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Torres del Paine: The Circuit

9 days of...

By Heather & Pravin

March 14^th, 2017

prep

We arrived in Puerto Natales, the closest town to the park, by bus from Argentina on February 14th. After checking into our hostel, we had a quick dinner in the adjacent pub and then settled down to hammer out a shopping list for 9 days of trail food. The next morning, we got our bearings around town and purchased stove fuel, groceries and a few other last-minute items. We then attended the "3 o'clock talk" at Base Camp pub, which was an in-depth info session on hiking in Torres del Paine and put on by one of the guides from the adjourning gear rental shop. Although we felt quite prepared after doing extensive research, it was still nice to get an overview of the trek by someone who does it frequently.

The biggest/most annoying obstacle that we had already been forced to overcome for the trek was getting reservations for campsites in the park! In recent past years, overcrowding in the park has been a problem, and so this year for the first time, reservations were required to be able to camp and hike overnight in the park. Since it's the first year that the reservation policy is in effect, there are understandably a few kinks to iron out. One is that there are two separate private companies that have concessions to run certain campsites ($$), and then CONAF (the national forest agency) operates several free campsites that are interspersed among the paid sites. The layout of the park requires that you book campsites from at least 2 of these 3 entities to be able to hike our planned route (the Circuito Macizo Paine, or the "O Circuit"), and unfortunately each of the 3 entities has a separate website.

We quickly found that there was zero availability for the foreseeable future at the free campsites, and that we would have to alter our itinerary slightly to be able to make anything work between the rest of the paid sites. We were fine with that, so we double-checked the online availability, and then went ahead and paid for the first set of sites. However, moments later when we went to do the same with the second set of sites, our payment wasn't accepted and when we went to try a different card, there was no longer any availability.

Long story short, this was on Christmas Eve and we didn't get the remaining reservations confirmed until 4 days before we left, in mid-January! It took repeated shouty emails in Spanish before we got a response, but we finally sorted everything out for our desired dates. The campsite we wanted was sold out for one night, so we instead paid to stay in a refugio (lodge with bunk beds) for that night, and since it was halfway through the trip, we figured it would be a welcome dose of luxury!

Although we packed food for 9 days of hiking, we were both pleasantly (and shockingly) surprised that our packs were not as heavy as we had feared they would be, once everything was loaded up!

Food List:

Pasta 400g
Lentils 900g
Instant mashed potato packages x 3
Salami packages x 3
Dehydrated meals x 2
Instant oatmeal 1000g
Milo powder (to flavour oatmeal)
Grated reggiano cheese x 2
Instant coffee sachets x 18
Twix x 12
Snickers x 6
Clif bar x 4
Granola bars x 18
Trail mix
Almonds
Cookies, ~200g x 6
Tortillas x 10
Peanut butter, 1 jar
Butter, 150g
Daksha's Gourmet Spices Daal Mix x 2
Chicken soup stock x 6
Instant cup of soup x 18
Dried Mango
Dried Kiwi
Dried Pineapple
Tea
Daksha's Gourmet Spices Chai Spice
Nuun electrolyte tablets

Day 1

Once we had eaten a last hearty breakfast at our hostel, we stored away our extra traveling gear and caught the early bus to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. The rain was incessant, and continued heavily as we approached the park. We weren't able to see anything in terms of views, so we were quite blind as to what kind of scenery existed behind the heavy, low-lying clouds.

After some formalities like paying entrance to the park and watching a safety video on forest fires, we finally hit the trail. The rain was still heavy, and immediately upon leaving the gravel park the trail turned to mud. To be honest, the first day of hiking wasn't particularly enjoyable, as the mud was deep, thick and treacherous, and the rain/fog continued to obscure any views. The trail climbed fairly slowly and overall wasn't challenging, aside from one tricky water crossing. However, the depth of the mud made for slow going as we were constantly on the verge of wiping out!

Although neither of us had previously used hiking poles, we decided that given the heavy weight of our packs, we would go ahead and rent them for this trek. I think we both agreed after about 30 minutes on the trail that they were already a lifesaver! There were many times on Day 1 alone where I would have completely bailed if I hadn't been able to quickly plant a pole to stay upright.

Arriving at Campamento Serón was a welcome event as we were eager to get out of our wet, muddy clothes and devour the leftovers from the dinner we'd cooked the night before in Puerto Natales - chicken curry and rice! Again, the rain and fog obscured most of the view, so all we could see were a couple of wooden buildings with covered picnic tables in front, and a large number of tents set up in the grass outside.

Despite the weather, the mood at camp was quite festive as it was the first night on the trail for almost everyone, and all of us hikers were in good spirits and excited for the days to come. We were happy to have set up our stove alongside a great group of friendly people, a number of with whom we ended up hanging out for the next several evenings.

Distance hiked: 13km in 4 hours

Dinner: instant mashed potatoes with chicken stock, butter, and reggiano cheese.

Day 2

Our first morning on the trail was still rainy and cloudy as we woke up, cooked breakfast and headed out. Gradually as we climbed out of the valley, the clouds receded and eventually the skies cleared altogether. Our boots weren't yet dry, but our spirits were definitely lifted! We took a quick lunch break at the ranger station that was located about halfway to our next camp. This was one of the checkpoints where you had to sign in on a register and park rangers would verify your reservation details for the rest of the trek.

Campamento Dickson was an incredible sight to come across at the end of a long day. Situated on a glacier lake, the weather was hot and sunny for us and allowed everyone to quickly dry out their wet tents and other gear in the afternoon sunshine. As with Camp. Serón, aside from tents there was also an indoor sleeping area for those who had opted not to camp along the circuit. At Serón there were just a couple of barebones domos, but Dickson had a lovely refugio with a food kiosk and a dining room for those who were so inclined.

Distance hiked: 18km in 6 hours

Dinner: Daal (lentils with Daksha's Gourmet Spices Daal mix)

Day 3

The morning at Dickson dawned bright and sunny, and as we exited the tent we came across a few horses grazing in the grass. Supplies for the refugio (and sometimes hikers) are brought into camp on horseback, so it would seem these horses were simply enjoying a morning off in the sun.

Our third day of hiking was quite peaceful in terms of how many other hikers we came across, just like the first two days. The nice thing about the "backside" of the park (between Camp. Serón and Camp. Paso) is that a much smaller number of hikers complete this portion (only 80 are allowed each day), with the majority of visitors to the park focused on the more accessible terrain between Refugio Grey and Hotel Torres (where we started our hike). Additionally, hikers completing the full circuit are only permitted to hike in a counter-clockwise direction, so the only times that we encountered other hikers on the trail were at viewpoints or obvious rest stops.

Right before we were expecting to reach our destination of Campamento Los Perros, we came across a beautiful glacier lake and had to stop for lunch to admire the view. We had eaten daal the night before and purposely made extra to have for lunch, and after a long day of hiking, we wolfed it down. Camp. Los Perros itself was a bit dark and dreary, but there was quite a buzz around camp as the next morning everyone was planning on an early wake-up in order to be able to get over the highest point of the trek, Paso John Gardner, before the weather turns (typically after mid-morning).

Distance hiked: 11.5km in 4.5 hours

Dinner: Daal, again!

Day 4

Along with our tenting neighbours, we set our alarm for 5:00am and packed up quickly in the early morning darkness and wolfed down a hot breakfast. We'd heard repeatedly that the hike up to the pass was brutal and that the weather could even shut down the pass, so we wanted to tackle it as quickly as possible. We hiked out of the valley and through the forest in the lowlight of dawn, and then as we began ascending the rocky valley towards the pass, the sun crested the mountains behind us and gave us an incredible view.

It began to get colder and colder and the wind picked up as we got closer to the pass. It even started to snow lightly, but visibility wasn't an issue and the wind was not gusting hard enough to be a hazard. Soon, after expending much less effort than we had anticipated, we realized we were about to crest the pass. As we reached our highest point, our jaws dropped as the view over the other side came into view. We were directly above the Southern Patagonian Icefield - the third largest icefield in the world - and the scale was enormous. We quickly took off our packs and layered up and wolfed down a snack, and Pravin got out his camera to document the moment. Given the freezing temperatures, blowing snow, and many hours still ahead of us, we couldn't spend much time at the top and began descending rather quickly.

What a descent! We kept thinking that we must be getting closer to the glacier, but the descent seemed to go on forever. It was incredibly steep and unforgiving terrain, and I can't imagine how our legs would have fared without our (now invaluable) hiking poles to assist. After a couple hours of continuously descending, we eventually reached Campamento Paso, where we took a quick lunch break before continuing on towards our ultimate destination of Campamento Grey. Camp. Paso is one of the free sites that seemed impossible to reserve, so we were forced to hike what many would break into 2 days in 1 day. However, many of our comrades with whom we'd been hiking for the last several days were in the same boat, so that made things a bit easier to swallow.

The rest of the hike to Camp. Grey seemed to go up and down and up and down, with steps on level ground few and far between. Some of the highlights were two incredible suspension bridges - one of which was particularly high and vertigo-inducing, and the continuous view of the glacier to our right-hand side.

We were absolutely thrilled to reach Camp. Grey after about 9 hours of hiking, but also sad to be through with the "backside" of the circuit. The volume of people at Camp. Grey was vastly higher than the last few nights, and our cozy little "O Circuit" group was well outnumbered by the hikers completing all or part of the "W".

Distance hiked: 15 km in 9 hours

Dinner: Dehydrated "Cuban Coconut Black Beans & Rice" that we brought from home and saved for this special night! Followed by a dessert of instant chocolate mousse :)

Day 5

Given our difficulties with making the reservations and the lack of availability in the park, one of the compromises that we made to our schedule was to camp two nights in a row at Camp. Grey. Since we had an extremely tough route the day before, we were pretty pleased how things had worked out. However, the downside was that the group of Americans and Chileans with whom we had grown accustomed to camping and hanging out each night had to move on to the next site while we stayed behind. In the morning, we took a short walk to a lookout point just off the trail where we could get close to icebergs floating in a sheltered bay and admire the sheer size of the glacier further down the lake. We spent some time reading lakeside, before eventually heading back towards camp.

Upon arriving at camp, we decided to check out the refugio. There was a comfy-looking area with lounge chairs and couches, and we came to the instant conclusion that it was well-worth our while to purchase a hot beverage each in order to be able to lounge in comfort for the afternoon! To our great fortune, the server thought that we were part of a tour group that had paid for full board and unlimited beverages in advance, and waved Pravin away when he went to pay the equivalent of $8 for my instant hot chocolate and his instant coffee. Score!

Distance hiked: 0km

Dinner: Pasta with butter and reggiano cheese

Day 6

In spite of how much we enjoyed our day of rest, we were more than eager to get back on the trail. The morning dawned overcast and cloudy as we packed up and prepared for a short day of hiking to reach Refugio Paine Grande. I think the idea of a bed and a warm shower put an extra pep in our steps! The trail was quite beautiful with expansive views along Lago Grey, but it seemed that the wind picked up every time we stopped for a snack or a photo op. Upon arriving at the refugio, we had barely gotten in the front door before it started bucketing rain - and it didn't stop until the next morning! We couldn't have picked a better night to be sleeping inside.

It was quite a different experience staying in the refugio. On the back half of the trail, we had looked forward to ending the day over conversation with friends from the trail around a picnic table or in a cooking shelter. This time, we found ourselves parked in comfy chairs in front of a woodstove! The clientele was very different, with many people booked in as part of a group tour, and since the refugio is on a lake, there is actually a boat that you can catch right to Paine Grande, so many guests weren't even there to hike. Aside from the lounge and many bunk rooms, there was also a large dining room and a bar. We quickly realized that we were the only guests in the refugio who hadn't purchased the full board meal plan ($$), were some of the only few not walking around with bottles of wine from the bar! We snuck into the dining room and made use of the hot water tap to quickly filled up our mugs and cooking pot, and made instant soup and instant mashed potatoes for dinner. We repeated the exercise in the morning and enjoyed instant oatmeal and instant coffee in the same chairs in front of the woodstove while everyone else lined up for breakfast service.

Distance hiked: 12km in 3 hours

Dinner: Instant mashed potatoes and soup

Day 7

Our seventh day dawned bright and sunny, and we were thrilled with the weather as this day allowed us to access one of the most beautiful areas of the park - the Valle del Francés. We started off early and quickly put the first section of the day behind us as we parked our heavy backpacks at Campamento Italiano. Our main effort of the day was to hike up and back down the Valle del Francés, then pick up our packs and continue on to our next campsite, Campamento Francés.

The weather couldn't have been any more perfect for us as we climbed up the valley, and were almost immediately treated to spectacular views of the Paine Massif to our left and Los Cuernos to our right. As we continued upwards, every few minutes we would hear a sharp clap of thunder and then a deep, prolonged rumbling. Turns out that avalanches plague the steep sides of the Paine Massif almost continuously, however they are still very far from the trail and do not pose any danger to hikers. The avalanches were spectacular to watch, and they really give a glimpse of the startling amount of force that is generated by these natural occurrences.

Continuing up the trail, we eventually found ourselves at the Mirador Británico - in the middle of a natural amphitheatre of mountains all around us. Although our legs were tired, it was hard to sit still in one spot because there were so many different peaks to gaze at!

After returning back down the valley and picking up our bags at Campamento Italiano, we finished the last couple kilometres of trail and set up camp at Campamento Francés. There were big problems with overuse and subsequent erosion of the soil at this hilly campsite, so wooden tent platforms were constructed for this season. Since the evening was warm and sunny, we set up the tent with a little less care than usual, and didn't cinch up our packs in our waterproof pack covers like we usually do overnight...

We had planned on having pasta for dinner, but were so starved when we arrived at camp that we couldn't wait for pasta to cook and instead quickly boiled a small amount of water for an appetizer of instant mashed potatoes. Once we finally had some food in us, we were able to proceed with cooking dinner as planned!

By this point in the trail, we were both almost continuously hungry despite having hearty meals and snacking throughout the day. Although we had plenty of food - even one whole chocolate bar each per day! - Pravin was starting to lose weight quickly and had already dropped a whole waist size. Since he couldn't seem to be satiated, we agreed that as we were passing through Refugio Los Cuernos the following day, we would order him a full lunch in the hopes that an extra meal would tide him over until we got off the trail.

Distance hiked: 21.5km in 6.5 hours

Dinner: Mashed potatoes and pasta

Day 8

Our seventh night on the trail was a rough one, as we were awoken early by rain hammering down on the tent and the wooden tent platform. Too late, we realized that the rain was actually bouncing on the platform and coming up and under the tent vestibules, where our boots and packs had been stored away. Everything was soaked, so we took our time getting out of the tent and got a much later start than we had planned on.

Before we left however, Pravin ran into a Chilean hiker outside the bathroom, and the friendly hiker stopped Pravin and mentioned that he had been staying in the refugio and had an extra packed meal - would Pravin be interested? I don't think there was even a second of hesitation before Pravin gratefully accepted the sizeable lunch, and when Pravin came running back up to our campsite with a huge grin on his face to tell me what had happened, I couldn't believe our good fortune! The lunch consisted of a sizeable roast beef sandwich, a bag of trail mix, an imported Nature Valley granola bar, and a fun-sized Trencito chocolate bar.

Our last day of hiking with our overnight packs was a bit of a tough one. Although the scenery was gorgeous (the misty lake appeared to be straight out of a Sigur Rós video!), the day consisted mostly of rolling hills and the views didn't change much. To top it off, there was an unexpected river crossing about an hour before we got to camp and we both got our boots soaked! The last couple of kilometres were particularly rough as we could see the Hotel Las Torres complex in the distance, and knew that our campsite was just beyond the buildings. However, it seemed to take forever to reach camp and by then the sun was beating down relentlessly as we tried our best to hustle through the last stretch of dusty horse trails.

We were beyond thrilled to make it to camp and set everything out in the baking sun to dry. We ran into a couple of hikers that we knew from the trail, and suddenly we saw that one of them had a plastic bag of eggs in her hand! We quickly pressed for details on where and how they obtained them, and I headed over to the kiosco that was set up next to Hotel Las Torres, about a 15 minute walk from the campsite. Unfortunately, when I arrived, it was closed for break time. We were so hungry at this point however that we couldn't think of anything else and I waited an hour for the shop to open up again so I could buy the last 5 eggs that were available! I also picked up a couple of treats and one large bread roll.

We had a pre-dinner appetizer of scrambled eggs, followed up another special saved dehydrated meal that we had brought all the way from home, and then we decided to hard-boil the remaining two eggs so that we would have extra snacks for the following morning's long hike. However...we were still super hungry and we polished those off as well right away!

After spending some time chatting with a fellow hiker and treating some blisters, we called it an early night, as we had an incredibly early start time the following morning.

Distance hiked: 13.5km in 5 hours

Dinner: Scrambled eggs, dehydrated chicken enchiladas, and hard boiled eggs for dessert

Day 9

Seeing Las Torres are almost always a highlight for anyone who is lucky enough to have good weather during their visit to Torres del Paine. Many people try to camp at Campamento Torres for its proximity to the Torres; as the Torres are only a 45-minute hike away from the camp, you can easily make it up to the viewpoint in time to see the Torres light up pink and red at sunrise.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to secure reservations for Camp. Torres, nor were we able to get a spot at Campamento Chileno, which is about an hour or so further down the valley from the Torres - still doable for sunrise.

Instead, we were forced to camp at Camping Central, which is a challenging 9km hike from the base of the Torres. Nonetheless, we were determined to see the Torres at sunrise, so we set an alarm for 2:00 AM, packed a bag full of warm clothes, snacks and a sleeping bag, and set off at 2:20 AM with only the beam of our headlamps to guide us.

The night sky was incredibly clear and the stars were impossibly numerous and bright. We had to stop a few times just to switch off our headlamps and admire the Milky Way! Although the trail led almost unrelentingly upwards, it seemed much easier when you couldn't see much beyond your feet in front of you. Hiking in the pitch-black darkness doesn't allow you look up the trail and inwardly complain about the sight of how far you still have to go! We made it up to the viewpoint much earlier than anticipated, and had over an hour to wait until sunrise. Luckily, we had brought lots of warm clothing and huddled under a sleeping bag for warmth as we began devouring our remaining food. Can't say I've ever eaten a Twix bar at 5:45 AM before!

As sunrise approached, more hikers made their way up and found a spot to watch the Torres light up. The sun rising on the Torres truly was a remarkable sight and there was no question that we had made the right decision to sacrifice sleep for this experience!

After spending a few hours at the top, we eventually made our way back down the trail that we had come up. The nice thing about the descent was that it was like a whole new trail! Since we couldn't see anything beyond the path on our way up, we enjoyed expansive views as we descended down the mountain and then along the side of a deep canyon for quite a ways. The thing about the descent that wasn't quite as nice was the huge amount of people that we passed on their way up to the Torres. Realizing how busy the trail was, as it's accessible from town by bus as a day hike, made us even more glad that we had opted for the quieter sunrise time!

Once we made it back to our campsite, the plan was to pack up straight away, as we were already past checkout time. However, I made the mistake of laying down for "a moment" in the tent and was unable to get up for the next hour as I alternated between dozing and waking up in the extreme heat of a tent sitting in the blazing sun! Eventually, I dragged myself up and we packed up camp and headed towards the bus stop to wait for our transport back to town.

We arrived back at our hostel and were thrilled to find that they had a private room available for the same price as the dorm room that we had been planning on staying in! First priority was a shower, and then as we each revelled in the feeling of wearing clean, soft clothes, we texted our parents to let them know we had made it out alive and headed next door to the adjacent pub for food. We had been talking about this first post-trail meal for days, and with zero hesitation each ordered an entire pizza each and a litre of beer. Although we were able to finish the beer, neither of us were able to tackle the whole pizza in the end, but were happy to save it for leftovers the following day! That night, we both slept more soundly than we had in weeks, but woke up early in the morning - ravenously hungry for a big breakfast :)