Day 7 - Views on Views on Views
12 years ago, my family and I went on a trip to Alberta, and visited Banff National Park. The highlight of that visit, among all the others, was the small hike to Morraine Lake, a stunning setting of a glistening lake with seven peaks above it. It was such a picturesque view that I had picked it as a screensaver on my desktop before even visiting there, without any knowledge of what it was. I think I typed in 'beautiful scenery' in Google or something like that. Until today, that was the most beautiful scenery I had visioned with my own two eyes. Maybe Table Mountain or Cape Point in South Africa came close, but it wasn't Morraine Lake. I don't know if the neverending series of views in Torres del Paine National Park do indeed top Morraine Lake, but it comes close.
Torres del Paine is a large National Park tucked into the southern end of the Southern Ice Shelf, with glaciers, mountains, forests and laker and rivers, encircling its premises. It is one of the premier destinations for tourists in Patagonia, those coming mostly from Puerto Natales, the largest nearby city a good 90 minutes away. The park is fun for the serious hikers, with 4-day and 7-day trek options around its mountains that make up the center of the park, and for gawking more sedate tourists happy to drive through it. Being us, we opted mostly for the latter, with a couple of mini-hikes included, and it met all expecatations.
The biggest variable going in was the weather. It was rainy the night before and the forecast called for the same. With the rain in this area brings low clouds that could have obscured most of the natural beauty of the park. Instead, we got a day mostly devoid of rain apart from the odd drizzle, and while there was some cloud coverage that obscured the nominal Grand Torres peaks, it was high enough to leave the other main attractions viewable. It truly was a blessed day weather-wise.
After completing the 90 minute drive into the park, we entered it from its Northern entrance near Lake Amarga. This fortunately gave us the chance to view the Grand Torres peaks somewhat as they more easily are viewed up north. The first two stops on our drive and hike through Torres del Paine were actually both before officially entering (in terms of paying the entrance fee ticket) but are basically parts of the park and were great appetizers for what was to come. Lake Amarga was pristine - the shade of blue throughout Torres del Paine is purely Caribbean-esque. The competing colors of the blue of the water, the green of the forest and rolling hills, and the black and white of the mountains is a potent visual cocktail. The second spot was Cascada del Rio Paine, a multi-leveled mini waterfall, with four different viewpoints all better than the last. At this point we had all roughly taken 50-60 photos, in various poses and various lights. And we were then about to enter the park.
When we finally entered the park, the real fun began, as the full majesty of the central mountain formations started to take hold. They are essentially always towering over the drivable part of Torres del Paine park (the hiking trails essentially circumnavigate the main mountains and are totally separate from the driving sections). The main features overtime would become the Cuernos (Horns), a pair of peaks with smaller sub-peaks, and then the Cerro Paine Grande, a Table-Mountain esque peak with more snow covering. It is an imposing sight, but an impossibly stunning one, and as we drove southward across its face during the day, each angle of the mountains was better than the last.
The first stop once we entered the park was another lookout, overlooking Lake Nordjenskold, another pristine blue lake well shaped, with the brilliant mastiff peaks above. Truly, this was a day for picture after picture. Following Lake Nordjenskold was a drive further down the ring road to the viewing point ('Mirador' as they are known in the park) for Salto Largo, a waterfall that connects two lakes within the Torres del Paine park. The real view of the waterfall, however, was by backtracking a bit to one of the offshoots of the main road, and then a short hike to the Salto Grande Viewing Point. From there, you see the waterfall in all its glory, and more important the first truly stunning view of the Cuernos, the Cerro Paine Grande, and the Torres peaks somewhat masked by clouds. The closest comparison I could make was the background of the Sound of Music movie cover, combined with the blue water of the Caribbean and the chill of South Ameirca. It was perfect.
The next about 90 minutes were all various views of these peaks, truly omnipresent within the parks limits. The best may have been during the stretch beyond the Salto Grande where the road returns to sea level (or more accurately, lake level), where the road hugs the circumference of Lake Pehoe, arguably the lake with the most picturesque blue of all of them, and one of the two actual hotels that lie within the park resides (both have rooms on average above $500 USD / night). The view from Lake Pehoe was the one that immediately strruck me as a more special, more unique version of Morraine Lake.
Our final stop within Torres del Paine was Lago Grey, arguably the most popular normal location within the parks limits (normal as in reachable mostly by car). Most people would do this first, in that they would enter from the South entrance. Instead, it was last, and I don't know if we saved the best for last, but certainly saved the toughest for last. The hike from the parking lot of Lago Grey (home of the Grey Glacier on the north end of the lake, reachable just by boat or from the true hiking trails) to the final view point takes about 45 minutes each way. it involves an up and down traipse through forests, a long walk over a sand bar borne out of Lago Grey (apparently recent or confusing enough that on Google Maps it shows up as water), and then a mini-hike up the island in the middle that gives you the best vantage of Lago Grey and the Grey Glacier.
The views throughout are nice, with the final view showcasing the sprawling Grey Glacier, which is a good deal away, and more than that, the first view in a while that showcased some of the mountains that are not the main ones. The Eastern part of the park is essentially bleeding the line between Torres del Paine Park and the larger Southern Ice Shelf, so we get more snow-capped mountains, more mysterious views, and one perfect white mountain rising up from the Glacier, appropriately named 'Ice Mountain'. It was a truly stunning sight.
By the end of our day, the 90 minute drive out of the park and back to Puerto Natales was filled with the fulfilling memories of a day well spent and well valuable, and the empty feeling that this is the end of a period in our lives. Not to be dramatic, but Patagonia exceededd all of our expectations in every way. And Torres del Paine was the culmination. I don't know if it will be more lastingly memorable as the Glacier Trek, but it will be more representative of what this trip was. We are not a family well endeared to the outdoors, and this part almost exclusively took place outdoors. The town of Puerto Natales was enveloped in cloud and fog, but Torres del Paine stood strong and gave us mostly a dry day. It was a great capper to a great week in Patagonia. I'll leave knowing I definitely want to come back.
12 years ago, my family and I went on a trip to Alberta, and visited Banff National Park. The highlight of that visit, among all the others, was the small hike to Morraine Lake, a stunning setting of a glistening lake with seven peaks above it. It was such a picturesque view that I had picked it as a screensaver on my desktop before even visiting there, without any knowledge of what it was. I think I typed in 'beautiful scenery' in Google or something like that. Until today, that was the most beautiful scenery I had visioned with my own two eyes. Maybe Table Mountain or Cape Point in South Africa came close, but it wasn't Morraine Lake. I don't know if the neverending series of views in Torres del Paine National Park do indeed top Morraine Lake, but it comes close.
Torres del Paine is a large National Park tucked into the southern end of the Southern Ice Shelf, with glaciers, mountains, forests and laker and rivers, encircling its premises. It is one of the premier destinations for tourists in Patagonia, those coming mostly from Puerto Natales, the largest nearby city a good 90 minutes away. The park is fun for the serious hikers, with 4-day and 7-day trek options around its mountains that make up the center of the park, and for gawking more sedate tourists happy to drive through it. Being us, we opted mostly for the latter, with a couple of mini-hikes included, and it met all expecatations.
The biggest variable going in was the weather. It was rainy the night before and the forecast called for the same. With the rain in this area brings low clouds that could have obscured most of the natural beauty of the park. Instead, we got a day mostly devoid of rain apart from the odd drizzle, and while there was some cloud coverage that obscured the nominal Grand Torres peaks, it was high enough to leave the other main attractions viewable. It truly was a blessed day weather-wise.
After completing the 90 minute drive into the park, we entered it from its Northern entrance near Lake Amarga. This fortunately gave us the chance to view the Grand Torres peaks somewhat as they more easily are viewed up north. The first two stops on our drive and hike through Torres del Paine were actually both before officially entering (in terms of paying the entrance fee ticket) but are basically parts of the park and were great appetizers for what was to come. Lake Amarga was pristine - the shade of blue throughout Torres del Paine is purely Caribbean-esque. The competing colors of the blue of the water, the green of the forest and rolling hills, and the black and white of the mountains is a potent visual cocktail. The second spot was Cascada del Rio Paine, a multi-leveled mini waterfall, with four different viewpoints all better than the last. At this point we had all roughly taken 50-60 photos, in various poses and various lights. And we were then about to enter the park.
When we finally entered the park, the real fun began, as the full majesty of the central mountain formations started to take hold. They are essentially always towering over the drivable part of Torres del Paine park (the hiking trails essentially circumnavigate the main mountains and are totally separate from the driving sections). The main features overtime would become the Cuernos (Horns), a pair of peaks with smaller sub-peaks, and then the Cerro Paine Grande, a Table-Mountain esque peak with more snow covering. It is an imposing sight, but an impossibly stunning one, and as we drove southward across its face during the day, each angle of the mountains was better than the last.
The first stop once we entered the park was another lookout, overlooking Lake Nordjenskold, another pristine blue lake well shaped, with the brilliant mastiff peaks above. Truly, this was a day for picture after picture. Following Lake Nordjenskold was a drive further down the ring road to the viewing point ('Mirador' as they are known in the park) for Salto Largo, a waterfall that connects two lakes within the Torres del Paine park. The real view of the waterfall, however, was by backtracking a bit to one of the offshoots of the main road, and then a short hike to the Salto Grande Viewing Point. From there, you see the waterfall in all its glory, and more important the first truly stunning view of the Cuernos, the Cerro Paine Grande, and the Torres peaks somewhat masked by clouds. The closest comparison I could make was the background of the Sound of Music movie cover, combined with the blue water of the Caribbean and the chill of South Ameirca. It was perfect.
The next about 90 minutes were all various views of these peaks, truly omnipresent within the parks limits. The best may have been during the stretch beyond the Salto Grande where the road returns to sea level (or more accurately, lake level), where the road hugs the circumference of Lake Pehoe, arguably the lake with the most picturesque blue of all of them, and one of the two actual hotels that lie within the park resides (both have rooms on average above $500 USD / night). The view from Lake Pehoe was the one that immediately strruck me as a more special, more unique version of Morraine Lake.
Our final stop within Torres del Paine was Lago Grey, arguably the most popular normal location within the parks limits (normal as in reachable mostly by car). Most people would do this first, in that they would enter from the South entrance. Instead, it was last, and I don't know if we saved the best for last, but certainly saved the toughest for last. The hike from the parking lot of Lago Grey (home of the Grey Glacier on the north end of the lake, reachable just by boat or from the true hiking trails) to the final view point takes about 45 minutes each way. it involves an up and down traipse through forests, a long walk over a sand bar borne out of Lago Grey (apparently recent or confusing enough that on Google Maps it shows up as water), and then a mini-hike up the island in the middle that gives you the best vantage of Lago Grey and the Grey Glacier.
The views throughout are nice, with the final view showcasing the sprawling Grey Glacier, which is a good deal away, and more than that, the first view in a while that showcased some of the mountains that are not the main ones. The Eastern part of the park is essentially bleeding the line between Torres del Paine Park and the larger Southern Ice Shelf, so we get more snow-capped mountains, more mysterious views, and one perfect white mountain rising up from the Glacier, appropriately named 'Ice Mountain'. It was a truly stunning sight.
By the end of our day, the 90 minute drive out of the park and back to Puerto Natales was filled with the fulfilling memories of a day well spent and well valuable, and the empty feeling that this is the end of a period in our lives. Not to be dramatic, but Patagonia exceededd all of our expectations in every way. And Torres del Paine was the culmination. I don't know if it will be more lastingly memorable as the Glacier Trek, but it will be more representative of what this trip was. We are not a family well endeared to the outdoors, and this part almost exclusively took place outdoors. The town of Puerto Natales was enveloped in cloud and fog, but Torres del Paine stood strong and gave us mostly a dry day. It was a great capper to a great week in Patagonia. I'll leave knowing I definitely want to come back.
