Entry 15: Torres del Paine National Park, Chile (4-day, 43-mile hike)
We have no plans to ever run a marathon. But on the final day of our four-day, 43-mile hike, we think we discovered what finishing a marathon must feel like. It is an exquisite mix of pride, relief, exhaustion, and pain.
If you like hiking — and want the adventure of a lifetime — we highly recommend visiting Patagonia and hiking the “W” circuit in the Torres del Paine National Park.
The Torres Del Paine (pronounced Pine-A) is an extraordinary place. One reason we loved the park is that it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. Only 128,000 people visit the Park each year (compare that to 5 million who visit the Grand Canyon each year). Even in the busiest time of year you can hike for hours without seeing another person.
That's Erin in the bottom right-hand corner
And the area is so pristine that you can drink the water directly from the streams and waterfalls created by the melting glaciers.
We also loved the ruggedness of the W Circuit. Even though there was a trail, you often had to make your own path. The park service marked the trail with orange circles on trees and rocks, but at some points there was no obvious way to reach the next marking. We deliberated over the best way to cross streams and had to test the security of the boulders as we climbed straight up toward a waterfall.
Can you find the path to the orange marker in this picture?
Perhaps the best part about the park was the incredibly different and equally stunning scenery we saw each day. We hiked past glaciers, forests, lakes, valleys, meadows, beaches, and waterfalls. It was difficult to keep up our pace when we wanted to stop every 15 minutes to take photos.
An unexpected bonus was hanging out with all the other hikers in the Refugios. There was an palpable sense of camaraderie that developed at the end of each day on the trail. Most of the people were hiking the same Circuit and through this difficult common experience we formed fast friendships. At night we pooled our money, bought a box of wine from the Refugio, and sat around sipping wine and swapping stories from the trail and from our lives.
On the first night we met Maikael and Liz – two Americans from New Mexico who also left their jobs to travel the world. Maikael and Liz told us about their search for the most happy places on Earth. For example, they decided to visit Bhutan after reading that the people there are among the happiest in the world. In 1972, Bhutan’s newly crowned leader decided to make his nation’s priority not its G.D.P. but its G.N.H., or gross national happiness. Although the program is still a work in progress, the percentage of people in Bhutan who report that they are happy is staggering. We liked Maikael and Liz’s idea about searching out happy places, and we might have to find a way to add Bhutan to our itinerary. Their blog www.kindnessofstrangerstravel.com is a cool chronical of their adventures.
On the third night we met Derek and Carrie. They were a fascinating couple (he flies F-18s for the Marine Corps based out of San Diego, she is an English Professor at Boston University). We talked politics, the military, war and what its like to live 3000 miles away from your spouse (he said its like having a honeymoon every other weekend!). We appreciated the fact that they were different people who totally complented one another.
Here’s a quick synopsis of our days on the W:
We arrived on Day 1 and hiked 6.8 miles north to the base of the Grey Glacier (the western side of the W). As we got closer to the glacier, we saw more and more mini-icebergs than had broken off from the huge glacier. Although six miles isn’t that much for one day, it was very difficult hike because the wind was fierce and blowing straight into our faces.
We awoke early on Day 2 and hiked another 2.5 miles north in order to get the best view of the Grey Glacier. We found an inlet where ice that had calved off the glacier had collected and took some cool photos. We then re-traced our steps and trekked 9.3 miles south down the western side of the “W” Circuit.
The Earth's Future Melting in Jeff's Hands
Day 3 was our longest and most difficult day. Unfortunately it rained most of the day. We hiked 4.7 miles east to the base of the Valle Del Frances, 3.7 miles rountrip to visit the Mirador Valle Frances (the middle of the “W”), and then 3.4 miles east to Los Cuernos. Although the constant rain made it difficult to enjoy some of the sights (you can see it in our faces in the first two photographs), in the end we prevailed and still won the day.
We had a beautiful day and a beautiful hike on Day 4. We trekked 6.8 km northeast across the Rio del Arriero and Paso de los Vientos. We were lucky enough to see some gauchos riding over the stunning meadows.
Erin set the alarm for 3:45 am on Day 5. We hit the trail at 4 am and hiked for two hours (about 2.5 miles) in the dark so that we could reach the famous Torres del Paine rock formation for the sunrise. The last half mile was straight uphill over boulders – Erin took the lead and kicked it into high gear as Jeff tried to keep up. We made it with 15 minutes to spare and watched the sun come up over the horizon.
Then it was 6 miles out of the park to catch the noon bus out of the park.
It was an amazing four days. All in all we hiked about 43 miles with all of our gear on our backs. It was demanding on our bodies (we left out a picture of Erin’s foot covered with blisters), but that made our last few steps even more sweet. We left the park with big smiles on our faces. Bring on the next mountain!
