Muddy & Magnificent
After our three-day stay in Lima, Peru we took to the skies to Punta Arenas and hopped on a bus to Puerto Natales, the jumping off point for Torres del Paine National Park (TDP). Puerto Natales is a dull, quiet town that relies on hikers needing supplies, post-hike meals, and a place to crash. We arrived at our hostel around 4pm, exhausted from the overnight flight, and headed out to the local grocery stores for a list of essentials: salami, cheese, bread, peanut butter, granola bars, fruit, trail mix, and of course the hiking go-to of our trip — Snickers. Coons has no shame that he bought one for each day of our eight-day trek. It took multiple stops and one very heavy reusable shopping bag, but we got most of the supplies we needed. We were also getting snacks to swap with the free-dried meals that Maggie and Alex were bringing from the states; they would be getting in later that night just in time for our 7am bus to TDP. Or so we thought.
Over post-shopping beers, Coons was getting play-by-play texts from Alex who was running through an airport with his wife, Maggie, hoping to make their connecting flight to Punta Arenas. More running, less texting, Al. Adding to the stress was the news from our hostel owner that out first campsite was supposedly closed due to heavy rains. Good. Great. GRAND. We skipped the orientation meeting (we read a blog that said it was impossible to get lost — who needs orientation with advice like that!) to go to the campsite office and check on the status of the site. Thankfully, the trail had dried enough for them to reopen the campsite and the rest of the trek. Crisis averted. Back to Maggie & Alex – they eventually arrived in Santiago, but Maggie’s bag did not. The Santiago Airport strikes again! Since they had already missed their connecting flight, they got a hotel in Santiago and made arrangements to meet the bag the next day in Punta Arenas. Plans were made to rendezvous at the first campsite.
So, the next day while we made our way to TDP to begin the first part of the journey to camp Serón, enjoying the easy but muddy trail leading to the mountains with snow lines that look like zebra stripes, we were wondering if Alex and Maggie will make it to camp tonight and thinking that their honeymoon is going swimmingly thus far.
When we arrived at camp, we had a snack and a shower and read a little, but we were still itching to know if Maggie and Alex were on their way, so Coons paid the $1 fee for five minutes of internet and was rewarded with the text:
“Got a taxi. Going for it. Hopefully see you in 5 hours.”
Around 9pm, we heard Maggie’s sweet voice, “Kourtney and Ben?” We jetted out of our neon green Nemo tent for reunion hugs and helped them get set up for the night. The trip finally felt like it had begun.
For those not away aware of our four-way friend affair: Coons and Alex are avid hiking friends who met on a travel basketball team during high school. Kourtney and Maggie are friends from college, both teachers, and original travel buddies. At a bar Maggie meets the very tall Alex, blocking our view during the Sox World Series in 2013. Maggie and Alex introduce Kourtney to Coons during a ski weekend in January 2015. Maggie and Alex marry three days before we leave for our huge trip (we were in the wedding!) There, now you’re caught up!
The next day was absolutely gorgeous — blue skies, sunshine, and more snow-capped mountains. We couldn’t believe that (some of us) were in shorts and t-shirts in February! Each bend in the trail yielded better and better views, and then we came upon Camp Dickson. Wow!
We set up camp at the most gorgeous campsite of the trip and relaxed in the hammocks waiting for shower time. Before dinner, we went down to the water to skip rocks and look around.
This place was like a dream. Then we took the greatest group shot of the trip!
In the little refugio, we played cards and enjoyed a bottle of wine before it was time to fire up the jet boil and prepare dinner; we are big fans of the add water and wait 9-11 minutes meal prep! Want to know what else we’re big fans of? Every refuge sells beer & wine! Nothing better after a long day of hiking than some booze that you didn’t have to carry for days.
The next morning we got a late start because we woke up to lots and lots of rain. Despite our attempt to wait it out, it didn’t stop. We packed a wet tent and a soaked rainfly and headed into some welcome shelter in that forest.
After dodging massive mud puddles for three hours, we finally came up to a sign that said we had two kilometers left; we were all thinking, okay we can do two more kilometers. We’re all pretty fit and quite quick so we kept on with a mantra — forty more minutes!
1.5 hours later…
We arrive at our third campsite, Los Perros. Thankfully the rain had stopped, but the wind was howling. The refugio and campsites were in the woods, so we picked out a camp spot with some shelter from the weather. We took out the dripping wet rainfly and strapped it to some trees to let the aforementioned wind take care of it.
None of us would be showering because there was only cold water at this site, and let’s be honest, we’d been showering for the past 4.5 hours. We went into the small enclosed hut where our fellow O-Circuiters were warming up with some victory beers and a game of cards. We joined two Aussies, Cally and Luke, and the man we called Mr. Wisconsin (we later found out his name was Billy). They would become our companions for the remainder of the trek. “How about those last two kilometers, right?!” we all joked. For the remainder of the trip, we always took the “Patagonia 2km” with a grain of salt.
The next morning we woke at 5am to roaring winds. Nervous, we went to the hut to make coffee and eat breakfast before packing up camp, for today we were hiking “the pass” which was supposed to be the longest and most strenuous day. There was always a chance the rangers could close the pass due to weather. The wind kept wailing, but everyone said the pass was a go! So we packed up, strapped on headlamps, and took off into the dark woods (and mud, can’t forget the mud!). Soon we were out of the woods and getting some bea-u-ti-ful views of the sunrise through the trees.
The John Gardner Pass is a three-hour climb up loose rock with peeps of snow near the top. The pass was in a valley between two large peaks and the wind was whipping over it. Kourtney and Maggie thought they might actually blow away!
“I LOVE this day!” Alex grins when the girls reach the boys. We all agreed! Over the pass is Glacier Grey. It is breathtaking! There is something about coming over the pass after that climb to an open view of the glacier that will stick in all of our minds for a lifetime.
After the pass, the wind died down and we were treated to another blue-bird day. Happy for some shelter, we enjoyed a snack and more coffee (well, three of us enjoyed the coffee). What an excellent reward after all that hard work! The views of the glacier just kept getting better, and when we finally reached the bottom of the hill, we went into the woods and to Paso, a bare-bones campsite where we stopped for lunch. It was 11am. We were making great time and we would make it to the next tent city earlier than expected. But not before we crossed the suspension bridges!
Our destination was Camp Grey, one of the larger campgrounds on the trek, and one of the starting points for the “W Trek” — easily accessed by boat. We realized this as we were lounging in the sun, enjoying a Patagonia Pale Ale, and watching people pass with day packs. Wait, why aren’t you carrying everything you need for eight days? Gone were the days when it was just the O-Circuit crew on the trail. To break up the nightly dinner routine, Maggie and Alex enjoyed their first honeymoon meal, a hearty four-course meal, at the lodge’s restaurant. Everyone loved that they were celebrating their marriage in such a fun way! Some thought they were crazy for “allowing their best friends to join.” But we have a close-knit group of friends, and Coons has been crashing honeymoons since 2017. Watch out Sean and Ashley! Kourtney and Coons enjoyed a Mountain House special, Mexican Fajita Bowl, before joining them for a nightcap.
We had a short hike the next day on our way to Paine Grande. Hiking along Lago Grey, we had plenty of miradors along the way to look back at the glacier.
Faced with an early arrival at Paine Grande, we set up camp and went to check out the bar. We were treated to some great views of the mountains and even saw a couple of foxes playing in the field.
The next day brought some relief to our backs and shoulders. Arriving at Camp Italiano after a couple of hours, we got to drop our big bags for side trips to two lookouts: Valle de Francés and Mirador Británico. These miradors, along what one hiker elegantly called the “butt-crack of the W” (spoiler alert, he was from Texas), provide close up views of more glaciers and a 360 view of more enormous peaks.
Looking back there were crystal clear glacial lakes for miles. We felt like spring chickens hiking up & down those boulders without our huge packs on! The views were incredible and once we put our big bags on, we only had a short walk to camp Francés.
Day seven was a long day and featured a tough uphill near the end in the exposed, hot sun when we were ready to be done for the day. By this point, the sunburns and blisters had set in, but we all maintained pretty great spirits. The mountains reflecting off the water and the gloomy dead tree forest made for a lot of uniquely different terrain.
The views when you first see your campsite are always glorious, and this isn’t just because you know you’re almost there, but it’s also that a little too! On our final decent to the site, we passed by Billy (Mr. Wisconsin) who shouted it was lovely to meet us but he had both knees wrapped and 1200mg of Ibuprofen pumping him up for his last section of the hike — he needed to keep moving. Our last refugio was Chileno, and it was another campground on a hill so we set up camp on the wooden platforms and Coons went to work hammering in nails to keep our tent down! Weird, and definitely a first for us.
This campground’s uniqueness didn’t end there. There is no fire allowed in the park, but this place won’t even let you use a jet boil! Maggie and Alex splurged on meat lovers pizza and we sat outside, swatting bugs away and watching people come back from the Torres. We saw Cally and Luke again. Thick clouds started to cover our only view of the Torres and then a light drizzle started. We went into the lodge where Coons’ hunger got the best of him and he ordered us a pizza as well. Good thing because we had to wait an extra hour for boiling water for our freeze-dried meals because all those who purchased dinner had to be served first. At this point, lack of food was becoming an issue and it was some kind of torture to watch huge fillets of salmon on rice and veggies being served to your neighbors, knowing there was still one more course before we could enjoy our second dinner.
At 5am we woke ready for our sunrise hike to the Torres. We expected a chill morning: wake up, change, pee, eat breakfast, pack some victory coffee, and head out. You know who has no chill? The mice who chewed a hole through Coons’ Osprey pack to eat the peanut butter sandwiches we made the night before! They even ate Kourtney’s chocolate covered espresso beans! So before we started out, we hung up our food bags — like we should’ve the night before — Coons cursing under his breath and Kourtney hoping those mice had a serious stomach ache. The trip to the Torres was through the woods and up and over big boulders. The sun was rising in the valley just as we turned to the Torres viewpoint. We set up GoPros and cameras and added some layers to fight the cold. The top of the Torres started to turn a lighter shade and then the sun rose into the clouds looming over the top of the peaks.
We enjoyed some coffee and a snack and then went down to the water to take some final jumping photos.
We descended back down to camp and packed up before the rain started. We had two more hours before we got back to the main lodge to catch our buses back to town. We went out for a big pizza dinner (thanks Alex & Maggie!) before we met up with our O Circuit group at the Last Hope gin bar. The gin bar makes their own gin and has many imported whiskeys from other distilleries. We all enjoyed cocktails and conversation, asking everyone where they were going next and recalling the highlights from the trip. It is always fun to make friends and keep track of them in hopes to run into them again.
Early the next morning, Coons and Kourtney left for Argentina and Alex and Maggie for New Hampshire. We miss them so much already! Two buses and seven hours later we arrived in El Chaltén, a small town inside a national park with lots to offer for restaurants, breweries, and grocery stores. Our hostel was a four minute walk from the station, which was delightful because usually, we’re staying at least 20 minutes out of town (#budgettravelers). We took the rest of the night and the next day to relax so we could start to pour over our 500+ photos from Torres del Paine.
When we were ready to get back on the trail, the weather forecast was meh for the first couple days, so we decided to do one of the three main hikes, Laguna Torres, which has a view of a glacier but doesn’t offer the stunning vistas of some of the other hikes. It was a nice walk and relatively easy, and again, we were loving only having day packs.
Once we neared Laguna Torre, the wind started to go WILD! Knocking off others’ rain covers and making people stop and take cover in order to keep from falling over. It was truly so intense that it was creating waves and moving ice chunks from the glacier across the entire lake. We didn’t get many photos or stay long because we could hardly face the lake.
The next day we finished the Ecuador blog, finalized our fav TDP photos, and went out in the afternoon for a short waterfall hike where we practiced playing more with the camera.
The weather forecast was looking up for our last three days at El Chaltén, and we were really looking forward to Fitz Roy, the iconic peak face of the Patagonia brand. The Fitz Roy hike was wonderful. We started early so we could watch the sunrise over the town and we got to the first mirador in time to watch the sun hit the Fitz Roy peak. The last one and a half hours were straight up, but the finish was absolutely breathtaking. We must have hung out at the summit for an hour or more taking in the sights. It was an absolutely beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky! The Fitz Roy peak line is iconic and unforgettable.
After this hike, our feet were starting to seriously hurt, but we still had one more hike to do. We had another early morning start to climb El Mirador De Los Condores — a rock outcrop nearby that overlooks the town and the entire Fitz Roy range. Coons was excited to try a time-lapse with the fancy camera. The world started dark and then started to lighten. The sun was burning red from the valley to the right and hit the range, changing the peaks from grey to pink.
We were waiting for the sun to light the entire peak but then the clouds rolled in and the peaks went grey again. Laughing, we packed up and headed back to our hostel, but near the bottom of the trail, the clouds cleared to show the peaks a beautiful golden color.
We still had one more hike that we wanted to do — the last of the three main miradors — a windy 360 view of the range from another lake, but it was just not in the cards. Our feet were beat up. We struggled to take it easy because we would have some time off in the near future, but we decided to be safe and instead started to look forward to our last Patagonia adventure in El Calafate.
El Calafate is the jumping off town to the Perito Moreno Glacier. It is the third largest freshwater reserve in the world! The glacier stands around 130 feet high and every ten minutes or so it calves, meaning that enormous ice chunks fall from the ice formation into the water.
The sound is something between thunder and what we imagine a grenade sounds like when it goes off! You can feel the BOOM inside you! We walked throughout the whole park taking in the glacier from all angles. The view never gets old and it is amazing how much time passes while you’re just mesmerized by this huge chunk of ice. We stopped for some DIY charcuterie and vino at the perfect spot to get some footage of the calving. It was a great day!
Patagonia was definitely a major highlight of the trip! Coons began the planning for this trip in August by making reservations for the O Circuit. The four of us met many jealous people hiking another itinerary of the O Circuit, settling for the W Trek, or simply hoping to make a day hike because they didn’t make the reservations they wanted in time. Kudos to my fantastic fiancé for spearheading one of the most incredible experiences we’ve had thus far! Next up a flight to Buenos Aires!