Boat Ride and Torres del Paine

We jumped on the Navimag boat for an alternative way to get down to the most southern tip of the continent. It was a 3-day ride aboard a cargo ship that has been updated to accommodate 300 tourists. Fortunately, since it was 'The Secret Season' in the south, there were only 40 or so tourists on board. It was a great way to travel because it really forced you to relax and sit quietly for a change. The sceanery was pretty.. through the Chilean fiordlands... but it was a bit rainy and cold so we had lots of time to read our books and catch up on our journals (hand written journals that is).

We arrived in the beautiful port city of Puerto Natales, the launching off town for the infamous Torres del Paine. When we made arrangements to spend 5 days and 4 nights out in the park, everyone thought we were nuts. Obviously, there are few others as hard core as us because we only saw 3 other people in the park the first 4 days.. and one was a worker!! Yes, it was a bit cold at night (boy, did we miss our Thermarests!!), and we got a bit of rain and a bit of wind, but it wasn't anything we could't handle. We started the route off visiting Glacier Grey and it was fabulous to be in a boat and weave in and around all the ice chunks that had fallen off the glacier. The photos look like Antartica!! We actually were incredibly fortunate that we were not walking for days in freezing rain!! We had gorgeous weather the day we walked up to see Los Cuernos... a tan and brown version of Cathedral Rock in Sedona but with the addition of being in a valley surrounded by snowcovered peaks and glaciers opposite Los Cuernos. OK, so we admit we took the easy route when we arrived at Los Torres and they were completely socked in and it was starting to rain and there happen to be a van heading back to town. We waited out the front in a warm bed in Puerto Natales and headed back out to Los Torres 2 days later and had a perfectly blue sky all day long. Yes, during the winter you have all of the unpredictable weather to deal with. However, we gladly accepted the weather in place of camping among 200 other tents (at each camp site) during peak season! I would definitely put this in the Top 10 category of the most beautiful hikes I have ever done in the world. However, I would recommend going during shoulder or off season because in talking to the locals, it doesn't seem like the Chilean park service is doing much to regulate the number of people visiting the park in the summer and unfortunately, this is extremely detramental to this jewel of Chile.