Words and photos simply do not do Torres Del Paine justice. We were blessed with three days of incredibly clear weather, the wind on the second and third was strong but I still mostly hiked in shorts and a t-shirt. Our hiking guide, Isabella from Poland led us on two long hikes and several short ones. Tuesday we had a very challenging hike, about 20km up and down steep tracks, with a final ascent of 300m over 1km to have lunch underneath the towers themselves. Wednesday we visited a waterfall, then the icebergs of Grey Lake and the Condor lookout and Thursday after taking the ferry across Pehoe Lake we hiked about 15km of the French Valley, which was only steep from th fee Italian Camp, where we watched avalanches as we lunched.
There were three things which surprised me at the park. I had no idea the park contained the third largest ice field in the world and hence I would be able to be a few metres from huge icebergs. This was a major highlight for me. The second was the dead forests as bushfires here mean the trees are dead and there are no new trees unless replanted by humans. Smoking is now much more strictly banned than it used to be because of a huge bushfire started by an Israeli hiker who burnt toilet paper in the middle of the forest. But that said the huge park only had 35 rangers this season. The sheer number of people in the park also amazed me, particularly doing the Towers walk we were constantly giving way to other hikers. When we got to the lake for lunch there were at least 100 people there and there were constantly people coming and going. Up to a 1000 people a day visit and there is talk of a permit system and increasing the park entrance fee (about A$35).
We camped inside the park in a privately run area complete with flushing toilets and hot showers. Kim and Ritchie,our Tucan tour leader and driver, cooked yummy food for us as we hang out around the campfire. We decided it was definitely "glamping".
There were three things which surprised me at the park. I had no idea the park contained the third largest ice field in the world and hence I would be able to be a few metres from huge icebergs. This was a major highlight for me. The second was the dead forests as bushfires here mean the trees are dead and there are no new trees unless replanted by humans. Smoking is now much more strictly banned than it used to be because of a huge bushfire started by an Israeli hiker who burnt toilet paper in the middle of the forest. But that said the huge park only had 35 rangers this season. The sheer number of people in the park also amazed me, particularly doing the Towers walk we were constantly giving way to other hikers. When we got to the lake for lunch there were at least 100 people there and there were constantly people coming and going. Up to a 1000 people a day visit and there is talk of a permit system and increasing the park entrance fee (about A$35).
We camped inside the park in a privately run area complete with flushing toilets and hot showers. Kim and Ritchie,our Tucan tour leader and driver, cooked yummy food for us as we hang out around the campfire. We decided it was definitely "glamping".
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