Epic World

April - August 2016
A 125-day adventure by Eric
  • 183footprints
  • 9countries
  • 125days
  • 809photos
  • 0videos
  • 69.2kkilometers
  • 34.0kkilometers
  • Day 1

    Puerto Natales

    April 2, 2016 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    What a long travel day but so excited to have started our trip! We arrived groggy and sleepy eyed in Santiago after an 11 hour night flight. Alas, we had to grab our baggage (115 L duffel, 35L pack, 55L pack, 75L pack!!...we sure don’t pack light), go through customs, check in for our next flight and back through security. Luckily the airport is small and we still had ample time to buy a $5 Starbucks coffee and walk laps around the airport waiting area before our next departure. The next flight was shorter and the highlight for all of us were the amazing snacks! I particularly liked the Bonbon chocolate they give out just before landing. As we flew over the Andes Mountains it was really cool seeing the mountain tops poking through the clouds. Finally on the ground in Punta Arenas, we headed straight to the bus station and only got distant views of the town as we hit the road.

    24 hours since our Toronto departure we finally arrived in Puerto Natales. After a short walk we arrived at Erratic Rock, our home for the next 2 nights. Erratic Rock is a small cozy hostel run by an American expat from Oregon. It had a very welcoming feel, the type of place where people stay for a while. A lot of the employees were travellers working for room and board. We capped off the day with a delicious pizza and beer at the Base Camp bar next door.

    In case we forgot to mention, our friends Sean and Anne have joined us for our Torres del Paine trekking adventure.
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  • Day 2

    Puerto Natales

    April 3, 2016 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    Time to gear up for our trek! Started the day with a tasty complimentary breakfast which is always a great chance to talk to other travellers. We headed out to explore town and pick up supplies. Puerto Natales is a small town in the middle of nowhere that thrives because of tourism to Torres del Paine. The first thing we noticed about the city was the stray dog population. It is amazing how well behaved and cute they all are. There were a couple that we wanted to take home. The town is dotted with colourful homes and the majority of activity surrounds the main square. It was mainly mom & pop shops that had the most random assortment of merchandise from camping gear, musical instruments, furniture, and vintage clothing.

    At 3pm, we headed to the Base Camp bar for an info talk on trekking in Torres del Paine. It reiterated most of what we knew but there were a few gems of knowledge that we gleamed from the talk.

    During the evening, we decided to explore the town. We walked along the waterfront at sunset and saw views of the fjords in the distance. Followed was a search for a recommended craft brewery that we could not seem to locate so ended up in a cafeteria/tourist shop that had wonderful empanadas.

    Early to bed to rest up for our next 8 days of trekking!
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  • Day 3

    Hotel Torres to Campamento Torres

    April 4, 2016 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    Our plan for the next 8 days was to complete the “O” Circuit in Torres del Paine National Park. The “O’ Circuit is a famous trek in Patagonia.

    Trekking Day 1: The day started with a 7:45 bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine, registration, a short fire prevention video and then we hopped onto a smaller micro bus for a drop off at the Trailhead located next to Hotel Torres. Today was a short hiking day of 4 hours but consisted of all uphill climbing. It was quite strenuous considering we had 8 days of supplies! Luckily, clean water is plentiful in the park and we only carried a single water bottle each which we could refill. Our trail followed a river up into the mountains and we arrived exhausted at our first camp, Campamento Torres. We set up our tents and took a little siesta before having a delicious pasta with cheese dinner compliments of the chef Sean. No fires are allowed on the camp sites and all cooking must be done in a designated area. At first this seemed like a hassle but turned out to be a great way to talk to other trekkers as you cook and eat. The day finished off with a fun card game of Wizard, in the tent.Read more

  • Day 4

    Campamento Torres to Camping La Torres

    April 5, 2016 in Chile ⋅ 🌫 16 °C

    Trekking Day 2: An early start to the day. We rolled out of our sleeping bags at 6:15am, grabbed our head lamps and warm cloths, and began an hour long steep 300m ascent up to the base of Las Torres lookout. The sunrise at Las Torres is a must see on the trek! We followed the trail by the light of our headlamps. It was very dream like watching all the headlamps float up the mountain. At one point 2 trekkers ran by us in the dark without any lights. I have no idea how they followed the trail. A short while later we made a wrong turn (which others followed) and had to backtrack 50m. It was quite a stressful climb with the worrying that we might miss the sunrise. However, despite the stress we made it to the top and sat and waited…the sun slowly crested the mountains to the rear and beams of light illuminated the towers into a magnificent fiery orange. What a sight to behold!

    After a short while, the mountain turn back to its boring gray and we headed back down to camp for breakfast. We enjoyed a delectable breakfast of gruel mixed with hot chocolate powder and dried apples. Apparently, we bought 5 bags of oat flour instead of rolled oats! Oops!

    After breakfast, we packed up and hiked back down via the same route to Hotel Torres and walked another 15 minutes beyond the hotel to Camping La Torres. After setting up camp, we met our guide Banca who would lead us through the backside of the mountain over the next 3 days. One luxury of this campsite is the refugio where you can order beer and food. We capped off the night with a cerveza and a game of Wizard.

    Sadly, after a long strenuous ascent and descent, our friends started to feel under the weather and opted to complete the shorter “W” circuit. We made plans to meet up in 3 days at Campamento Grey on the other side of the park.
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  • Day 5

    Camping La Torres to Campamento Dickson

    April 6, 2016 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    Trekking Day 3: We walked, we walked and we walked some more. Today was a long tiring day. It took us 10hrs to walk 30km following Banca as he set a fast pace. The trail led us from Camping La Torres to Campamento Dickson. On paper the trail looked easy; it was flat with a few short climbs. In reality, the weight of our packs and the length made this a challenging day for me. To give you an idea, our packs were about 15% of our body weight.
    Today’s section of the trail may have been our favourite. We followed the river around the mountains and entered a large valley on the backside of the Torres Mountains. The landscape was beautiful and filled with tall yellow grass which contrasted the barren landscape we have seen in much of Patagonian country side. The valley was surrounded by mountains. The weather today was mostly sunny. We seemed to be chasing off a distant rain cloud that never hit us. We chatted with our guide who spoke English and learned a bit more about the region and Chilean culture. Thanks to Banca, we stopped at one ranger station and enjoyed some tea. A well-deserved break! We didn’t see a sole on the trek until the final few kilometers. The final stretch of the trail brought us to a great lookout over Campamento Dickson which in our opinion is the best campsite as it was located on a small peninsula that the river looped around. To our surprise when we arrived at camp, there were over 20 people camping! We had been told the backside was closed in April unless you hire a guide. Turns out the information wasn’t completely true. There was a small refugio at the camp that was partially closed but we were able to take shelter there while we ate. We talked to a nice German couple who had been travelling for 7 months. Exhausted, we went straight to bed after dinner around 8pm. Cooler tonight, the temperature dropped to zero.
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  • Day 6

    Dickson to Los Perros

    April 7, 2016 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Trekking Day 4: To our relief, today's hike was a lot shorter. The temperature had dropped over night so we woke to a cool morning. A simple breakfast of granola bars and we were off. I don't think I mentioned earlier, but we gave Sean the stove so we had lighter meals that didn't require cooking. Today's hike was 4.5 hour uphill from Campamento Dickson to Campamento Los Perros. The day started with sun but within an hour the weather turned cloudy and it started to snow. It was heavy wet snow so we put on our rain gear. I am glad we brought our gaiters and Gortex! The trail changed from open plains to a heavily wooded forest similar to Ontario. Again, I was surprised at how forested it was. As we climbed, the trail got rockier and windier. In the final stretch, the wind was strong enough to blow you over. This was short lived as we rounded the next bend and reached camp which was sheltered from the wind. We were glad to see the refugio was still open for us to take shelter. We all huddled around the fire for the next 4 hours and got to know the 20 other trekkers doing the backside of the “O” circuit with us. It was great talking to them and getting to hear their stories and recommendations. Our guide also introduced us to Mate, a popular drink similar to tea. Tomorrow is going to be our most challenging day so early to bed.Read more

  • Day 7

    Los Perros to Campamento Grey

    April 8, 2016 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    Trekking Day 5: Today was the big day, the John Gardner Pass. On paper the mountain pass was a bit scary; an 11 hour day that climbed 600 meters and descended 1,200 meters over very steep terrain. We had talked to lots of other trekkers but no matter who you talk to the descent was brutal on the knees. We headed out excited for the day. There was a small layer of snow on the ground. As we hiked up towards the pass it started snowing and the wind increased to 50km/hr! We were really glad to have the guide for this section but with so many other trekkers we could have easily done the pass without a guide. The higher we got the rockier and deeper the snow got. The snow drifts got to about 1 foot in depth. We trudged on in a long line up the steepest section. To our surprise, many of the other trekkers were unprepared and didn’t even have gloves! We finally reached the summit, HURRAY! As we were crossing the summit, Rebecca took a little spill on an ice patch and fell hard on some rocks bruising her knee. This turned into an interesting scene as the guide tried to take Rebecca's pack to lighten her load but Rebecca would have none of it and demanded it back. Once we were sorted out, we continued on the trail over the pass which opened up to beautiful views of Glacier Grey below. The descent was very steep and within a short time the snow had disappeared and the wind had died off. The trail continued on in an undulating fashion toward camp. We crossed suspension bridges that were quite long and had a lot movement in the middle.

    At last we arrived at Campamento Grey after only 9 hours and 30 minutes. Low and behold, after 3 days apart, the first people we see are none other than Anne and Sean who had completed the “W” circuit. We enjoyed a nice dinner together and swapped stories. We enjoy the amenities of the Refugio on the site and treated ourselves to a well-earned beer. Exhausted, we went straight to sleep afterwards.
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  • Day 8

    Grey to Campamento Italiano

    April 9, 2016 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Trekking Day 6: We had a nice sleep in this morning. Today was going to be shorter and we were unsure if we would take a rest day. Anne and Sean had decided to stay another night a Campamento Grey and hike up closer to the glacier. Their plan was to exit the park the following day. After much consideration, we decided to keep our momentum and press on to the next camp. It would only be 7 hours of hiking on relatively flat terrain. With our legs still fatigued from the prior day, we still felt all the hills. The skies were clear and the sun was out making this the best weather of our trip. The trails were quiet and we only saw handful of people. It was a very nice recovery day. We arrived at Campamento Italiano just before dark. Surprisingly, this campsite was the coldest one yet even though we were in a valley. This site was our least favourite but it was free so we can’t complain. With a quick dinner of lentils, rice and salami we retreated to our tent to the warmth of our sleeping bags for a bit of reading before bed.Read more

  • Day 9

    Italiano to Campamento Los Cuernos

    April 10, 2016 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Trekking Day 7: Hurray no pack this morning! The day started with a side trail up into the French Valley so we could leave our packs behind. A 2.5 hour (each way) side trail that took us up into the valley. We felt much lighter on our feet but the incline still tired me out. We had heard lots of good things about the view but were not as impressed as other parts of the trail. Maybe it was over anticipation. Back at camp Italiano we took a 1 hour siesta before packing up and heading to Campamento Cuernos. We passed a remote rocky beach along the way that was very inviting… too bad the water was glacial run off. After 2.5 hours on the trail we arrived at camp. Another nice day. I was able to enjoy my third shower of the hike at Cuernos which was amazing. We cooked quick dinner in the food hall and enjoyed some beer and cards at the Refugio. Throughout the day we ran into many hikers we trekked with on the backside.Read more