Torres del Paine

This past week I went on one of the most extreme adventure of my entire life. I spend 6 days in the Torres del Paine National Park of southern Chile, hiking, trekking and camping. I planned originally to describe each day for you lovely readers, but I think my trip can easily be summed up in a shorter manner. Starting Monday, we woke up each day around 7am. We made oatmeal and tea/coffee for breakfast (the best part about breakfast was simply the water that warmed our frozen hands..we were easy to please in the mornings). Then we proceeded to walk. And walk, and walk, and walk. Up steep rocky hills, down slippery and icy hills, over wooden plank bridges, under fallen green and mossy trees, through small streams with multi-colored pebbles, across powerful rivers, on high mountain ridges and in low shrub-filled valleys. The entire time we saw magnificent views. My brain seemed to become numb from trying to take in and comprehend all of the beauty that was there. We would eat snacks as we walked, usually taking breaks for only a few minutes, 10 minutes at the maximum because breaks longer than that made us cold from our sweaty clothes. When we arrived at our destination (usually a camping site or refuge), we'd gladly heave down our packs, set up our two-tent camp, change to dry clothes and make dinner. We brought all of our food into the park, because the refuges do sell food, but it is very expensive. And I must say, we did not go hungry. We ate a lot. Anything that simply requires water and a little heat, we ate it. Instant mashed potatoes, couscous, rice, noodles in abundance. We also ate some tortillas, tuna, refried beans, and, of course, chocolate. Each night it was a challenge to hang our food. We were pestered by mice at one campsite, for they kept us up almost all night scurrying by our tent. We were very luck they did not chew holes into the tent and enter because of curiosity. After some conversing or star gazing, we were usually snugly tucked into our sleeping bags and sleeping by 9pm. 

Here are some pictures to help tell my story.

On the bus towards the park. Thought this road sign was the perfect opportunity to capture the name. The mountains in the background are part of the park, but not the famous towers that are the namesake of the park. Although the below is not the best picture, it depicts the towers that give the park it's name. They are illuminated here by the sun shortly after sunrise. This was our last day in the park. We woke at 6:30am, hiked 50 minutes in the dark up the steepest incline of the trip (400 meters higher altitude in a short distance), and sat in our sleeping bags and made breakfast waiting for this beautiful view.

Random picture on the way to the park. Don't really know why I wanted to tack this one onto the blog, but I was amazed at how a little dog appeared in the picture that I took while riding the hurdling bus toward our destination. Plus those clouds over the ocean do look splendid, don't they?

This is my friend Katie and I, sporting our waterproof pants. You could not lose us in the park this day. The pants actually just hindered because, although they don't let water in, they don't let it out either. Sweaty! We were so lucky during the trip, though, because we had no need of the pants. It did not rain or snow at all while we were hiking. The worst weather we encountered were the cold temperatures in the night. **This weather is extremely rare in Patagonia right now. Rain and snow are a staple in this area during the fall and winter seasons. I repeat, we were very lucky and blessed with fantastic weather. 

This is me standing in front of Glacier Grey, a ginormous glacier on the west side of the "W" trek of Torres del Paine. On the recommendation of Chileans and previous park hikers, we brought along some whiskey to drink with some glacier ice, but unfortunately we never were able to reach the actual glacier. We enjoyed the whisky anyway as a good warmup before a cold night! 

Below is another picture of the glacier. From one of my friends who is a science major, I learned alot about glaciers on this trip, including that they are always gradually moving, they are on land, and they are a major source of fresh water for many communities and countries (random information for your brain).

These are our packs for the trip. Mine is in the middle with the red jacket and orange tent attached. It weighed 35 pounds at the beginning of the trip, and it weighed 27 pounds when we left the park. We split the community items like tent and food among us. The longer I walked with my pack, the heavier it seemed. Despite this, I wasn't burdened too much by my pack. I only had one 2.5 hour hike where I felt like death because I had volunteered to take one bag too many of the community goods. Other than that hike, I felt awesome. Thanks to my friend Emily for letting me borrow it, and I'll send a thanks to everyone else who let me borrow things for this trip, including Viviana, Matias, Monserrat, Chekeitha, Bailey and Katie.

Here is a picturesque little lake we encountered. It had the coolest rocks and reflection of the mountains.

This is what I looked like when hiking each day. Pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. Note the fanny pack and North Face jacket. Yes, I do go on adventures in my North Face.

There was one stretch of the trail in the park that was privately owned. In this part, many cows roamed around or were perfectly perched for a picture like this one. If anything in the park could be compared to the landscape at home in South Dakota, this would be the closest, because here there were rolling hills with green grass and shrubs like in this picture. There was also a very large hotel resort on this part of the land, but we college kids resisted the urge and kept it classy in our tents. 

*Side note: almost all of the cows that I have seen in chile are brown and white like this one. 

Here are my crazy friends who enjoyed this trip with me. Left to Right, Bri, Brigit, Katie and Lauren. We are awesome. Thanks for the adventure, ladies. Also, kudos to us for managing the "W" despite the reactions of some Chileans who thought a group of five ladies couldn't handle it.

Altogether, this was a great trip. Despite aching body, pinched pinky toes, bruised shins, sore shoulders, overall smellyness, and general exhaustion, I felt awesome. We figured that we were in the park from start to finish for about 121 hours and hiked about 62 miles altogether. The feeling I had when I left the park is something that I hope I never will forget. Utter empowerment. It was an 'I can do anything, You can do anything, We can do anything' kind of feeling.

Last, this is my absolute favorite picture that I took on the trip. I will soon be imposing the words on the right side: What's stopping you? (That's right. Nothing.)

I will use it for inspiration for my future outdoor adventures, which will surely happen because my mind is already racing with ideas, wishes, and dreams.