The hike you must do in Torres del Paine

If you’ve been following my sabbatical sojourn throughout South America, you must have read about my trip to the picturesque Lake district and my previous post about the ultimate guide to backpacking in Chilean Patagonia. If you haven’t would recommend you quickly circle back and take a look!

Hope you’re all caught up now, so here starts my hiking adventure in Patagonia! My destination is the iconic Torres del Paine, a stunning national park in south Chile, encompassing mountains, lakes and rivers. It is one of the most photographed locations on the planet and a must see for anyone who loves mountain scenery. It is also pretty hard to get to, which is good in a way as it ensures only the most dedicated and passionate folks come here. Please be responsible when visiting this fragile ecosystem, heed the rules, and don’t leave behind anything but your footprints and take back with you memories of some of the most stunning scenery you will see. 

I woke up at 430am, had a quick shower and dragged myself to my car (which I had packed and readied the night before) and set off from Puerto Natales. The drive to the entrance of the park takes about ~2 hours barring any pit stops you take for pictures (I can guarantee you will take a few). About an hour and 15 minutes into the drive, is when the scenery starts to get interesting and if the weather gods are on your side you will have your first glimpse of the Cordillera Paine (the main mountain group within the park) and the deep blue hues of one of the many lakes you will see on your trip.

Driving along, you will soon enter the park where you have to pay the entrance fee (~30USD per person regardless of length of stay, payable only in Chilean Pesos). I also want to point out that you can take a bus from Puerto Natales to the park, there are 2 daily departures from the town one early morning and one in the afternoon. There are 3 stops in the park, first one near Laguna Amarga (the entrance, get down here if you are doing the W from the East). The second one is near Pudeto (get off here to take the catamaran to Paine Grande, starting point for the western most leg of the W). The last stop is the administration building which I don’t think is of any use for visitors. The latest schedules can be found here. 

Right after the entrance, take a right, and you will be on the road leading to Refugio Torre central. This is the starting point of the hike and I would highly recommend filling up your water and using the restrooms here before setting off. 

All right then, the moment had arrived, I parked my car, did a final check of my backpack and set off for the W super excited! The first 30-45 mins of the walk is pretty uneventful, till you hit a fork, turn right to go towards the Torres and straight would get you on the path to Los Cuernos. The traditional W hikers go right here, but since I was skipping the middle leg, my plan was to go straight for about an hour, hour and a half till the midway point of the bottom of the W and then retrace my path and take a shortcut to the left to meet the trail going north towards the las Torres. 

You soon start getting views of Lago Nordenskjold and other lakes which feed into it. The lakes on the park range from turquoise, milky blue, emerald to steel gray depending on their depth, composition of the water and weather. The tongue twister that is Nordenskjold is milky blue but the surrounding lakes are deep blue which make for an amazing contrast.

Once you get this part of the trail is when you get a taste of two of Patagonia’s most iconic weather phenomena! The first is the wild winds, which is notorious for being so strong that they can blow you off the trail if you are not careful. They are not to be taken lightly, and several times while hiking I actually sat down on the trail to avoid being literally blown off the trail! The second are the stunning lenticular clouds! They are formed when air flows along the surface of the earth and encounters obstructions (like the peaks of the Torres). These spectacular clouds make for some great photographs while you take in the calm waters of the lake. If you’re lucky and have clear skies you can spot the peaks of the Torres in the distance, but it is a long shot as they are mostly shrouded in mysterious clouds.

After about an hour and a half I turned around and started my way back keeping a sharp lookout for a not so significant looking left fork that would save me some time and provide a shortcut back to the main trail leading up to the Chileno camp (the campsite closest to Mirador Las Torres and my first night halt). The trail follows a clear mountain stream making its way into a valley and you slowly start to gain elevation steadily. About 3-3.5 km later and several rounds of gaining and losing elevation (make sure you get hiking poles, your knees will thank you later), you reunite with the stream, cross it and reach Chileno camp.

These places are in the wilderness and it’s amazing to see the level of comfort and service on offer. You can choose from getting a room inside in one of the dorms or if you’re unlucky or late you can reserve one of the campsites outside and set up base there. I preferred my creature comforts and went for the dorms… it is not much more expensive than the campsite and totally worth it!

It was almost 6pm by the time I had checked in and gotten out of my hiking boots (that feels heavenly let me tell you!) and I was ready for a spot of supper. Make sure you opt for the meal plan when you book this place, it is expensive but totally worth it. You get a freaking three course meal sitting in absolute wilderness many miles away from civilization. The best part is you are surrounded by people from all over the world from totally diverse backgrounds who share a love for nature. The conversations were so much fun that I totally forgot to take pictures of the food! I was seated with a father-daughter duo from the Midwest in the US and another guy from Colorado. We exchanged stories about the various hikes we had been on and their experiences in South America so far accompanied by some excellent Chilean wine. The father-daughter duo had already spent a couple of weeks and had done some amazing stargazing in a small town called La Silla (north of Santiago). Sadly, the skies in the park were cloudy at night so we didn’t get to see any stars. All of us also made a pact to get up at 3am to do the final stretch of the hike up to the Mirador and see the sun rise over the iconic trio of towers!

When my phone buzzed at 3am, I dragged myself out of bed, and stepped outside. Alas, it was raining and the bone-chilling icy winds made me long for the warmth of my sleeping bag, so I snoozed and woke up at 530am. The mirador is roughly ~45 min hike from the campsite, it may take longer depending on your fitness levels and the weather. It is the toughest part of the hike involving a scramble at the very end through some loose scree but nothing that can’t be done if you’re in decent shape. About 15 mins into the hike I saw the girl from the father-daughter duo I had met at dinner last night. She was the only one who had actually woke up at 3am, and seeing that the other 3 guys had chickened out, had gone up to the mirador alone! Respect! 

She did mention that the weather had been atrocious, so she didn’t get the iconic shot of the sun illuminating the towers. Made me a little less angry at myself for not getting up. Would also like to mention that the Mirador los Torres hike can be done in a day if you’re in a time crunch, it is about an 18km round trip, and will take between 8-10 hours plus any additional time you spend at the top. If you only have time to do one hike in the park do this one. That being said, please try to plan your trip such that you can do this as a two day hike to increase your chances of seeing the iconic towers. The reason I say this is that the weather in Patagonia is very unpredictable and the highest probability that the sky is cloudless in the morning. If you’re doing a day hike, there is the chance that you reach the top and the iconic view is obstructed by clouds. 

Back to the trail now. The route from the camp takes you through some of the most stunning scenery on the hike, with lush green valleys framed by craggy snow capped peaks. Signs point you in the right direction and soon you reach the end of the trail and start to see your first glimpse of the three towers. You have seen these three towers from afar multiple times from outside the park and from certain areas inside the park as well. But to see them looming before you, three sheer edifices of granite rising from the waters of the glacial lake will make your jaw drop. I was extremely lucky to have a clear view of the towers without clouds. You will hear countless tales of people hiking all the way to the top only to find that they can see nothing. 

The other advantage of starting early is that you have the whole place to yourself. I spent a good hour getting as close to the water as possible, taking tons of pictures and then just sitting and enjoying the view as the sun climbed higher into the sky. It is a splendid place to relax, have a snack and ponder over life!

With my pondering and picture taking done, it was time to do the whole trek in reverse. Getting back to the campsite was pretty fast and I made it back in time to grab the packed lunch and pick up my backpack from the locker. This is also an added benefit of breaking your hike to camp as you get to store your heavy gear at the campsite and do the hardest part of the hike with just a light daypack! 

After that it was just retracing my steps, admiring more lenticular clouds and enjoying the patagonian breeze and soon enough I could see the Torre central. That was a wrap on an exciting couple of days of hiking. The picture below is an appetiser of the scenery yet to come! Head over to my next post to read about the rest of my time in the Torres del Paine!