Next Stop: Unknown

Our Route:

Puerto Natales – Refugio Glacier Grey
Refugio Glacier Grey – Campamento Italiano
Campamento Italiano – Refugio Los Cuernos
Refugio Los Cuernos – Campamento Torres
Campamento Torres – Puerto Natales via Hosteria Los Torres

At 2:30 AM the camp started bustling with activity? Our first thought was what? Did we oversleep? But no, some hugely overzealous hikers were up and hitting the trails. Why you ask, I have no idea. I just know that when we woke up at 4:30 AM, it still felt WAY too early to be donning smelly clothes and heading out into the dark. Lucas’ knee was acting up again, and as this mornings one hour, 40 degree hike was supposed to be the hardest of the lot, he decided to skip out on the pain. This time rather than slowing Jem and Sandra down, I paired up with Graeme our Kiwi friend. I wasn’t going to miss out on his 10mm lens sharing opportunities. I’d run up that mountain if I had to!

I’d thought Day 3 was grueling, but this topped it in intensity. The climb really was at a 40 degree angle. For parts of it was were bouldering, other parts slipping down huge tracks of sand. I just hunkered down and mustered through. Perhaps not the best choice as my knees are still killing me (and I’m writing this one week later!). Graeme and I kept peering up into the darkness, watching the headlamps of those ahead trying to figure out when we’d finally reach the top. We kept thinking, “Almost there, Almost there.” But the terrain was so rugged and people were lumbering along so slowly, that they appeared to be not moving at all. Dang false hope!

Reaching the summit was completely anticlimactic. We’d beaten sunrise, and couldn’t see a thing. It was so dark, I couldn’t even tell where to focus the camera. Yes, I’d hauled that fancy tripod uphill, just incase you’re wondering! As the sky brightened up I started clicking away and was rewarded with some awesome shots. Funny though, I’d have my exposure going for 30 seconds and the sky was so colorful. Way more colorful on the frame than it appeared to be with the naked eye. I got more and more excited saying, “Graeme just wait, it’s gonna be great.” No one else had a tripod so they were waiting until there was enough light for a handheld shot. But then, just as the pinnacles started becoming illuminated to the naked eye, our first ‘real’ Patagonia rainstorm broke. Folks ran towards caves, covered themselves with raincoats and started booking it back down the trail. Graeme, me and a few others decided to wait it out. I was frozen and after about 10 minutes wasn’t sure if we’d made the right choice. And then…

… the sky cleared! Have you ever wondered where the leprechauns hide their gold? Apparently it’s at Torres del Paine. We could see an entire rainbow, almost perfectly framing the Pinnacles. Amazing!

One more picture to prove I was really there!

Good thing we’d struggled up for sunrise. After the sun had fully risen, the scene got pretty ho-hum. 

And now we’re headed back down the final stretch. Down, down down. Oh poor knees, don’t fail me now! I suppose I should mention that it’s my 30th birthday. Quite a memorable one, I’d say. As we were headed back the trail my knees were killing me, I was tired, hadn’t gotten any sleep and just when I was feeling my lowest, my ‘W’ pals decided to sing Happy Birthday. Sweet gesture, but unfortunately I was feeling so unhappy that I just sat down on the trail and cried. Oops, that didn’t go as they’d planned! Momentary breakdown aside, it was a truly fabulous day.

Ah, the boots are off, as are the packs and we’re waiting for a bus to take us back to civilization!

Where were these horses when we needed a lift? 

Awesome rolling cloud picture Lucas took while we were waiting for the return bus home.

And now, some tips for trekking Patagonia, and “The W”

The basic west to east, or east to west course takes 5 days.  It’s 5 long full days of hiking, with little to no opportunity to rest and actually enjoy the beauty of the W.  I would suggest you do it in 7 days.  Spend an extra day at Glacier Grey and do some day hiking around.  Spend another extra day at either Campo Italiano, or Cuernos.  This will give yourself some time to recover from any injuries, and prevent muscle stress/fatigue.  It’s also nice to take side trips around and look at some of the places you’ve spent so much energy getting to.

For packing… going light is essential!  Pack only two sets of clothes.  One set is going to be your “trekking” set… the other your “sleeping” set.  Every day when you are done with your sweaty, rainy, or muddy, workout: take a shower (if available) and change into your clean clothes.  Stuff your nasty’s in a plastic bag and seal them away.  You’ll feel better, and your tent and sleeping bag won’t smell so bad.  In the morning, it will be VERY difficult to put those smelly clothes back on… especially if they really ARE wet, cold, and muddy… just do it.  Once you have your 15 kilo backpack on, and struggling through the hike, you’ll be warm again in 5 minutes… I promise.  It was pretty damn cold at night, but while we were actually working our muscles during the day, there wasn’t any point that we were too cold.

Food – pack light… you can get water everywhere, don’t carry extra.  I always carried a full liter with me… but by the end of the 3rd day, was only carrying half a liter.  There are streams everywhere, so no need to worry about dehydrating.  But, buy dehydrated foods, pastas, etc.  Bring lots of raisins, peanuts, and chocolate.  You’ll snack on those while you are trekking…  If you can’t eat it with one hand, don’t pack it for a lunch.  We never stopped for lunch, just snacked the entire day, only having a ‘sit down’ breakfast and dinner.  This keeps you motivated and moving forward, and prevents you wanting to take a nap right after you gorge yourself in the middle of the day.  Powdered soups work well for breakfast, as do cereal bars.  Looking back, we carried too much food.  Take extra money and buy food along the way.  It will cost a bit more in the end, but not having to carry it is significantly worth it.  Money is much lighter than canned goods, pastas, chocolate, etc. 

Which way to go?  East to west, or west to east?  I don’t think it really matters.  If you are considering doing the entire circuit, I think it makes most sense to go west to east.  There is a pretty large resupply store on the last day of the W, which you can get everything you need to make the loop back around.  This also gives you the option of doing ‘the Q’, which is an extra day.  You can’t really go wrong, it’s beautiful either direction. 

Knee braces and trekking poles?  I shunned them, but wish I hadn’t.  Both Jenn and I ended up with knee injuries on day 3.  If our friends hadn’t loaned us their trekking poles and knee braces, it would have been a much more difficult journey.  There is no need to buy poles, you can rent them.  But, it may be cheaper to buy a set and then sell them to someone else when you return from the trip.  I’ve never trekked with poles before, and have always thought they were a waste.  I’m a believer now. 

First aid kit.  Take one, but only the essentials.  Ibuprofen, blister packs, band aids and an antibiotic ointment.  (we downed quite a few ibuprofen over 5 days).  All of the water along the trek is drinkable.  You don’t need to bring purification tables, filters, or UV pens.  You might consider bringing some Gatorade, Tang, or similar powder along for taste/sugar.

Warm sleeping bag… it gets cold at night so make sure your bag is rated to 0C or 32F.  I’d suggest a warmer one than that.  Our bags were rated to 15F and were perfect for every night except one at Glacier Grey when we couldn’t get warm.  In those cases, boil some water and put it into your Nalgene bottles and toss it into the bottom of your sleeping bag.  It’s amazing how much warm feet make a difference.  Do take a Nalgene bottle or something similar. If you get into a situation where you want a hot water bottle at night, a normal water bottle like you’d buy in a convenient store doesn’t hold hot enough water to last through the night. A Nalgene will stay warm enough through the night that you can almost use it for coffee in the morning.

If you are going to rent gear in town, make sure you set up the tent and test the sleeping mats and such. One friend ran into a problem where the zipper on his rented tent was busted. Another never slept well because their sleeping mat was too thin.  Give everything a good run through and make sure it meets your needs.  Good equipment is available for rental in Puerto Natales.  If you are thinking you might want to do the W, but don’t want to lug your camping gear around for the rest of your trip, you’ll have no problems renting everything you need. 

Want to know more about the W, or have questions?  Shoot us an email and we’ll do our best to help you out!

Our Route:

Puerto Natales – Refugio Glacier Grey
Refugio Glacier Grey – Campamento Italiano
Campamento Italiano – Refugio Los Cuernos
Refugio Los Cuernos – Campamento Torres
Campamento Torres – Puerto Natales via Hosteria Los Torres

Thank you Los Cuernos for a wonderful night sleep! The only way it would have been better was if we weren’t visited all night long by mice. Cute little things, but awfully persistent. We’d put our food inside shopping bags, inside our backpacks and hung the backpacks from the trees. Somehow the buggers managed to climb inside the secure packs, eat through the grocery sacks munch on our tastiest of foods, poop and then get back out again. No more yummy trail mix for us!

We left a little souvenir of our own at the camp for future generations. I hope someday we can take our kids back to “The W”, find our special camping spot at Los Cuernos and show them where Lucas patiently carved our name into the picnic bench. Romantic moments on the trail!

After Los Cuernos we would be leaving the beautiful turquoise lake waters behind, so we took a few parting shots. The lake views in Patagonia are definitely some of our favorites.

The trail was a hundred times easier today than it had been the previous days. We kept saying that if we’d taken ‘The W’ walking from east to west, rather than west to east we would have been completely dismayed by how quickly the trail degrades after Los Cuernos. That doesn’t mean day four was exactly easy, but the scenery was beautiful and the weather was absolutely perfect. We even all whipped out shorts! Yeah for REI tear-away pants.

Look at Lucas’ sporty knee brace!

Almost to the first camp! We didn’t end up staying there, but it was a convenient place to load up on chocolates to replace the ones the mice ate, and wine for celebrating our last night on the trail. Essentials only, of course.

Here’s one of the nicest bridges on the trek. A more typical bridge would be three logs strapped together with twine and laid across the river.

Thru the hardest parts of the trek we’d been joking that it would be nice if you could hire a horse to take you the rest of the way. Little did we know that you could! At least you can if you are garbage being hauled out of the park. The horses don’t get to cross on the nice bridge. Their way looks more fun, I think.

Yeah, last camp. A group of us chilled out on this rock to watch the sunset across the mountains and drink our celebratory wine. Then straight to bed so that we have enough energy for tomorrow’s 4:30 AM wake-up call!

Our Route:

Puerto Natales – Refugio Glacier Grey
Refugio Glacier Grey – Campamento Italiano
Campamento Italiano – Refugio Los Cuernos
Refugio Los Cuernos – Campamento Torres
Campamento Torres – Puerto Natales via Hosteria Los Torres

Day 3 of ‘The W’ is not for anyone with knee injuries, low spirits, or downers of any kind. This was one grueling hike! The day starts with a four hour hike, straight up hill through the Valley Francais to one of the trails most famous Miradors. Then you scramble back down hill three hours to where you started that morning, pack up camp then head two hours further down towards a series of lakes where you camp for the night. So it’s about eight hours of hiking, doesn’t sound miserable right, especially since you can pack light for the majority of the day. Ha, don’t fool yourself! That four hour uphill is a nightmare of a scramble and you’re using your hands to stabilize yourself nearly the entire time. My knees ache just thinking about the day!

Lucas didn’t get a wink of sleep the whole night leading up to Day 3 and woke up with only a thimble full of energy. He mustered for the hike, but then had to turn back a little ways into the day. So I was on my own with Sandra and Jem. They took good care of me though and even shared some chocolate bars and nuts with me along the trail.

Sandra and I at the first lookout of the day. We don’t really look tired, or at least THAT tired yet. Little did we know that we still had two more hours of uphill to go. Ugh!

All smiles at the Mirador. Sandra snapped this photo of me working on the panoramic shot below. I’d been planning on sharing a wide angle lens with Graeme, but he was way too fast for us and both he and his 10mm were back down the trail by the time we made it to the top. Made me practice my photo stitching skills!

Not a bad view, eh? Jem thought it was rubbish and would rather have stayed back at camp with Lucas. “Mountains” he says, “See those before. Nothing new!” Every group has a sarcastic one!

One of me at the top smiling because I think the worst of the hike is past. Oh wait, there is still a horrible stretch of downhill to go. I don’t think my knees will ever be the same!

Coming back down the path we went through this completely dead forest. Totally dramatic.

This is part of the easy downhill. At least there were rewarding views, the entire way.Graeme took these two awesome photos, but I did the HDR work. After we’d climbed all the way down through the Valley Francais we popped out at a crystal clear lake. Those famous Patagonia winds were no where to be seen, and the mountains were casting awesome reflections of the mountains. As Sandra would say, “Far Out, Brussel Sprout!”

The color of these lakes is something near Aquafresh toothpaste. I don’t know how fresh water gets this turquoise.  I spent about 95% of the day looking down at my feet, even though the surroundings were absolutely amazing. I didn’t want to misplace a foot and wreck those knees anymore than necessary. But even the ground was photogenic today.

By the end of the day, I was so stoked to see Lucas. He’d carried the tent and my sleeping bag for me and gotten our camp all setup. He’d even made dinner reservations for our eight trail friends at the hosteria (yes, real food tonight!). We dinned on beef, drank an $8 bottle of wine, enjoyed hot showers and crashed out real early. Half way thru with the trek!

We are pretty backed up on our blogging… so, to speed things up, we’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Our Route:

Puerto Natales – Refugio Glacier Grey
Refugio Glacier Grey – Campamento Italiano
Campamento Italiano – Refugio Los Cuernos
Refugio Los Cuernos – Campamento Torres
Campamento Torres – Puerto Natales via Hosteria Los Torres

Day 1 – Puerto Natales to Glacier Grey.

The day started with a bus ride from town to the park lasting about two hours.  All along the bus ride we saw tons of animal wildlife, and the Arctic Fox, except it wasn’t white… so maybe it wasn’t the arctic one.      

Our first stop off the bus, a 45 minute round trip walk to the Saltos Petrohue… some huge falls from one lake (glacier melt) into the next lake below.

I still don’t know the name of these animals… but it resembles what an alpaca mated with a deer might look like.

From the bus stop, a 1 hour journey across the lake to the start of the actual trek.  The boat ride was beautiful, and windy… a glimpse of things to come.

Some cool cloud formations over the mountains and water

Our first view of the icebergs floating in the lake. This is about 2 hours into the trek… all uphill of course.

Finally, the lookout over Glacier Grey… fantastic, and oh man!  We have so much further to go!

Coming down from the high viewpoint, Jeremy saw this cool reflection lake and went to get a quick snap.  Well done mate!

A little closer to the Glacier!  This thing is huge… we’ve been walking towards it for half a day and still aren’t there!

Made it to the lake… don’t those icebergs look like they’d be fun to ride?

At least we’ll have ice for our drinks!

The view from the (almost) top of the ridge looking over the glacier.

Lucas throwing a made pose, “I’m the king of the glacier!”

Jenn’s turn…

Contemplating… should I try to go for a swim?

Yes, yes …we will ride the Loch Ness Glacier.

Yes, yes… we will freeze our nuts off.

Trying to catch the last rays of light to dry off before the freezing cold sets in.

Note to self:  melting icebergs are razor sharp.  Do not attempt to ride moving glaciers… unless of course you want a cool picture and some serious bragging rights.

Our camp at glacier grey.  Lucas, Jenn, Graeme, and Jeremy.

A photo of the Refugio Grey camp house