O Circuit - Start to Serón

We finished our first day on the Torres del Paine O-Circuit, starting from the bus drop and hiking along the Paine River to Serón camp.

The prep in Puerto Natales was simple and fun. It is setup as a gateway to the park and you can find all the last minute items needed. We arrived on two separate flights, meeting up eventually at our rental apartment about 10:15am. The apartment owner was kind enough to allow us to store our bags for the day. We roamed around town looking for backpacking gear - some that we couldn’t carry with us (fuel, a knife) and some last minute adds for comfort and safety (rain poncho, rental hiking poles). Very high quality outfitters in town. You could probably put together a full backpacking kit if you needed to.

We hit the grocery store where Karen and I bought bread, cheese, avocados, and some snacks to improve our lunch situation. Will be nice to supplement the protein bars that were my only option.

We split up for dinner, with Karen and I joining a new friend of hers (Adam) for pizza and salad and beer and piscos and wine. Maybe too much of some of those. Great conversation and we will see him again tomorrow night. 6 photos

Our group starting the hike

We caught the 7am bus, scheduled by our leader Michael several months ago, taking us from the Puerto Natales bus station to the Torres del Paine entrance. About a 90 minute drive, with beautiful scenery and some great bird sightings along the way: lesser rheas and crested caracaras.

There’s (sort of) a choice for those starting the longer O circuit: catch another intra-park bus to Torres Central and start the hike there, or hike directly from the entrance. We did the latter, adding a mile or two but giving us better scenery and more time along the Paine River. One problem: it looks like the trail (which is on all the maps!) is now officially closed. We were committed at this point and opted (along with a new Swiss hiking companion) to stay the course. It was worth it.

Guanacos on the trail

Early on we came across a small herd of the llama and alpaca-adjacent locals: guanacos. They weren’t social but also weren’t skittish. Several of them were rolling in the dirt and prancing around.

Me and the towers

Maybe the biggest benefit of this route was that we had amazing views of the Torres (towers) for the first couple of hours. If we were hiking closer along the slope we think we would have been blocked from seeing them for much of the hike.

Hiking down into the river valley

The path also took us to the river much earlier, the river running fast with the turquoise and white glaciated water. We also started seeing more birds, including the Andean condor, long-tailed meadowlark, striped woodpecker, and Austral blackbird.

The weather was perfect, breezy at times, maybe 55-60 degrees F for most of the hike. In just under 6 hours (including lunch and other stops) we covered the 10.1 miles and made it to our first camp, Serón.

Karen and I treating our feet

After setting up camp Karen and I wandered back to the river to soak our feet and just chill for a bit. Water cold but of course refreshing.

Hanging out in camp Serón

We are self supporting for our camping, carrying our own tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and most of our own food. A lot of folks (most?) are just carrying what they need for clothing and some snacks and water. When they get to camp they are assigned a tent (probably with sleeping pads and bags), and they eat their meals in the refugio dining room. Karen and I brought just two of our dinner and will dine in the refugio dining room the other 5 nights. It is very expensive - about $50 a meal! But this way most of the food we are carrying is just snacks, breakfast, and lunch.

Tomorrow will be a test. Rain will likely start tonight and be steady and hard all day. Maybe an inch of rainfall, and maybe some high winds. We’ve tried to prep ourselves for an easier pack out tomorrow. We shall see.