Chileno to Torres to the End
Our last day on the O circuit at Torres del Paine was glorious.
Expert napper
If you’ve backpacked or hiked with me you know I’m a master of the lean-against-a-rock or lay-in-grassy-field nap. Amidst all the hiker chaos in Chileno on Friday afternoon I soaked my feet in Rio Ascensio and found a nice boulder, pulled my beanie over my eyes, and crashed for a solid 20 minutes. A horse train woke me up; turns out I was about 1 meter off the horse trail.
The prescribed plan for those doing the W or O trek is to visit the Torres (towers) with a day pack on the morning after staying at either Chileno (the better option) or Central (the harder as it is much further down valley). If you are at Chileno, you definitely want to try to make it for sunrise and the morning golden hour.
Karen and I again broke stride with the masses and delayed our departure from Chileno to visit the Torres until about 6:10am. This was partly due to our confidence in making it up there faster than most, and partly because neither of us desired a precise sunrise viewing, especially given the (1) likely low clouds and (2) the sunrise isn’t behind the towers it is behind the viewer. The best light would likely be 15-45 minutes after the sun peaked over the ridge behind us.
Pre sunrise view of the towers from the rocks
We were mostly alone on the hike, using our headlamps to find our way up the east trail to the key station where you climb to the lake. I was in the lead at that point and lost the trail. Karen and I (and another solo hiker who had been in front of us) scaled the moraine boulder field directly. It was a beast! We’d seen some of the not-so-fit day trippers going up the day before and Karen and I wondered how they managed the climb. Before long we realized that not only had we lost the trail, we ended up about 50 meters (more?) above the end of the trail near the lake drainage.
I made a wrong turn somewhere
Look at those tiny hikers down there! We hid from the wind, took some photos, then scaled back down to join the assembled crowd. Many had been there for more than an hour.
Golden light on the Torres
The light gradually shifted from pretty to spectacular, coupled with the wind declining to give us some near flat water for nice reflections.
We waited but the cloud never quite left the peak of the principal tower.
We walked with our companions back to Chileno to gather our packs and prepare for the final hike out. Karen and I stayed a bit longer, eating two (thought we’d ordered just one) sandwiches and a pizza and chatting with two W hikers just getting started.
Hiking out of the valley
The hike down valley was light and easy with a few final local hills to ascend. Karen called out to our friend Adam hanging out on a promontory viewpoint and we said farewell. The two of them have been bouncing off each other for a few weeks now and will likely have dinner together tonight after the rest of us have left Puerto Natales. He’s going to be my expert counsel on hiking ideas in Scotland.
Final O trek group photo
It was a farewell party at the welcome center as all of us O trekkers toasted a beer or wine glass and swapped more stories. Lots of talk about next adventures as many folks will remain in Patagonia for a while.