Hiking into & out of Torres del Paine (March25)
From Punta Arenas we cycled northwards against head winds to Puerto Natales. We hitchhiked parts of it on a stormy day. Some people seem a bit lonely, offering a ride or a stay over night — sometimes we don’t know who is actually helping whom. However, everyone is really kind.
We found out that sleeping in rodeo referee’s booths guarantees wind still, warm and cosy nights. You’ll see the stars and the Argentinian/Chilean pampa at dawn whilst being protected from the wind.
In Puerto Natales the weather forecast showed best conditions so we decided to enter the Torres del Paine national park with food for a 5 day hike. We hardly got any information on how to get there and in with our bicis. Finally, we decided to cycle a bit on and leave the bikes and most of our belongings close to the Argentinian border in Cerro Castillo.
We entered the park without any of the obligatory camping reservations which cost us some time to make the guards believe we would only do a one day hike (carrying fully packed backpacks and tent). Inside the park we soon found out that some trails have opening hours: making it kind of difficult to see the famous rock formation Torres del Paine without any reservation. In the main camp just below the Torres other hikers offered us to stay with them in the hotel-alike camp. Sleeping right below we were able to see the sunrise and the beautiful red & orange colorplay painting the peaks of the Torres.
2 days later we made it to Grey Glacier: a huge and massive formation of ice hitting mineral colored water and from times to times calving ice blocks flowing off in the water. One could really imagine jumping from one ice block to another. Everywhere were waterfalls falling from the glaciar: a bleeding reminder of the climate crisis. Distant avalanches from glaciers like a thunderstorm letting us feel how small we are as a human in the surrounding nature.
by knOlle92