Day 4 On The W: To Camping Los Cuernos And The Worst Food Ever

Day 4 was another beautiful day, almost warm, still, dry, high clouds. We hoisted our now heavier packs--we'd stored our tenting gear in the valley (at the Patagonia store (!)) prior to the Days 1-2 ascent--and began the 6 or so mile hike to Camping Los Cuernos, our next night's stop. Los Cuernos are The Horns, similar to if far less impressive than the Torres. The mountains in the area are noted for their two-tone/layer-cake appearance.

A rock at our campsite in Los Torres displays the two-tone
appearance; black and tan, like the stout

The Patagonian wind is hard on trail signage

Ugly/uninteresting mountain; we spent much of the day passing
it on the right

Also passing an assortment of lakes on the left

Also being passed by gauchos

Distant mountains

Not much shrubbery, few flowers on the open ground

Mr. Moth does his thing

More conglomerate

Much of the signage is about toilet paper, a major fire hazard...

More mountains, more lakes

Vicki on what was truly an ersatz suspension bridge; capacity: 1;
note remnants of former bridge in background

"Let's see...the post-hole was over there, so the sign probably
faced this way, and,wait, here is the sliver about which way
to Los Cuernos..."

First sight of the tan and black Cuernos

And first sight of the Cerro Paine Grande, highest in the park
at just under 3,000m

Flora

Cerro Paine Grande dominated for both Days 4 and 5; even
though it's a small mountain, it reminded us of Mt. Blanc, from
Chamonix

In the distance, the Southern Patagonia Icefield, largest outside
of Arctic and Antarctic regions, from which the big glaciers,
including Perito Moreno, in Argentina, emanate

Gentle reminder

Nice water feature

Notch between Cuernos

Impressive folding in mountain across the lake

Rickety bridge after terrible trail down to Los Cuernos

The torrent below; at this point, the camera went weird on me,
rendering everything in faded Ektachrome mode; perhaps I can
fix it later

Anyhow, at the Los Cuernos campground (you must have
reservations!), you get to rent/pitch your tent on these cute
wooden platforms (same at Chileno); cost: $180; yes, $180
US dollars; per night, dos personnes

But wait, there's more: included was the worst purchased food
we have ever eaten; dinner consisted of an incredibly thin,
tasteless vegetable soup, followed by the above--a cow-patty-
sized glop of mashed potatoes into which had been stirred
perhaps a table-spoon of ground beef, topped by two sauteed
onion slices; all this followed by a few spoonfuls of caramel
pudding glop; breakfast the next morning and the boxed trail
lunch were of similar quality: $180

Despite the black and tan all around (memories of Dublin!) I
actually went dry this evening; prices for drinks, even a beer,
were about the worst price gouging yet; as our dinner
companions from Netherlands remarked, the owners of the
concession, FantasticoSur, must be getting very rich

Maybe the camera knew something...

Day 3 On The W: Resting at Camping Torres

Since we made it to the Torres mirador on Day 2, and had reservations for two nights at Camping Torres, we took a day of rest and reorganization. The weather had cleared over-night.

You can see much of the Torres from the refugio next to the
campground

Among many empty rental units at the campground; we
conjecture the first year of the reservation system has really
inhibited travel here; maybe that's what the national park
wants...there were some serious human-caused fires recently

More of the campground; they really should remove the ugly/
uninteresting mountain that hides the Torres

The bathroom block, as our British friends would say

For amusement, I walked the several hundred meters down the
road to the Hotel Los Tores

And its older adjunct

Bar/reception at the Hotel Los Torres; certainly the nicest
facilities in the park; if only they opened the gift shoppe
occasionally

A whole hall of national park displays

Helpful topo models showing most of our route

What will be days 5-6-7 of our trek

More displays

And in English too

Giant sloth...3 meters high...a major part of the paleo diet
until it was hunted to extinction 

Archaic horse with elephant-like snouts; this is the part of
evolution about random mutation

Modern-day horses

Hotel employees wear these snappy gaucho-
esque uniforms

Restaurant

Spa

Day 2 On The W: Los Torres!

Day 2 dawned bright and blue. After a quick breakfast, we stored our packs and headed on up the trail to see the Torres del Paine, the main attraction of our trek. Up, up, and more up, probably 1,200 feet or more from the Refugio. On the moraine, the trail was not as difficult as some had described...a boulder field, yes, but a good trail skirting it and then crossing it at the very top. A "no hands" route, but everybody in this part of the world uses trekking poles.

Bright and blue; from the Refugio

Waterfall en route

In this land of glaciers, snow and ice, there are numerous
creeks, waterfalls, lakes...and bridges

Rarely any relief from the monotony of the climax southern
beech forest

In a world of granite and basalt, huge boulders of conglomerate,
often sheered off smooth by the passing glacier

Low-bid bridge

Often, these helpful signs, telling you you still have a thousand
feet to ascend

Beginning of the moraine

Looking up, a single tower peeks out

Across the canyon, a waterfall suddenly appears

Oh no, they're clouding up

Near the top of the moraine

And there they are

As we descend, scores more are ascending, many on a long
day hike off of buses from Puerto Natales

Rock art

Returning to Refugio Chileno, some of the tent platforms there

Hiking back down to the valley and our next night's camping
there I was about to record the greatest condor-in-a-rainbow
sight ever seen...but then my hat flew off in the gale force wind;
and the condor got away (my hat was retrieved by a young
compatriot)

Our site at Camping Torres

Clouds and rain are moving in for the night