Torres del Paine

I wish I could just upload photos and not even try to describe this place. TdP is the most visited and most famous park in Chile, if not all of Patagonia. I know I´ve used a lot of superlatives during the blogging, but seriously... this place stunning. It isn´t very big, but it packs the most varied and amazing geology into its boundary. We kept comparing it to other places we had been if they were next door to each other - like if an Alaskan glacier was heading into Lake Superior in Yosemite Valley with the Tetons in the background. Actually even pictures won't give a good description because you can´t capture the different mountains in one shot. Dave described it best as before and after diagrams of what glaciers do to mountains. There are enormous, glacier-covered craggy mountains ...seriously huge! Then across the valley there are polished granite towers with different rock bands through them.
The park has a really nice trail system with refugios along the way. You can eat or rent a tent or shower or sleep in a bed in the refugios. It is very civilized. We opted for renting a tent and carrying our own food. We attempted to splurge on breakfasts but that only worked out well once. The box of wine and cookies that they stock at the refugios were quite welcome.
We hiked the part of the trail known as the 'W' because you start on one end and walk up and down three neighboring valleys. We actually did an abbreviated version because we are trying to squeeze in some time in Argentina in the next week too.
The first day we set out by boat to the west side of the park. We hiked up the valley to Glacier Gray. This was the first time Dave had seen a glacier that wasn´t on a slope up on top of a mountain. It covers an enormous valley and calves off into Lago Gray. We saw and heard one iceberg implode for some unknown reason. This glacier isn´t particularly active, so not much calving happened. The color was fantastic. Gray is a dudes name, not the color. It was aquamarine.
On day two we hiked back out the valley and along the shores of the biggest lake in the park (named after some slavic guy which can´t say or spell) to just beneath the Cuernos. These are incredible and one of the highlights of the park. The entire hike there was packed with vistas and waterfalls. Around every bend we were amazed. The Colorado Paine Grande is the enormous mountain (before picture) next to the Cuernos (after picture). The glacier on top of the Paine Grande was huge and pretty active. We saw and heard a bunch of small avalanches. The thing is that we were down hiking in essentially desert scrub looking up at avalanches. The park is in full springtime. Primavera! There were all sorts of wildflowers and birds and butterflies. I´m not sure how the butterflies manage to get from flower to flower because the winds are so strong! Gusts of 60mph were not uncommon and would often knock me around on the trail with my backpack acting as a sail. Which brings me to the bees. The bees around here could carry off small children. After experiencing the wing, I now understand why.
The evening of day two was fantastic. The second refugio was much nicer with an attentive staff and a nice common space inside. We rented a tent, made some dinner, bought our boxed wine and sat out on the rocky beach looking back at the Cuernos and the Paine Grande side by side. A condor was cruising around between the Cuernos. So nice.
On the third day we hiked to the end of the lake and up the last valley of the 'W'. This is the valley with the Torres at the end. Most people consider the Torres (towers) to be the ultimate reason for going to the park. Up for debate. I vote for the Cuernos. Much like the tourists, the clouds also seem to like hanging out by the torres. We couldn't see them at all that afternoon. We camped at another nice refugio right on the river as the temperature dropped. We woke up this morning to a good bit of snow coming down. No hope for an up-close shot of the towers with the snow storm. Bummer. It is kind of like missing Half Dome or El Cap if you are at Yosemite. We did get a good view of them on our ride into the park. Now and then we could make out their outline through the clouds. Oh well. We chalked it up to being very Patagonian. The spring turned to winter overnight. We didn´t see any sign of things clearing up in time to hike up to the base of the Torres, so we hiked out of the valley and caught the afternoon bus back to Puerto Natales.
We have so many pictures! We will try to edit them for your benefit before Christmas.
Tomorrow we leave for El Calafate in Argentina. Glacier Moreno and El Chaltan await.