I have done some backpacking in my life. I even took a trip for three months with my friend Dylan where one of the main focuses was backpacking. The longest I have spent in the back country was 4 nights with Doug, Robin, Philbo, Khalil and I in Yosemite. As Paul and I wrote down our need list on the bus to Puerto Natalise for our 7 day excursion, I started to feel under-prepared. First off, we had little to no gear needed for this sort of backpack trip, which meant that we would either have to rent or buy the equipment. Secondly, I have never really planned for this long of a backpack trip for food and other provisions or have I walked with this heavy of a pack for this long of a journey.
We pulled into Puerto Natalise late, had some dinner, then set our alarm early so we could buy the necessary provisions for our trip the next day. We walked through town we our need-list in hand and stumbled across a hostel that rented trekking gear. We were able to rent a 2-person tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, two small pots and a cup from the hostel, which was the main part of the gear that we needed. I had recently bought light-weight hiking shoes that I planned to use for our trip. Paul had to buy new boots because the rentals were below average. Paul also bought a small backpack camp stove for all our cooking needs. We were highly disappointed with our options for food at the grocery store, but did our best to plan for 7 days of breakfast, lunch and dinner. A couple more last minute purchases and we headed back to our hostel to split up weight and try on our packs, laughing at how heavy they were . . . that was the first and last time we laughed at the weight of our packs.
A restless nights sleep, followed by a quick breakfast and we were on the bus out to Patagonia. One of the best parts about backpacking is exploring the unknown trail and challenging yourself to overcome the difficult moments knowing that you are going to be able to live out some amazing adventures in nature. Once again, I let my ipod and fresh cup of mate lead the way for my mind to drift off into the great wide open as I stared out the bus window. We passed herds of sheep, packs of wild Guanaco (Patagonia's llama land vertebrae that roams around Torres Del Paine) and a couple of Flamingos drinking from a lake overlooking the breath-taking views of the mountains of Patagonia.
Day 1- Camp Seron
Off the bus, mate in hand, packs on our backs, time to hit the trail. The sun is shining and our spirits are high as we start putting some distance behind us. It doesn't take long before the foreign weight of our packs start to take a toll on our bodies. Foot cramps, shoulder pains, back aches, etc start to become part of our everyday lives for the next week. We converse about certain aspects of our journey and point out vistas, but mainly we walk in silence getting in the zone of walking.
A couple of kilometers into our journey and the strong Patagonia wind that we heard so much about picks up and blows consistently in our faces, forcing us to focus even more on our steps. With the wind so strong, conversation was no longer an option. We only yelled to convey important messages like 'I'm hungry, are you ready for lunch?'. We found a nice place to take lunch by the river with protection from the wind. Salami, cheese and crackers never tasted so good! We stretched our aching bodies out, took our first sips of unfiltered water straight from the river and referred to the map on how much more time we thought we had on the trail that day.
The weight of the pack is my biggest burden and at the same time my life source. I start to search the horizon for signs of Camp Seron, looking forward to taking my pack off and taking shelter from the wind. Camp comes into view and we pick up the pace for the last couple of kilometers excited to be done with our first day of hiking.
We set up the tent for the first time and are disappointed at how small our home is . . . looks like Paul and I are sharing an uncomfortably small area for sleeping. We get out the dominoes and talk with the other campers that we will see regularly for the week. The wind and sun got the best of me, so I lay down for a siesta for a couple hours before dinner.
I wake hungry, so Paul and I take the first kilos of food from our packs out for dinner. We have spaghetti with red sauce and tuna accompanied by a box of red wine and some mate . . . yum. Happy to be full of fresh nutrients we quickly do the dishes as the sky starts to accumulate lot's of clouds that may turn to rain in a blink of an eye.
There are lot's of people backpacking and day-hiking in Patagonia. With heavy traffic in the high-season camps have been established with toilets, sinks for dishes, garbage cans and sometimes even hot showers. It is strange to be backpacking with such nice facilities, but necessary so people don't leave trash and shit everywhere. There are two main routes: The W and the full-circuit. The W has much more traffic and can be done in 3 to 4 nights. The W also has much more established camps with cabins, stores and even restaurants. The full-circuit (which is what we are doing) includes the W, but adds 40-50 extra kilometers of trail and offers less crowded camps and views of the backside of the famous Patagonia mountain range. We plan to reach the start of the W on our fourth day.
I get a good stretch in before the rain starts to fall and then head to the tent with my book 'The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo' and read until sleep takes over.
Day 2 - Camp Dickson
The rain passes overnight and we wake early to a little sunshine. We enjoy a breakfast of instant oatmeal with dried apricots, plums and cherries. I brew a fresh mate for the road, we do the dishes and pack the tent away and hit the trail for the day. The clouds start to look dark and luminous as we round the bend and pretty soon hiker's coming from the other way conform our suspicions of rain. Paul gets out his poncho and I do my best to get ready for the rain. I have a waterproof cover for my pack, a waterproof jacket, water-resistant pants and a pair of day-hiking shoes (not water-proof).
The rain starts up as we summit a hill and by the looks of things it is going to rain for awhile. We are both pretty warm, but my socks and shoes are completely soaked through. We hike on focused on getting to our next camp. We take a quick lunch under a tree of the usual salami, cheese, apple and crackers and are back on the trail so we don't get too cold. Whenever the weather is bad, it is hard to remember that it will eventually clear, everything feels very permanent in the moment. We keep trekking through a marshy wetland area, hopping on logs to avoid the mud. It seems like an eternity, but we eventually come over a pass and spot Camp Dickson perched by a lake and glacier, surrounded by mountains with their peaks covered in snow.
The rain let's up for just enough time for us to set up our tent and cook some dinner. Tonight's menu is more spaghetti with red sauce and tuna (meow mix- thanks to Tiger Lil for this term) followed by our second and last box of red wine. The wind and rain start to pick back up as we are eating our dinner, so we finish quickly, do the dishes and hop in the tent around 9pm as the sun is setting. The howling wind keeps both of us up, so I read whenever the rain and wind won't let me sleep. The night is very cold and to our surprise we find out that our tent isn't all that waterproof. Our sleeping bags rub against the tent at our feet and water soaks into our sleeping bags . . . no good! We lay in bed shivering praying for sunshine in the morning.
Day 3 - Camp Los Puerros
I wake to the sound of rain on the tent in the morning. I am not in the best of moods because I am wet and cold and am not looking forward to putting on my wet shoes and socks. I force myself to sleep a couple more hours and to my surprise, I wake up to the sun trying to break through the clouds. We get up and immediately start to hang any wet clothes in the sun. We make breakfast and tea and try and heat up for the day of hiking. We are in no hurry today because we want our clothes to dry and we only have 8 or 9 easy kilometers to cover.
We get out one of our luxury items that is not typical on a backpack trip . . . a volleyball. We pepper and take some photos of our volleyball practice and then leisurely break camp and hit the trail. We start the day with a steep climb up into the forest. Up until this point, we have been hiking mostly in exposed fields and meadows, the forest is a nice change of scenery. I have a thermos full of mate and have a much improved mood because the sun is shining. We take lunch by a waterfall and finish the last of our cheese for the trip, this is a big deal when all that you have to focus on is hiking, eating, sleeping and relaxing.
We snack on trail mix or cereal bars when our energy level starts to drop. If we are really feeling in the dumps, then we break out some of our precious chocolate and eat it in hopes of keeping the positive energy. It is hard to not get on each others nerves. We have been traveling together for over a month and backpacking is a true test to our friendship. Spending almost all our time together, even having to sleep right next to each other, we have to focus on staying positive and going off for some alone time when the frustration level rises. It has nothing to do with the other person, it is just hard to be around the same person day after day and not feel a little annoyed at times. I especially need my space sometimes, so I tell Paul I am going to hike with my ipod for a little while and he gets the point.
We walk by another beautiful glacier just before we arrive at Camp Los Puerros. Paul and some other friends we made on the trip go off for a swim in the ice cold glacier water, I decide to pass on that mission and go off for a stretch and read session by the river. The camp is in the forest and has a cool community cooking area with shelter from the elements and a fireplace for some warmth. We drink tea and play dominoes until it is time for dinner. This time we have dehydrated soup with meow mix and crackers, followed by some dark chocolate and cookies for desert. Tomorrow is going to be a long day of over 22 kilometers, up 600 meters and down another 1000 meters, so we go to bed early so we can get a fresh and early start.
Day 4 - Camp Grey
More rain overnight forces us to get a little later start than we planned, but a quick breaky and some mate and we are starting our climb to the summit. There is a lot of mud on the trail in the forest so we leapfrog from log to log avoiding getting our shoes covered in mud and water. My days as a child playing 'Don't step on the cracks or you'll break your mommas back' was good practice for staying out of the mud.
We broke through the treeline just has the rain stopped and looked back through the valley to see mist and fog linger above the trees of the forest and mountains. A quick fill of water from a fresh ice cold stream and it was time to climb up and up to the pass 600 meters above. My mate high wore out just about halfway up the climb, I was very happy to reach the summit. We snapped some photos and then started our long decent back down the other side of the pass.
Walking downhill with a heavy pack is much harder on the body than going up. Soon my knee's started to ache and I started to daydream of reaching the bottom of the mountain and taking lunch. We made it part way down into the treeline before we had to break out the salami and crackers for an energy boost. The rain picked back up and the decent seemed to go on forever, let's just say that we ate a lot of chocolate that day.
Glacier Grey goes on farther than the eye can see and is fed by many different mountain basins. I was awestruck as we came out of the forest right next to this massive glacier, the view temporarily took away the pain that my body felt. We passed through two smaller camps on our way to the larger Camp Grey, it was tempting to set up camp and call it a day, but we persevered. We reached Camp Grey completely drained. We both were irritable and I was wet and cold and went straight for a hot shower that the camp provided. Paul started dinner and was annoyed that I took so long waiting in line for a 5 minute max shower. It was still raining as we ate pasta, soup and meow mix. We huddled under a small tarp we many other campers trying to seek shelter from the storm.
Paul and I got fed up with the crowded cooking area and wandered over to the cabin area and found a common area with a fire where we were able to hang clothes to dry and read in the warmth of the cabin. Soon, more and more people discovered the warm cabin, but I was happy with my piece of real estate on the bench reading my book. Everyone made attempts at drying their boots and socks, so there was quite an interesting smell brewing in the common area, but nobody wanted to go out in the rain.
The book 'The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo' is a crime mystery that really got interesting towards the end, I was glued. I looked up to see 5 Chileans watching me read wide-eyed, we all laughed at how engulfed I was in the book. I found someone that we were hiking with who had just finished the sequel to my book and was willing to trade when I was done. I treid my best to finish that night, but soon the Camp hosts asked us to go to our tents for the night because they were closed. I finished reading in the tent as the rain still relentlessly fell.
Day 5 - Camp Pehoe
We woke to more rain. I am now truly understanding the expression 'raining on my parade'. We made breakfast and tried to figure out what to do with our wet tent and sleeping bags. I was leaning towards staying and trying to wait out the rain and give ourselves a day of rest after the 22 kilometer day, but Paul was insistent that we move on.
We agreed that it was best to keep moving, so we packed up the wet tent and headed out into the rain. Luck is on our side because just out of camp the rain started to let up and our moods improved dramatically. We both were extremely sore from the day before, so our pace was much slower. The map gave estimates of how long each section of the trail should take to hike. Everyday so far, we would arrive before the estimated time, not today. We crept along the trail, taking breaks for stretching, snacks and pictures of Grey Glacier. Low clouds of mist and fog made the day very mystic, I got some great pictures of the glacier, lakes and mountains.
Just as our legs were begging for an end, we spotted Camp Pehoe. I can't describe how happy I was walking through camp to see great grassy spots for our tent and hearing rumors of a hot shower and store for some fresh supplies.
We cooked up some more pasta, soup and meow mix and sat and relaxed as the sun set over the lake and mountains surrounding our camp. I treated myself to another hot shower and an extra long stretch session before making my way upstairs to the bar to share a bottle of wine with Pablo. I laid the smack down on Paul with a couple games of dominoes while indulging in some cookies. I went to bed very content, not even minding that the wind and rain were starting up again.
Day 6 - Valle Frances & Camp Cuernos
A little more rain in the morning and then a good amount of wind to dry everything up. We enjoyed the last of our dried fruit and oatmeal and headed off for another 20+ kilometer day on the trail. We cruised through the first part of the day, arriving at Camp Italiano where we finished the last of our salami before leaving our packs for a quick day hike up Valle Frances.
The day hike was much more challenging than expected, but well worth the energy. More glaciers and some amazing volcanic formed mountain ranges awaited us at the top of our day hike. We admired the mountain peaks and were impressed by the rock faces that mountain climbers climb when the weather is right. We both put on our ipods and ran back down the mountain to our packs so we could get to Camp Cuernos before sundown.
The high season and summer in Patagonia is January through February. With all the rain that we got, I can only imagine how extreme it most be to camp in the off-season. Another hard push and one more can of meow mix and crackers lakeside and we arrived for our last night at Camp Cuernos. The places for tents were very poor but we didn't care because it was our last night sharing a small tent and wet sleeping bags before we were back to civilization and a warm bed in a hostel. More meow mix and soup accompanied by some tea, a quick game of dominoes and it was bed time.
Day 7 - Torres Del Paine
Our last day and we finally woke up to sunshine. We treated ourselves to a breakfast in the lodge with eggs, toast, cereal and coffee. We have another 20+ kilometer day ahead of us, but it is the last push. I finally get to walk in a T-shirt and shorts enjoying the heat of the sun as we go up and down hills by a huge lake. I enjoy my second to last cereal bar and let my mind drift thinking about home and my family and friends. I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to travel for so long and experience adventures like Patagonia among the many other activities that I have and will get to enjoy.
We have a hard push straight up the valley towards Camp Chileano where we once again leave our packs and make our way up to the famous Torres Del Paine mountain range. Our quads and calves ache as we finally summit to the base of Torres Del Paine. Rainclouds have made there way behind the mountains, so it is not the best for pictures, but amazing none-the-less. We bust out the volleyball again and have someone take some shots of us peppering in front of Torres, could be a first. Paul spiked the ball and I sank it off into the freezing water below. I rush down to the shore, jump up on a rock and luckily the wind blows the ball in my direction, that must have been hilarious for the people watching above.
It starts to rain, well in fact, it starts to snow. The wind is blowing hard and we are cold, so we rush back down the mountain to our packs for our final push towards Hotel Torres where we catch a shuttle and bus back to Puerto Natalise. It is a long and hard final push downhill to the hotel and we are exhausted when we arrive. We treat ourselves to a bacon avocado burger and a beer in the hotel and celebrate a successful backpack trip through the outback of Patagonia and I mentally cross off Patagonia on my bucket list.
