National Park Torres Del Paine, or as it translates 'Towers of Paine' definitely lives up to it's name! We arrived in Puerto Natales looking forward to getting out and about in the Chillean side of Patagonia. We had heard this national park is one of the most beautiful but challenging places in the world to go walking in, and is Chile's biggest attraction. We have never really done any serious hiking before but was liking the thought of the challenge as we had heard it was meant to be beautiful! We are both generally good at walking so wasn't too fazed. We could have done day trips but as we had some time we decided to go for 3 nights/4 days instead. One of the hostels gave daily talks about the park so we went along for more information. The girl explained all sorts of things about the different trails to walk, the rules of the park, and what to take etc. She also mentioned some of the 'nicer' things, like that this park has extreme weather, often easily switching between snow, rain, and 280km winds that could easily knock you off a ledge! And if you did hurt yourself then search and rescue doesnt exist in this park! She explained that most of the day you would be soaked through to the core, trekking through streams, up hills, probably falling over and being wind whipped with stones! Also we might see a Puma along the way! We experienced that most of this was true, however mainly on the last day as the first couple of days was beautiful weather, we was very lucky! As we didn't have enough time to do any of the trails fully we decided half of the 'W' circuit should take adequate time for what we could spend there. We set off for food supplies and packed our rucksacks. Food consisting of Porridge made with Coffee Mate for breakfast, Cheese and Ham and Crisp sandwiches for dinner, packet soup and Tomato Spaghetti for tea followed by a packet of choc biscuits. We rented a stove also for £1.40 a day to cook it all on! 12+kg rucksacks at the ready, we set off firstly on a boat to get to the beginning of our first trail which was a nice 5.5km and took 2.5hours. The boat ride to the start of this trail was beautiful with views of the lake and the snowy Andes mountains in the backdrop. It made it exciting seeing it from this perspective! The first trail took us along another beautiful lake leading upto a free campsite at the base of the mountains and a river. We could drink from any of the streams along these trails and it was the freshest water I have ever tasted! Great scenery along the way, but unfortunately we also saw the effects of a huge Forrest fire caused by a hiker a few years ago which burnt down a massive part of the park! By the time we got to the first campsite it was hitting late afternoon so we didn't fancy going up the valley as we didn't know when darkness would fall. We pitched the tent and had our first night in the wilderness. We was near the base of a snowy mountain so as the sun was setting we saw it light up the peak like fire! Also this mountain had Avalanches most of the night and to watch and listen to the roar of the snow fall down the sides was amazing and surprisingly loud!
The following day we began walking at 8. Breakfast done and tent packed away we left our rucksacks at the campsite to start the 7.5km trail up the French Valley. This was very challenging and I'm glad we didn't have our rucksacks on. 45+degrees Uphill all the way, over uneven rocky landscape, and often Boulder scrambling on all fours made this trail exhausting. The thought of 'what must go up, must also come down' was highly pleasing at this stage. The trail took us up along a river, past the snowy mountain with some hanging glaciers and then up into Forrest covered mountains. Upon hitting the Forrest at the end of the valley and then one last mountain to climb, finally brought us to the top of a very high and beautiful stone ledge which overlooked the peaks of Torres Del Paine with views over the treetops and the lake in the distance. It was very beautiful! The descent back to camp began well as it was downhill so we could run part of the way through the Forrest skipping over the tree roots as we went! Of course again it slowed us down over the boulders and due to the steepness we had to be carefully not to slide down over any ledges! A few twisted ankles later we arrived back at camp within 6 hours- Not bad going! After a quick pit stop for lunch we began another 5.5km walk to the next campsite. This trail wasn't to bad; only one fairly big hill with our rucksacks and the rest smallish up and down hills all the way, finished by a walk by a lake and a stream crossing at the end (which we both fell in..wet feet number 1). However this was when the rain began! 2.5hours later we arrived rather soggy and quickly pitching our tent as we settled for the night!
It rained continuously throughout the night and when we woke to wet trainers and damp clothes we decided to cut one day off our trek and head back to town. We was intending to do another 20km walk upto another valley however we decided to do just the first 11km which took us back to the bus. Looking back, I think this was for the best as when we talked to other hikers afterwards we found it would have been a pointless journey as the weather had restricted the view from the valley anyway and you couldn't see anything. Anyway we set off on the 11km trail home which should have taken us 5 hours but we managed it in 4! Our rucksacks had also become increasingly heavier due to everything being wet. This was probably the hardest walk I have ever done! As soon as we stepped onto the trail we was hit with a 250 metre hill to climb! The ground was especially difficult due to the amount of rain and the trails had turned into streams, the streams had turned into rivers and we where wading through puddles ankle deep! It also made everything generally more slippy and you had to be extra careful on descent of the mountains. Not easy when carrying weight! We finally got to the top of the first hill to be met with a raging stream which had turned into a mini river. Unfortunately the path across had disappeared but luckily for us some Chilean lads had just got there before us and found a way across. We hoyed our backpacks to them and I went first to cross; Jonathan behind me and a Chilean lad in front ready to help me up the other side! I did my flying squirrel leap onto the rock in the middle, lost balance and nearly fell in, however luckily the lad grabbed my hand in time and nearly fell in himself trying to save me! Phew! Anyway we got across and began our way up the next big hill. I later discovered I cannot balance on one leg whilst carrying my rucksack as we hit numerous mini rivers which I fell in all of them trying to cross (wet feet number 2,3, and 4)! In the end I gave up and waded through them as my shoes where soaked through anyway! I have discovered waterproof shoes do eventually let water in, but when it's in, they dont let water out! Another never-ending mountain climb later, a few more cursing expletives and we finally saw the bus point in the distance. Yay!
All in all a great experience for our first ever trek; probably shouldn't have picked one as challenging but hey ho! Blisters and stiff legs later I look back at my photos and it was all worth while. I think for the time that we spent in the park we saw some amazing scenery and even though we missed some of it we felt like we had a great time and used the time that we had to it's best advantage seeing what we saw. Unfortunately I cannot find a computer fast enough to upload all of my photos. There are still alot more that I need to upload but it took me 45 minutes to do those first 25! Hopefully the next town I can finish of the Torres Del Paine photo album. Ferry time now! Bon Voyage, Hayls and Jonathan x