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| Boarding the Catamaran |
Because the park is so large and there is a wide variety of landscapes to see, you really want to be able to hike if you can. There are two main hiking options if you are interested in doing a multi-day trek. Circling a huge portion of the park is the standard "O Trek" which takes about 7-8 days to complete. If you cut off the back part of the O you get the "W Trek" which is 4-5 days. It is called the W, instead of the C, because the focus of this hike are three main valleys you walk in and out of. These valleys are the main tourist attractions in the park. You can of course do the O+W, the actual C or the Q as well, but I think you get the point. Many people who visit this park go there because they love to hike.
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| Everyone's packs on the boat |
Eli and I chose the "W" but we wanted to add a segment so we planned for 6 days. Once in the park we caught a boat to the furthest away starting point for the trail and began our trek at Paine Grande Lodge. Our first night would be at the campsite at Refugio Grey (If you are familiar with the trek, we did it counterclockwise.)
On the catamaran we were joined by Tomas' family who was coming in for a day hike. They pointed out the mountains that we could see from the boat. And as you can see, we had great luck with the weather. (Thank you Eli) The mountains were as beautiful as we'd see them the whole trip and crystal clear, glacial blue water was mesmerizing.
The boat docked and we started our hike.
Day 1: The hike between Paine Grande Lodge and Refugio Grey is a gradual uphill to a lookout point of the Grey glacier, and then a steep downhill to a river bank. Along the way you pass a really pretty alpine lake, a few wooded sections and some meadows. It was about a half a day hike (~4 hours).
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| We bumped into Jessy at the alpine lake |
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| Saying goodbye- this was the last time we'd see him before the end of his trip |
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| Filling up water bottles from streams, ready to drink |
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| Purple Meadows |
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| Grey Glacier |
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| Refugio Grey |
The Refugios are lodges that serve hot, family style dinners and have bunk rooms you can rent for the night. We opted to carry a tent, stove, pots and pans and 6 days worth of food... so we were camping. I did love how the campsites were established right next to the refugios though so you could look in on everyone sipping wine while you were out in the cold boiling soup in pot. But in actuality, the campsites that were next to refugios were much nicer then those on their own. There were hot showers and some indoor spaces to warm up if you did get cold. This site was particularly nice in that it was a short walk to the glacier.
Day 2: This was the day we added to the hike and it was well worth it. We left our tent set up at Refugio Grey and hiked, with only our day packs, along the glacier towards Camp Paso.
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Started out at the Grey Glacier viewpoint close to the campsite
The icebergs in the water were enticing us for a swim |
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| A great, quiet hike through the woods got us closer to the face of the glacier |
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| We asked a few "O" trekkers coming our way if there were any nice viewpoints of the glacier ahead, they said no. This was 2 feet off of the trail |
Along the way we had to cross a couple of ravines. The first was a suspension bridge which, no matter how many you cross, can still make you hold your breath and pretend the wind and your weight aren't making it sway.
Then there were a few... ladders.
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| Safe and sound at the bottom. Now I just have to climb back up |
Through every ravine you caught glimpses of the glacier. We had passed the face of it now and were looking straight out onto the top.
Finally we came out of the woods and all we could see was the Grey Glacier. Behind it and up in the mountains in the picture are finger glaciers to the Patagonia ice field.
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| Hands down this was our favorite trail |
Eli and I both enjoy glaciers so we really were excited by this hike. What we don't understand is how this isn't a more mainstream part of the park. We left for the day hoping to see a closer view of the glacier but we had no idea there would such an open and expansive view. We had never once heard anything about this trail. Every crevice in the glacier showed the color of the ice underneath it, a deep turquoise blue. At one point we saw people hiking on the glacier but even a group of 20 of them wouldn't show up in a picture. The size and scale of this glacier is unimaginable.
We love glacier pictures so take what you will from these photos. I love the natural colors and contrasts in nature. I like that the slits show you that this giant mass is moving. Everyday it looks different but its been here for hundreds of years. That's incredible.
The day ended with a leisurely walk back to our campsite. We took hot showers, ate a good meal then went to bed early. The next day we'd have to hike, with our heavy packs, to the next valley, which would take a full day. With this start to the trip we were already really happy with the park. We didn't know actually if it could impress us any more.
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