Parque Nacional Torres del Paine Closed     Case # 10058     Affiliated Job:  BaBaDou DOT Com Opened:  Monday, August 1, 2011     Closed:  Monday, August 1, 2011 Total Hit Count:  26582     Last Hit:  Saturday, December 21, 2024 7:43:13 PM Unique Hit Count:  5512     Last Unique Hit:  Saturday, December 21, 2024 7:43:13 PM Case Type(s):  Travel Case Notes(s):  All cases are posted for review purposes only. Any implementations should be performed at your own risk. Trip: On the southernmost tip of Chile - exists a national park named Torres Del Paine. A beautiful and huge natural reserve that offers an abundant number of different activities to keep you satisfied and exhausted. Action(s) Performed: Total Action(s): 1 Action # Recorded Date Type Hit(s) User Expand Details 10196 8/1/2011 2:12:11 PM Travel 3286 contact@danieljchu.com Some sample illustrations of Patagonia Trip are shown below.  &nb  More ... Suggestions: Two of us embarked to this far reaching trek using British Airways award travel through their partner with LAN airways. We began our trip in Lima and ended in Punta Arenas. Flights through LAN airways travel connecting to this region through Santiago. Upon arrival, we picked up our car rental and proceeded from Punta Arenas up the single road path out to Puerto Natales. Here we stayed at the bed and breakfast "Keokan" where the couple which owns it provided us with so much information about where and what to do during our stay. For our first of two days we travelled along the "New" road into the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine - this road enters the park from the south, taking you right past a neat cave named "Cueva del Milodon" which we explored the day we arrived. I would recommend a 4x4 vehicle if travelling along the "New" road as this road is comprised of pot holes and is incredibly bumpy. We stopped by a beach along Lago Grey where off in the distance is a glacier with parts of this glacier broken off and floating in the lake and some that drifted to shore. We then continued up along the driving path through the park, seeing the hotel on the island in Lago Pehoe, the "Salto Grande" a water fall between Lago Pehoe and Lago Nordenskjold and met the most friendly bird I have ever seen in the wild. We continued through the park and exited along the "Old" road which we both agreed was a much smoother ride. The next day we decided to test out our limits on a hiking trail which takes you to the three peeks the park is known for. This trek is the right leg of the "W" trail. After driving along the Old road, we entered the park, passed over a very narrow bridge (which required us to pull in the rear view mirrors to pass over it) and parked at the entrance of this trail. We took with us lunch, bottled water and warm clothing. The part of the trail we were trekking was about 11 km and suggested about 3 to 4 hours. Our care takers informed us no matter where we were to turn around at 2pm to have sufficient daylight to get back. The trail was beautiful; we stopped for lunch in the middle at a cabin and continued until we reached the very last leg of the trail; however, even with the end in sight, the snow was 3 to 4 feet, literally waist high. My alarm for 2pm began to sound and rather than struggle up the last stretch - not knowing what was under this deep snow - streams, rocks, ice - we decided it was best to turn around since we were so far from help and surprisingly hot, soaking wet and exhausted from what was actually a short distance. We had run out of water so we filled our bottles with crystal clear streams and followed the puma tracks back to our car. On a nice spring, summer or fall day - this trail would be a breeze, but with the elements of their winter against us, the trail had become impassable - but provided us with a beautiful landscape - I was eager to stand between grass and snow - I had gotten more then I bargained for when I could swim to the top submerged in the white cloud. The next morning we returned to Punta Arenas where we spent the last night of our stay - and enjoyed a nice time exploring this harbor town before boarding our plane for our long journey back home.