The Torres del Paine Circuit Hike

So, this was an seven-day piece of our adventure, some 131km of total hiking.

This was not a wilderness experience; there were literally thousands of people out there on the trails with us, many of whom had a bed each night and a shower each morning, with all their food prepared hot by the refugios.  These crowds made us feel like we were doing things a little wrong, making the trip more difficult than it ought to be.  As a result, if you`re looking into doing this, I would actually recommend you utilize the services provided there and light-hike this trail.  As in, take only a sleeping bag and let someone else make the arrangements for you to eat and sleep your way across the park.

The crowds have also destroyed the trails, especially after rain it was difficult to descend any slope with a heavy pack.  Many downed trees and muddy-slogs out there.  It did not appear trail improvements were keeping pace with the massive usage (another reason to not have a heavy pack).

Aside from that, if you can hit a good stretch of weather (ours was 50% good), this park does offer some pretty neat scenery.

Lago Pehoe ferry crossing. Los Cuernos backdrop.

Laura from the Tin House dropped us off at the Lago Pehoe ferry, which took us from the main road through the park over to Refugio Paine Grande, where we stayed the first night.  Laura returned with our cycling equipment to Puerto Natales.  Already we`re seeing some great views of the mountains here.

French Valley, looking West to Paine Grande.

The first day of hiking we only had 2 hours to cover, from the refugio to the Italiano Camp, where we dropped our bags and set up camp.  The afternoon we spent hiking up to viewpoints in the French Valley, which by the end of the trip became our favorite part of the whole hike.

French Valley, looking East toward Los Cuernos.

Plus, it was a gorgeous day for photos.

Hiking East toward the Torres from Refugio Cuernos.

On the second day we walked from Italiano to Torres, a very long day with many climbs and descents.  A full eight hours of hiking in the hot sun.

Mirador Los Torres, evening.

The Torres Mirador was another 45 minute hike from the Torres camp.  Greg left Tiff and her aching feet behind at camp to see the viewpoint that very evening, while the sky was clear.

Mirador Los Torres, morning.

The next morning both Greg and Tiff made the climb up to the Torres overlook, but clouds blocked the view of the top.

The Enchanted Valley, hiking toward Seron Camp.

After seeing the Torres, we walked back down to the hotel complex at the main base, then around to Seron camp through the Enchanted Valley.  This was another very long day of hiking, maybe eight or nine hours in total.  Nothing to see, either.

Hiking from Seron to Dickson, the `back-side` of the park.

Seron and Dickson camps were nice enough, but cost $8USD per person, per night, and were little more than a field.  The bathrooms were gross, the food was overpriced and unappetizing… they had cold beer, though, for a price…  I don´t have too much good to say about the camps in this area because they are privately-owned and simply there to gouge tourists.

Trail Crew badly needed climbing up to John Gardner Pass.

We had two days of rain while on the back side of the park, and we could tell the trails got little attention in the way of improvements for drainage or deadfall clearance.

John Gardner Pass.

The high-point of the circuit (elevation high-point) is the John Gardner Pass, afterwhich you descend onto Glacier Grey.  Our day crossing the pass was through a cloud.

Looking down from John Gardner Pass onto Glacier Grey.

Down below the cloud, we saw the main reason for doing the circuit.  With the clouds, we could not see much that would lead me to believe hiking all that way along the backside was worth the time and effort.  But coming down to Grey Glacier was pretty spectacular.

Glacier Grey, seen from between Las Guardas and Camping Grey.

A couple more days after the pass brought up back to where we started.  By far the hardest hiking was from John Gardner Pass to Camping Grey.  This area also needs the most attention for trail improvements.

The Snout of Glacier Grey.

We had good weather on three key days – the French Valley, the Torres, and then seeing Glacier Grey.  Mother Nature shines on us again!

Ladders to ascend/descend steep ravines near Camping Grey.

Tiff did not enjoy the ladders employed …

Paine Grande, blowing snow.

Paine Grande, the highest mountain in the park, is very spectacular seen from the Refugio.

Clear shot of Los Cuernos, ferry across Lago Pehoe.

Finally, before we left the park, we had another nice hour of photo-taking from the boat across Pehoe.  Our Circuit Hike went like this:

Day 1 – Paine Grande to Italiano (light-hike French Valley)

Day 2 – Italiano to Torres (Torres Mirador)

Day 3 – Torres to Seron (Torres Mirador)

Day 4 – Seron to Dickson

Day 5 – Dickson to Los Perros

Day 6 – Los Perros to Las Guardas (John Gardner Pass)

Day 7 – Las Guardas to Paine Grande