Torre del Paine

We are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary later this spring so we planned a trip to Patagonia to commemorate. The weather window in Patagonia required that we go earlier than our May 25th wedding anniversary date though. March is the end of summer in Patagonia and spring break in the States allowed for more helpers for Vada so we made a go for it. 

We planned a 8-9 day circuit trek around Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chilean Patagonia which encompasses mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers. 

A couple weeks ago after getting Twila, Karma, and Wes settled here in Portland with Vada (Joan, Emily and Cooper came up the second week) we headed south via Houston and Buenos Aires and El Calafate, Argentina. And then after a six hour bumpy bus ride (with too many touristy stops for Toban’s taste) we arrived at the Torres del Paine National Park entrance.

We then proceeded to trek, around 10 – 25 kilometers a day, for 6 days (we went a bit faster than we planned). The terrain ranged from horse pastures, to high desert, to forests, to mountain glacier passes, to rocky river scrambles. Every day was different. Most nights we pitched a tent at one of the many campsites spread out around the park. The campsites varied in quality and resources, but most had toilets of some sort, sinks and/or showers, and sometimes a small hut with some food supplies. The nicest campsites had refugios where you could pay to stay inside in bunk beds, warm up by a fireplace and have a hot dinner and breakfast. After hiking all day in the rain and wind on our toughest, longest day we opted to stay in Refugio Grey and it was well worth it. Our final night in the park we also splurged by staying at Hosteria Los Torres.

We had a great trip, but it felt pretty good to get home to Vada. She had an excellent time with her Grandmas, Aunts and Cousins. It was great to see her get to connect with relatives that she only gets to see a couple of times a year.

We’ve posted a bunch of photos from the trip here. 

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