First stop upon arrival: waiting in line to pay the entrance fee and being informed of the rules (no fires!).\u00a0 From there, we continued on to the catamaran that would take us to the western terminus of the W.\u00a0 The boat offered the first glimpses of the famous cuernos (horns) rock formations.<\/p>\n

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Guanaco || Cuernos<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once off the boat around 1 PM, it was finally time to start trekking.\u00a0 The first leg was 4 hours long finishing at Glacier Grey.\u00a0 After a steady uphill climb for about an hour, the first mirador (lookout) was over a small lagoon.\u00a0 Taking photos at the mirador, replacing unsuccessful selfie attempts, was how we met our companions for the remainder of the trek: Erica, Michele and Albert from New York, and Grant and Kendyl from South Africa.\u00a0 The trail continued along the side of the impressive glacier-topped Cerro Paine Grande and led us to a spectacular overlook of Glacier Grey calving into Lago Grey.\u00a0 The glacier is nearly 20 miles long and fed from the massive Southern Patagonian Ice Field.<\/p>\n

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Mirador Grey<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After another few miles of impressive scenery along Lago Grey, we arrived at the Refugio.\u00a0 Refugios are located throughout the park and provide simple bunk rooms, camp sites, meals and drinks.\u00a0 We opted for bringing along our own tent but eating dinner at the refugios.\u00a0 We took our time setting up the tent, ensuring that all guy lines were in place and loops were firmly secured, weary of waking up wrapped up in our tent due to strong winds.\u00a0 (Shout-out to Brittany for the masterful knot skills.)\u00a0 After that, it was time to relax in the refugio with a bottle of Chilean sauvignon blanc (which would become a nightly ritual) followed by dinner with our newfound friends.<\/p>\n

On the next morning, we had reserved a kayak tour around Glacier Grey.\u00a0 Unfortunately the winds were too strong so we got a boat tour to explore the glacier instead.\u00a0 We donned as many layers as possible since the un-shielded winds on the lake were quite strong.\u00a0 It was impressive seeing the different shades of blue present in the glacial ice.\u00a0 Only a few weeks prior, a large iceberg broke free from the main glacier.\u00a0 It was a rare occurrence, quite beautiful to see but disheartening at the same time since it was caused by rising temperatures.\u00a0 Sadly, the glacier now retreats by over 400 feet annually.<\/p>\n

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Glacier Grey<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the excursion, we back-tracked the 4 hour hike from the previous day to Refugio Paine Grande.\u00a0 There was light rain when we started and then the wind started howling along the way.\u00a0 Fortunately it was in our backs and thus its impressive strength wasn\u2019t too bothersome \u2013 the people heading the opposite direction weren\u2019t quite so lucky.\u00a0 For the second half, the clouds parted and we were treated to some amazing views of the cuernos descending towards the refugio.\u00a0 Paine Grande was especially exposed to the winds so we set up our tent in the protection of a building.<\/p>\n

Day 3 took us into the heart of the park.\u00a0 After 2.5 hours along Lago Sk\u00f6ttsberg in light drizzle, we dropped our heavy packs at Campamento Italiano to head into Valle del Frances with less weight.\u00a0 The valley is located on the interior of the massif and involved a steep ascent next to running streams and waterfalls.\u00a0 The reward at the top was worth every step as this was arguably the most beautiful part of the entire park, an absolutely stunning panorama.\u00a0 On one side, the park\u2019s largest peak Paine Grande is covered with snow and a massive glacier with the occasional sound of ice breaking off and crashing down the side.\u00a0 90 degrees to the right are rugged peaks and cliffs towering over the forest.\u00a0 Turning the other way reveals several turquoise blue lakes in the basin below.<\/p>\n

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Mirador Frances<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last part of the day’s hike to our refugio was also quite wonderful.\u00a0 We walked around the impressive cuernos in vistas of wildflowers and overlooking Lago Nordernskj\u00f6ld.\u00a0 The trail merged with a rock beach along the lake before arriving at our refugio.\u00a0 Refugio Los Cuernos offered the most scenic campsite of the trip.\u00a0 We set up on a wooden platform in the rolling hills under the impressive granitic rock formations that make up the cuernos.\u00a0 The bar featured a view over the lake that, due to 16 hours of daylight, was visible until well after our bedtime.<\/p>\n

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Campamento Cuernos<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We rose early the next day since we had a lot of hiking ahead of us.\u00a0 We wanted to make it all the way up to the namesake towers along with the rest of our group.\u00a0 The time estimates on the trails can be quite variable so we had somewhere between 7 and 11 hours of hiking ahead of us, depending on who you asked.\u00a0 After breaking down our tent in the rain (no fun\u2026), we took off towards the Torres area at a brisk pace.\u00a0 Around 2 hours in, part of the trail was flooded.\u00a0 The poles were helpful for keeping our balance but we still ended up ankle-deep in mud.\u00a0 Fortunately we avoided the parts that were over a foot deep.\u00a0 After two mud crossings we were in the clear and welcomed a gradual incline over grass covered hills.\u00a0 Despite the estimates given by hikers that passed, it wasn\u2019t long before we were at the intersection that took us towards the Torres and, sadly, the trail became increasingly more crowded with day hikers.<\/p>\n

Ahead of schedule, we took a lunch break at Refugio Chileno and then left our big packs behind as we pushed on to the Torres.\u00a0 The last hour consisted of scrambling up rocks and dodging others on the congested path.\u00a0 We reached the base of Las Torres del Paine set behind a glacier lake.\u00a0 It was quite full but we were able to find our own space.\u00a0 The granite peaks are a majestic sight to behold.\u00a0 We bundled up in all our layers and took some pictures before heading back down to our refugio for the night.\u00a0 We were faced with one last challenge climbing up to our tent platform, set on the side of a steep hill, before grabbing dinner and settling in for our last night in the wild.\u00a0 The last part of the trek was 2 hours downhill where we met up with our friends for several beers in celebration of finishing the 40+ mile journey.<\/p>\n

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Las Torres<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The W trek was an incredible experience.\u00a0 Torres del Paine National Park is absolutely spectacular: towering mountains with unique rock formations, vistas with diverse flora, glaciers, turquoise blue lakes, and rock beaches. \u00a0It’s hard to believe that everything can be found in a single park.\u00a0 Bringing all our gear and doing our own planning increased the sense of accomplishment, and meeting a fun group of friends along the way made the experience!<\/p>\n

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Team Skittles!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Our first trip to South America took us all the way to the Southern tip of the continent, to Chilean Patagonia.\u00a0 Having recently gotten more into backpacking after our awesome experience in New Zealand, we were eager to try the 5-day W trek (named for the route traced on the map) in Torres del Paine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,13,14],"tags":[46,51,49,47,53,45,11,50,48,52],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures","category-land","category-mountains","tag-backpacking","tag-camping","tag-chile","tag-friends","tag-glacier","tag-hiking","tag-new-adventures","tag-patagonia","tag-south-america","tag-torres-del-paine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":246,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5026,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions\/5026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bricoadventures.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}