From Ushuaia, I went to Punta Arenas, Chile with a couple of people I met from my hostel. There wasn´t a whole lot going on in Punta Arenas, but we made some more friends and increased our traveling group to five. Our group was somewhat eccentric... something that could only really happen while traveling. There was another american, a german, an australian, and israeli and then me. :) Fun times!
Punta Arenas was cold and rainy the whole time we were there. I did wander around town though and tried to make the best of what was there. I climbed a whole bunch of stairs to a lookout point over the city and ocean, I found a rather charming cemetary that looked like a smaller rendition of Recoleta with trees and I unsuccessfully tried to walk along the waterfront.
Moving on, we went to Puerto Natales, which is the kickoff town for hiking in Torres del Paine National Park. It was absolutely terrible weather there. It rained for two days straight and it was even colder and windier than in Punta Arenas. I think it would have been a nice little town had we actually had some decent weather, but we didn´t. After two days of waiting for the crappy weather to subside, three of our group left and started traveling north. Brain, the other american, and I decided to wait another day and then just go to the park regardless of weather. We wanted to do the somewhat well traveled "W" hike.
When we finally got to the park, it was still gross weather, but we started trekking up the mountain anyway. Our plan was to spend five days in the park, camping in tents and cooking all our food with a little stove and a cup, lugging everything around in our heavy backpacks. After two days of this, Brian left. The weather in the park is completely unpredictable. We went to a talk before entering the park and the only off limit question was "what is the weather going to be like?" In the four hour hike up to the first campsite, it was sunny, it snowed, it rained, it got really windy and then it was sunny again. Completely unpredictable. The first night camping, it snowed... a lot. I think this was part of what drove Brian, from North Carolina, away from the park.
The result of the first hike was really cool though. The hike ended at Glacier Grey... my very first time ever seeing a glacier! It is an immense expanse of blue ice and it was soooo cool. There were little blue icebergs floating down the lake and the water was soooo cold, but it was so beautiful. The rain even subsided for a little while so that we could walk around and get some good views of the glacier. Awesome.
The next day, we woke up, got all of our stuff together and immediately started hiking. It was so cold and the last thing I wanted to do was hang out in more cold weather, especially after dealing with the Buffalo winter before getting to South America, but I was super determined to do this hike. When we got down to the bottom of the mountain, it started to blizzard. We had to take refuge in the shelter down at the bottom of the mountain where we ended up being stuck until the next day. That night, we had some mice issues and then the next day, I was stuck hiking alone... luckily only for a short time.
Soon after Brian left, I met a guy from NYC, Michael, who had some extra room in his tent and invited me to hitch along with him. This next day had some promising weather. The sun actually came out for a moment and it didn´t rain for the first three hours of hiking! Yay! We got to the next campsite and left most of our stuff there and then headed up to the top of the middle part of the "W", Valle Frances. On our way up, we ran into many, many people who had turned around about an hour or so in. It was snowing, cold and wet and the snow on the trail got deeper the further we climbed up. As soon as the snow was over my knees, I decided to turn around because I didn´t have snow pants or gators to keep the inside of my boots dry. Michael just kept going... crazy dude. Apparently, he made it up to the top, but wasn´t really able to see anything anyway. He was the first person in days to actually get up to the top though because there were no tracks in the snow before him.
That night, we had some more mice issues... the second night in a row that I found a mouse in my tent! But, an indian guy, Uday, who I kept running into every few days since Puerto Madryn and and american girl, Alyssa, ended up making there way to the campsite so we had a some good company.
The next morning woke us up with some blue skies and sunshine! This was the first time I had seen this since Ushuaia! Michael convinced me to hike back up Valle Frances, the same hike I had done the day before and I´m so glad he did. When I got to the top, it was one of the most stuning bits of scenery I had ever seen in my life. An Aussie dude, Harry, that I met on the way up and I were the only two at the top at this time. We were second, only to Michael from the day before to get up there. The snow was up past my knees in some parts and we got all wet, but it was definitely worth it. A little while longer, Michael came up (he was really slow to get his stuff together in the morning so I left without him on most of the hikes) and then more people, so then it was time to leave.
We hiked all the way back down the mountain to get our stuff and head to the next campsite. We were starting to run short on daylight and I hate hiking in the dark, so we rushed to get our stuff together and go. Of course, Michael was taking forever so I told him to catch up to me and I took off. The hike was beautiful and I got to the campsite just before it got dark... Michael never caught up to me. He ended up getting lost and wandering around in the woods for two hours before he finally found his way to the campsite. Lucky for me, this campsite had a really nice refugio with a big stove and hot showers. It was a great place to wait, especially because the Aussie guy, Uday and Alyssa were there too. When Michael finally got there, we all ate dinner and had some wine before retiring for the night.
That night, Michael had mice problems. We were extra cautious with our food because the night before, the mice attacked Uday and Alyssa´s food in a tree. So, we made sure we had it all tied up and hanging from a tree. My stuff was safe, but a mouse ate through one side of Michael`s really nice backpack, and out the other. Yuck!
The second last leg of the trek was really beautiful, but really super long. I walked in total about 7 or 8 hours that day. On the way to the next campsite, I saw beautiful horses running free through the fields of grass with gorgeous white-capped mountains and serene aqua lakes in the background. It was truly amazing.
When we made it to the next campsite, I continued up to the top of the hike that ended at the Torres. I got there just in time for the sunset so the lighting was really nice. Unfortunately, it was really cold and windy... the kind of wind to knock you off your feet so I turned around and started heading back after only being there for about 10 minutes. Harry was up at the top again and we hiked/slid down the hill together. It had snowed up there about 2 days before I got there so the snow was packed down and had pretty much turned to ice. I think the longest fall I had was about 15 feet down. I made it back to the campsite safe and sound and decided I definitely was not going to wake up the next morning for the sunrise to do it again.
The next day was an easy hike down to the main shelter where I met up with Harry, yet again, and an English couple, Gill and Peter, who I had seen several times through the hike as well. Together we hiked the next hour together to the bus stop talking the whole way. I found out that Gill is a teacher and Peter is a civil engineer in London, just like my pops, so that was pretty cool.
After the 2 hour bus ride back to the town of Puerto Natales, I took a much, much needed shower and then went out to a vegetarian restaurant to gorge myself with lots of delicious food! After I had eaten, Uday, Michael, Gill, Peter and Harry met me there for some yummy craft beers to celebrate our completion of the trek.
6 days and 5 nights of self-sustained hiking was a first for me and definitely one of the most gorgeous and rewarding exeriences of my life!
