THE Chilean park: Torres del Paine

Torres del Paine, with torres along Paine massif, across Laguna Azul.

The most visited, and most well-know national park or reserve in Chile, and really in all of Patagonia, is Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, south of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares which is in Argentina, and 80 km or so north of Puerto Natales in Chile. This park was created in 2013, and currently measures 242,242 ha, and is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The park gets part of its name, 'torres', which means towers, from three granite spires, part of the Paine massif, which dominate the skyline on a clear day. The park is full of small glaciers, lakes and rivers, along with the mountains, and lots of wildlife. The park is also pretty crammed with tourist, especially hikers and trekkers, with over 150,000 visitors per year. This has become a problem, so starting this year, you actually need advance reservations to stay at the campsites and refugios (more than simple huts, food, beer, wine available, comfortable beds, really more like mini-hotels, with a price to match), and right now, things are a mess, and amazingly expensive. There are two very popular treks in the park, the "W" trekking route, which takes most about 4 to 5 days, and "O circuit", a trek around the park with takes closer to 8 or 9 days (and costs over $250US if in refugios). This year, you need reservations to camp at the designated campsites along the trail, and since dispersed camping is not allowed, you must have reservations to do either trek (unless you are from Italy, and you use the rules to your advantage, and hike the "W" without reservations). And to complicate matters, there are two different, private companies managing the refugios and campsites, Fantastic Sur, and Vertice Patagonia. And if you include Sodexo (yes, that Sodexo, part of the Marriot group in the US), which runs the campground at Pehoe in the park, you have at least three private companies involved here, and it seems like a mess to me. I could not get any reservations last-minute, and I had no choice but to be last-minute as I never know where I am going to be from day-to-day, or how long it will take me to drive where I am going (always longer than I would think!). As a result of the popularity of the park, and insanity of private management and the reservation system, there are very few options to camp in the park, though having my van turned out to be huge. Other than the campsites which are part of the two treks, there are only three campgrounds accessible by vehicle in the park, plus one just at the edge of the park, and, Laguna Azul.

I left El Calafate early, and of course, picked up a hitchhiker on my way out of town. It turned out that he was heading north, not south, so I dropped him off at the crossroads where Rute 40 heads north, and Ruta 40/5 head south towards Rio Turbio, across the border from Puerto Natales in Chile. I had decided to cross the border back into Chile north of Rio Turbio, at Paso Rio Don Guillermo, and into Cerro Castillo, Chile, closer to the park. It was another pleasant drive, though windy as heck, the usual in Argentinian Patagonia, all paved, no ripio. I detoured a bit to avoid a nasty stretch of ripio, into Esperanza, before heading to the border. Now, I have not talked much about border crossings, because, other than when I left Peru and first entered Chile, crossings have been easy, especially when you go into Argentina. The Chileans are more serious, and I always declare that I have something, which I always do, and this gives Chilean Aduana (customs) some fruit, vegetables, meat or honey to confiscate, then I am on my way. They never search my van, they actually sometimes do not even look inside. You just go to immigration of the country your are leaving, they stamp your passport, snag you driving permit, and off you go, through the gate and into the country you are entering. There, you first go to immigration, where they stamp your passport, before passing you onto customs, where you take care of paperwork for the vehicle (which can take only a few minutes if there is no line, and the guy knows what he is doing). And if you are going into Chile, they want to look at the van, but only so see what food you are bringing in, most of which they confiscate, fruits vegetables, honey and meat. And that is it, off you go through another gate, into the next country. As it turns out, I would go back and forth between Chile and Argentina a number of times on my way south to Ushuaia, Argentina, and then when I head back north. I especially like crossing at the out-of-the-way as things are very mellow, and all the Argentinians want to talk about is Trump.

After crossing the border back into, I realized that I did not have as much Chilean pesos as I had thought, so had to head down to Puerto Natales before getting into the park. The road was great, but it was late, so I wild camped at Lago Sofia, nice spot, beautiful lake, and popular with the locals. There were others camping there (I picked up for locals on my way in, they were going to camp for two nights before heading up to Torres Del Paine), a group of kayaker playing in the waves (it was blowing as usual), and later, just some folks who wanted to hang out, drink some wine, and camp along the lake for the night. Next morning, quick trip to a bank, and a grocery store before heading back up to Torres Del Paine. I picked up two hitchhikers  heading to the park for a day, one, a local who works in the park, Alajandro, and his friend from Austria, think her name was (will remember later); he told me about Laguna Azul, which again is not an official campsite. We got to the park administration building, road not great, I paid my park entrance fee, $26,000 pesos, and headed off up the road to Laguna Azul. The road was actually not bad, weather good, and place was beautiful, and guanacos everywhere. Laguna Azul was very nice, only a few overlanders, campers there, a nice bathroom with shower, though park ranger first annoying one I met. It was a nice place to camp, and when the clouds cleared a bit, you could the see the torres, the three granite spires which give the park its name. I went for a great hike, to Cebolla Lagoon, hung by the lake, and enjoyed my first evening in the park. Next morning, took off for a mountain biking ride along the south shore of Laguna Azul, a horseback riding trail, to the rim of Macho Canyon, out-and-back ride, nice to be on my bike, even if totally sucking wind on anything uphill. I then headed out, could only stay at Laguna Azul one night at a time, heading wherever. Did stop along the way, great time-lapse shoot of guanacas, real fun, until the wind blew my tripod with camera down, but still fun.

I camped that night, after driving along a beautiful road through the park, to Pehoe Camping Zone, run by Sodexo of the USA, $10,000 pesos per night, hot water, small shelters, not much, except killer views, at least from my campsite. Place was pretty quiet. I hiked up to the Condor lookout in the evening, short but steep, and wind was brutal, and this before it started to rain. The next day, I headed back to Laguna Azul, and along the way met a group of guys on bicycles, riding from Ushuaia to Vermont, great guys. I will try and post their url when I find their card, yes, many folks produce business cards so they can hand them out to folks, follow their blog, follow their adventure. I had hoped to backpack and camp one night at Chileno Lodge and camping zone, nope, full, tried even just staying at the camping zone at Las Torres, full, ferry across Pehoe Lake to Paine Grande ranger station and camping, not going to happen. Place did not seem that crowded, but with the new reservation system, they really restrict things, and without reservations, forget it. So, back to Laguna Azul, no reservations required, plus nice, quiet and beautiful place. That would be my Torres Del Paine experience, though did have a nice time-lapse shoot in the morning, and, met a guy from Taiwan, on his bicycle, who has been riding, different places around the world, since 2014. Another interesting person I met along the way. Torres Del Paine is beautiful, a special place, but the Chileans need to figure out how to run a park, to all more people to camp, and explore. Is definitely a special place, though just wish I could have spent at least one night in the backcountry, in my tent, but was not possible without reservations (unless you are from Italy like two hitchhikers I met, they hiked late, showed up to campgrounds late, without reservations, and the rangers could not sent them back at that time of the day .... smart Italians). It was a great place, even if I was only able to spend three nights there. Next, back to Puerto Natales, then head south, eventually, Ushuaia.

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