Torres del Paine

Torres del Paine
Originally uploaded by louise_parmenter.

So I left Argentina for Chile and had 2 days to spare in Puerto Natales before the Patagonian Channels cruise and decided to spend them in the Torres del Paine Nacional Park, which was well worth the visit. I rented a tent, took the bus to the park, set up camp directing my tent towards the beautiful view of the Torres (you can imagine how wonderful it was to wake up in the morning with the sun falling directly onto this lovely granite and rock mountain range!). The only down side was that I had a 7 hour trek to get to the mirador (viewing point) and back before dusk. With this in mind I started off in a hurry to find the first hour the most grueling part; all uphill with a very steep gradient and in the midday sun – I had to change from jeans to shorts on route! Then 2hrs of relatively easy hiking followed by a last hour of climbing bolders, which although difficult going up was certainly quite hair-raising coming down. The trek was well worth it! The next day I joined an excursion that semicirled the edge of the Park, taking in the glaciar Lago Grey and icebergs.

Click here for the photos.


KM TRAVELED AS A BACKPACKER SINCE USHUAIA: 1,456