Run-hike-runathon

Our first morning waking up in the Torres del Paine National Park was an amazingly beautiful and inspiring morning.


There was a pretty strong wind sweeping across the lake and through our campground, though.


The original agenda for this morning according to the itinerary was pretty mellow. The plan for the group was a simple hike from Pehoe to the Italian Camp and back. I read the map as saying this was a 5.5K hike that would take around 2 hours. Now, even had our group been way out of shape this seemed like a glacial pace for a hike that had no real elevation gain. So, when I awoke in the morning, I decided the best thing to do would be to pre-run the trail before breakfast to get an idea if this was really a valid estimate (and to get in a decent workout if it really was all we did). Somewhere around 35 minutes into the run I knew something was up as even if my pace estimate on this nice rolling hill trail was WAY off, I should have been at the camp by then. Somewhere around 48 minutes I arrived. I quickly used the facilities and high tailed it back towards Pehoe as I didn't want to miss breakfast! I finished the run a little over an hour and 38 minutes feeling that the map must have been way off and it might take closer to two hours for the hike than I originally thought. Well, they happened to have a map at the entrance to the refuge which showed very clearly that the trail between Pehoe and Campo Italiano was 7.6K and not the 5.5K which I somehow read. Anyway, it was an excellent run and I was primed for my pre-hike breakfast.

Hiking a trail that you have just previously run is actually a pretty good way to do it in my opinion. When I run a trail, I obviously don't get to take in all of the sights, but I catch enough of a glimpse here and there to make quick mental notes like "wow...that's cool...check that out..." This way, when I return to hike the trail I can take a more leisurely pace and really look forward to enjoying all the views I previously only glimpsed.




Our hike to the Italian Camp was excellent. We especially enjoyed watching various small avalanches on the upper snow fields and catching more and more amazing views of the lakes.




Just before Italian Camp there is this great swinging bridge that is only supposed to have 2 people on it at a time. This spans a glacier fed river that runs down to the lake. This river is the also marks the entrance to the French Valley.



We made Italian Camp in around 1.5 hrs and everyone was enjoying the excellent weather and feeling good. We decided to continue up to British Camp which would add another 10K round trip. This section also included some decent elevation gain and even more amazing view points. The further up we went the bluer the lakes looked, the stronger the rivers ran and the more majestic the mountains seemed to be.







Just before British Camp there is a great open rocky plane that has incredible 360-degree views.





We then entered the woods which is were the rather primitive campground is located.



There was some debate amongst the group about continuing on to an even further viewpoint. It seemed like most of the group was ready to head back so Robin and I decided to make a run of it. He hadn't gotten a run in that day and I was game for making it a big day. We ran most of the way down (some sections are not runnable or not safely runnable).

It turns out that some of the group did continue on to the final viewpoint while others headed back after Robin and I. The viewpoint was also said to be even more amazing, but I had no regrets. I'd had my fill for the day. Running, hiking, and then running again in the most beautiful land my eyes had ever seen. I was content to just sit and relax the rest of the afternoon.

Final talley:
Morning run: ~15.2K
Hike to Campo Britanico: ~13.2K
Run back from Britanico: ~13.2K
TOTAL: 41.6K

Just shy of a marathon. I thought about doing a couple laps around camp to make it complete, but somehow a cold beer and some quiet time with my journal seemed a better end to the day.

Here we go...

OK, its time to head to Paine National Park and my blog entries will be more pictures than words. Many pictures because there is no way to convey the beauty that is Paine in words. Even the photos are just pale images of the true beauty of the park. But first we had to get there.

There are two ways to go to the park from Puerto Natales, by land or by sea (really lake). To keep with the theme of this trip, the Gap Adventures itinerary takes the water route. We started on a small lake boat from the same port were we disembarked the Navimag. The trip was quite lovely and included great views of the surrounding mountains and waterfalls.


We also enjoyed the views of a number of glaciers including this first one which was a hanging glacier who's name I forget.


Approaching the glacier we also obtained our first view of the Paine Massif in the distance. These are not the towers (los torres), but rather los cuernos that you can see.


The boat brought us right up to the glacier and it was amazing.


The close-up shots even more so.






After a bit longer the boat docked and we all got off for another glacier viewing that required a little bit of hiking.


I believe this is Serrano Glacier which feeds into a small lake. The ice flow in front of the glacier into the lake was really cool.


The glacier itself was nothing to sneeze at either. Here's the obligatory "I was there" shot.


And then the close-up of the glacier.


After the glacier mini-hike we headed back to the boat. But rather than boarding for launch we grabbed our stuff and all piled into a Zodiac raft to head across the lake.




When we docked for lunch we were all a bit surprised by the rather lush accommodations that had been made for lunch. This was no picnic of ham and cheeze sandwiches. We enjoyed a nice sit-down lunch on white table clothes which included a glass of wine or beer with the meal.


Glacier viewing was also included from the lunch locale.


After lunch things got a bit more adventurous as we were to head back into the Zodiac and go upriver.


A cold, glacier-fed river with some bits of rough water required donning the appropriate apparel.


Apparently, the color is in case you fall in so they can find you and fish you out before hypothermia sets in. Still, I felt more like I was heading to Siberia than Patagonia.


Nonetheless, this crew of orange-clad adventurers headed out on our hearty vessel.


We did get a few splashes at times and somehow some of us still managed to get wet beneath our alien contamination suits. But we didn't do anything too rough. We tried encouraging the captain to go up this little waterfall, but no doing.


Just before finishing the raft trip, Paine came into view. And what a view it was!


From the rafts we took a short bus trip to another lake called Pehoe. From here we caught a catamaran which took us across this very blue lake below the Paine Massif.




The very pleasant surprise was to find that these amazing mountains and towers would be the view we would enjoy from our first campground.


We took a short little walk up to the start of the hike we would be doing the next day. As you can see, I am absolutely beaming with excitement.


Our guide explained to us what the hike would entail and some options we had if we made good time and were interested in going further. Our guide, Tadeo, is in the middle of the group photo below. He was only 24, but has been hiking these mountains since he was 14.


This first night camping was right along the shore of Lake Pehoe which you can see at sunset below. It had a nice refuge and a cafeteria. While we stayed in 2-man tents we were far from roughing it. Our group had its own little private dining area and we had Pisco, wine and beer along with cheese and other appetizers at night. Ah...the life!

Arrival in Puerto Natales

The final day on the Navimag was arrival in Puerto Natales. However, first we had to pass through the White Channel which is the narrowest channel that the ship passes through. The view from the edge is hard to convey in picture but it is amazing to see the land so close moving on a ship this size.


You can get a little better sense of the narrowness from the rear view of the ship.


After the narrows, we came around a bend and could finally see the mountains of the southern Patagonia region. My excitement grew immediately. I really do love the mountains.


After this we arrived in Puerto Natales. It isn't a particularly exciting town, but it is the gateway to the Torres del Paine. Natales feels like a definite backpacker/mountaineer sort of tourist town. Filled with outdoor shops and hostels. It really didn't matter what this town held. We were almost there! The Torres await.

Shipwrecks, Puerto Eden, Glaciers

After next day on the Navimag started to get a bit more interesting. It started with a wakeup call from the Capitan as he announced that we would be passing a famous shipwreck. Apparently, this ship had run into some rather shallow land bar or some such. It was a pretty impressive, if eerie site.


The main highlight of the day, however, was our arrival in Puerto Eden. This is a little fishing village on an island in the middle of the Chilean Fjords.


It is also the home to the last Kawesqar community which were a nomadic people who traveled via canoe and populated much of the area at one time.


The really great thing about Puerto Eden is that we were able to get off the boat and walk around a bit. The only way around the island is via these little wooden walkways.


Since it is an island community, all of the supplies are brought in by boat. I was luck enough to catch some of the locals stocking up on the back side of the island.


What are they stocking you may ask? Well, they aren't that primitive. They have a nice new post office, a really well built school for the children and, of course, a lovely supermarket/liquor store.


Later in the day we arrived at the Pio XI Glacier. This is part of the southern ice field and the biggest glacier in South America. As we approached the glacier, everybody donned warm clothes and went up on deck for the view.


As we drew closer to the glacier we started to spot ice bergs in the water.


It also became colder and colder. You really get a sense for how glaciers create their own micro-climate.


Once we were close enough we all had to get out in front of the glacier for pictures. Here's Erin and Sarah doing the "it's cold out here" pose.


Of course, I had to get into the action as well.

Enter the Navimag

Well, the second day in Puerto Montt was really just preparation for boarding the Navimag, the famous boat "cruise" through the Chilean Fjords. This is clearly no luxory cruise trip, but rather a commercial ferry that transports goods and people in rather bare bones style down the southern coast of Chile.


No mind, this trip was certainly not about luxury accommodations. However, the hearty group of travelers with whom I found myself brought their own style, toasting our departure with Champagne from plastic cups on the top deck.


Given that our pre-boarding shopping trip consisted mostly of bottles upon bottles of wine, this would be an interesting trip even if the sites weren't fantastic. And, in fact, it was mostly overcast for much of the boat trip and we even received a fair bit of rain while on board. However, this was just fine as there wasn't much to do outside on this small ship and expending our bad weather mojo on board assured that we had near perfect weather for the remainder of the tour.


Inside there was a decent sized cafeteria where they also showed movies and documentaries. There was also a small bar where seats were always at a premium. We ended up playing lots of cards in the bar area and tried to always keep someone on site to reserve our precious spots. I think I learned about a half dozen new card games some of which can be played with up to 8 people.


Aboard ship I really started to get to know my fellow travelers. Here are my impressions:

Alan and Sarah (British couple, Alan has headphones on in the rear left, Sarah is facing away wearing a hat) - Alan is soft-spoken, gentle and tends to understate things. OK, so you can't hear the tone of dripping sarcasm over the Internet, but you get the idea. Really a great guy underneath it all, but is still searching for his "feminine side". Sarah is truly a sweet English Rose, but behind the lilting voice, warm heart and soft demeanor lies a soldier who can fire a sniper's rifle. Both are nurses and have performed relief work and military service in such "peaceful" locales as the Falklands, Pakistan and Afghanistan. I think that Sarah's alter ego is either photographer (she must have taken a couple thousand photos during the trip) or veterinarian (she seemed compelled to help any and all stray dogs in Argentina and Chile which is a LOT!) Alan's alter ego is clearly to be a singer in a musical as he definitely has the voice and loves to ham it up.

Ben and Rachel (Ben is in the middle back of picture and Rachel is facing away wearing black&white jacket) - Another British couple, though not (yet) married despite much egging on by the group for Ben to "pop the question" on board the ship. The two of them have been traveling since the start of the year and are on an around-the-world ticket. They had already been to Japan, Australia and New Zealand among other places. They also continued on to the Galapagos after our tour was over. They are both around 30 which means at their age I was working 80-90 hrs/week in a start-up and had never taken a vacation longer than 2 weeks! Ben's alter ego is definitely card shark. He seems to know every card game ever invented and a half dozen variations on each. Rachel is not quite as easy to peg, though I will say that despite all her pre-stated trepidations about the hikes, she didn't miss a step once time came to hit the trails. I'm gonna go out on a limb and call her alter ego "power hiker" :-).

Klemens and Valerie ("The Swiss" sitting together in the lower left corner above) - If anyone is going to belie the stereotype of the stern, reserved Swiss it is these two. Valerie is warm and friendly (especially to stray dogs to whom she only served the highest quality of fresh sausages). Klemens was probably the funniest one of the entire group and really put the supposedly unrivaled British wit to shame with his incredible sense of humor. Klemens is traveling on a sabbatical from work as he somehow convinced his boss that he needed to travel around South America to learn Spanish in order to further his career in engineering. Valerie was simply on vacation, though being Swiss I think they both pick up languages faster than the rest of us learn a new card game. I would say Valerie's alter ego is definitely animal rescue worker. Klemens has already made plans to open the first Swiss International Offshore Bank of Puerto Edan (see next post) and was actively recruiting clients and investors from the group. Of course, both of them also have side jobs as Swiss ambassadors of good will and chocolates which they doled out on a daily basis.

Erin (Dark hair, just beyond Sarah's hat) - My fellow American and fellow computer nerd. Also the only other one taking a "mere" three week vacation. She is from the Seattle area and works at...yes, you guessed it...Microsoft. But, please, don't hold it against her :-). Erin is a true Pac-NW spirit and definitely into the outdoors. Outside of the research labs of the world's biggest software company she is an avid hiker and mountaineer/climber in training.

Robin (Can just see his head behind Rachel) - Yet another Brit! Robin is my fellow runner. Or, rather, I should say that he is the runner of the group because next to him I am a slow, plodding jogger. He is the cheez half (along with Alan) of the singing duo "Hamon y Queso". His 2:45 marathon PR clearly seems to indicate the direction of his alter ego. However, I think his nickname of Sir. Robin may tilt the hidden talent in a more royal direction.

Nigel (Very rare for Nigel not to be in picture though look around the site as his cleanly shaven skull is unmistakable) - Nige is an Australian who has been living in London working as a civil engineer for (I believe) an architectural firm. He was another one on the extended travel itinerary, taking time off after leaving his job to head back down under and work on his MBA. He has been all over South America and this was the tail end of his trip. Nigel lived up to his heritage and did nothing to dispel the stereotype of his countrymen as he was alway the first to hit the bar with beer time starting as early as 11am. Nigel was the first person I met on my trip and I found I got on well with his laid-back, easy-going personality. Were it not for the funny accent he could definitely hail from Cali. While he mostly played basketball as a youth, I'm gonna have to call Nigel's alter ego a cricket player. He definitely took joy in demonstrating his bowling technique as he taunted the English over the spanking the Aussies were giving the Brits in the Ashes Series.

Oana (Not pictured and not surprising, though you can see her standing behind me in the "toasting" picture up further) - Oana is Romanian by birth, but is from Germany. While she at first came across as a bit aloof and reclusive, once you got her one-on-one she was a good person to talk with and definitely has her own very dry sense of humor. In the end she almost seemed the saddest to see our (by then) close knit group of friends each go their separate ways. She definitely had her ideas about how things should be run which is why I think I will give her the alter ego of "tour leader". I say that with a grin that I hope she will understand. The thing I will remember most about Oana is how, even though she was always the last one to arrive at every checkpoint during the hikes, she always had the biggest smile on her face. It was a smile that seemed to say quite simply "I am happy to be here and that's all that matters". I've also never seen anyone quite so excited at seeing her luggage come round on a baggage carousel.

Well, that's our group. You'll probably see more of them throughout my pictures if I ever finish posting them all.