DAY 4: DEC 14 TUESDAY

Enjoying TDP by self drive & short hikes rather than Multi-day W/O Treks

Torres del Paine National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Torres del Paine) is a national park encompassing mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers in southern Chilean Patagonia. Paine means "blue" in the native Tehuelche (Aonikenk) language and is pronounced PIE-nay, while Torres means "towers".

We had visited the stunning Argentine Patagonia in 2013 December and this had been on our list for long.

Our Chile trip was basically for visiting TDP.

And we wanted to do it mostly by driving our own vehicle as opposed to the usual way of doing the W or O Trek. There is a lot of material on trekking in TDP, we had to blaze our own path for achieving our goals. And yes, we did just that and more!!

PARK FEATURES

The park is located 112 km (70 mi) north of Puerto Natales and 312 km (194 mi) north of Punta Arenas.

The park borders Bernardo O'Higgins National Park to the west and the Los Glaciares National Park to the north in Argentine territory.

The Torres del Paine are the distinctive three granite peaks of the Paine mountain range or Paine Massif. From left to right they are known as Torres d'Agostini, Torres Central and Torres Monzino. They extend up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) above sea level, and are joined by the Cuernos del Paine. The area also boasts valleys, rivers such as the Paine, lakes, and glaciers. The well-known lakes include Grey, Pehoé, Nordenskiöld, and Sarmiento. The glaciers, including Grey, Pingo and Tyndall, belong to the Southern Patagonia Ice Field.

The Cuernos del Paine or 'Paine horns' is a collective name given to a set of spiky granite peaks in Torres del Paine National Park, all of which stand at over 2000 metres high.

The spikes have fittingly sharp names: to the north, the Aleta de Tiburón (Shark's Fin), to the east, from north to south, Fortaleza (Fortress), La Espada (The Sword), La Hoja (The Blade), La Máscara (The Mask), Cuerno Norte (North Horn), and Cuerno Principal (Main Horn).

The Cuernos del Paine also lend their name to one of the park's 'refugios' or 'lodges', Refugio and Camping Los Cuernos.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER IF DRIVING IN TDP

In total there are 500 miles of vehicular roads in the park but we need to consider a lot of factors.

there are no gas stations inside the park.

Also we have to be aware of the road conditions and weather, since it is very changeable, winds can reach speeds of 100 km / h mainly in spring and summer.

moving by vehicle through Torres del Paine National Park will not allow us to reach certain points accessed through trekking, however, we can enjoy several of its attractions

WEATHER CHALLENGES

The prevailing winds that come from the Pacific Ocean in the west are to blame for these exceptionally windy and cold conditions. Torres del Paine’s location at 50° south latitude leaves it vulnerable to these extreme westerlies. Winds that blow around the world between latitudes of 40°S and 60°S face little obstruction from land before reaching the Chilean coast, and therefore can reach impressive speeds.

Winds

The extreme winds in Torres del Paine have become the stuff of legend for hikers in the area. These gusts have been known reach up to 110 mph (180 kph) – strong enough to make a hiker and his backpack airborne! Most persistent during the summer season, these winds can be responsible – on rare occasions – for closing some of the trails.

These winds also cause weather fronts to pass quickly over the park, adding to the unpredictability of weather and meaning that the skies can transform from clear blue to threatening gray within a short window of time.

Temperatures

These piercing westerly winds, the South Patagonian Ice Field in the north and the park’s proximity to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current combine to cause the overall cool temperatures experienced here and throughout Patagonia.

During the summer months, average daily temperatures hover around 55°F (13°C), with lows of 34°F (1°C). During winter, these drop to highs of 41°F (5°C) and average lows of 27°F (-3°C). Throughout the year, the strong winds can also make the ambient temperature feel up to 30°F (6°C) cooler.

Interestingly, Torres del Paine’s fierce winds are stronger during the summer months. Over winter, banks of high pressure coming from Antarctica in the south stabilize over Patagonia and lead to long spells of clear, cold and windless weather. Cold fronts do eventually reach Torres del Paine bringing snowfall, so if you consider visiting during this period, prepare to kit yourself out with extreme-weather sleeping bags and numerous layers to protect from the biting chill.

OUR DAY

We had been booking accommodation and flights for onward journey and slept only after midnight.[ For Santiago we could not repeat our previous stay at Norus because they were booked up. We had to look at reviews and decide on a new apt well located and with late check in availability . ]

Got up at 5 am and got food packed up for the day. Backpackers were striding to the bus stop on their way to TDP. We started off at 7 am locking the gate and dropping the key as instructed, photographing everything as usual when we do self checkout.

cyclist braving the elements...

Took a detour to our accommodation which is at the south entrance of the park, It's at the Rio Serrano region... rio=river

Lovely cabins perched on wheels... the owner Patrick lives on site. we woke him up, deposited our bags and off we went , waving to the friendly dogs.

RIO SERRANO

river Serrano is 38 km long. There is a lovely lookout point at the ntrance of the region. We always stopped by there and enjoyed the beauty

Paine massif in the background...

Just as we enter the park through the south entrance and pass the kiosk, this is the view that greets us

TORRES...

Torres coming up in view closer...

The teal of the water is due to the minerals in the sediments. It's stunning when we have a clear day with the sun shining.

we had the road to ourselves most of the time... amazing experience

SALTO CHICO

We had marked sights we would like to see on our google map. We pulled up at Salto Chico, a small waterfall in the River Paine. There was a board walk from the parking . It splits both left and right, we took the straight path as the left path leads to luxury resort . Actually that left path is the short cut to the falls. Anyway we walked the scenic trail in piercing gusts of wind . The Chico falls is framed in the background by the Paine massif... the towers are visible and it's a stunning scene

The board walk leads further up and we can get on to the steep slope... no railings. We see the teal blue water thundering down close by , the glacial melt colored by the sediment minerals. One false stpe and we can join the swirling water on its way down... the wind was doing its best to assisst us to do just that!

We did not oblige... we turned back safe and sound.

we can see the luxury resort Explora in the pics below in the right under the Torres ... it's obstructing the pristine view !

When we returned we took the fork to the hotel Explora... can see the hotel in the pic below. We realized that's the short cut to reach the falls. anyway, no regrets, the longer route had such scenic views hugging the water.

we drove on

LAGO PEHOE LOOKOUT

Parked at the Lago Pehoe lookout. It's a short climb of a few steps to get awesome views.

We can see the road we drive on snaking its way hugging the water on one side, the cliff on tyhe other...

We went on the bridge over Lago Pehoe. It leads to Hosteria Pehoe. Stunning views of Cerro Paine Grande and the Cuernos del Paine [Horns of Paine]

There is a wishing well here... people have thrown coins in the water

We drove on

MIRADOR SALTO GRANDE

Salto Grande is to the left of the pic... Cerro Paine Grande and the Cuernos del Paine

We got to the trailhead of Salto Grande

quite heavy wind as shown in this meter...

we walked to the lookout fighting. the wind pushing us back. Grande falls is not much bigger than the Chico falls we had seen earlier. There is a 1 hour one way trek from here to enjoy the viws of the horns but we decided to skip it becasue of the wind

it was 5.30 pm, it had been a long day for us. The park roads are unpaved and driving through the windy steep slopes of gravel so that gravel does not hit the windshield or the body of the car is slow work..

We decided to turn back toward our hotel