High Sierra Topix

My wife and I traveled down to Patagonia in the second half of December and did a 9 day backpacking trip in Torres del Paine National Park. We hiked what is known as the Circuit Trek. It circumnavigates around the park and provides some really amazing views. I wrote up a full trip report with all my pictures and everything I learned, which can be accessed here: https://backpackers-review.com/trip-rep ... e-circuit/

The trek is 80 miles in length and has about 16,500 feet of elevation gain. We did at a fairly leisure pace and really enjoyed ourselves. Here are some of the highlights!

Thank you for posting the very informative TR with the wonderful pictures. Really enjoyed the shots with the wildflower fields and the peaks in the background, and the one taken at the lake near the base of Torres del Paine with the rainbow.

Great report! We were on the Argentina side of Patagonia in February and loved it.

Looks like you had reasonably good weather----as we know people who had seven days of solid rain on that trip!

Thanks for the kind comments! Yes, we were overall lucky with weather. We only got rained once or twice while hiking and got snowed on once (but the snow was kind of fun!). For the rest of the trek, it conveniently started raining after we arrived at one of the refugios or after we had set up our tent. This allowed us to be sheltered when it did the typical Patagonia sideways rain/sleet. We met several people who got stuck at the John Gardner Pass because of bad weather and it sounded like they had a terrible time with rain. They only left 2 days before us and had a totally different experience!

A great report of a magnificent place on our planet that few of us will ever get the opportunity to experience. I also liked your website. Thank you.

I read the introductory parts of your complete trip report - I'm saving the rest for later. I'm struck by the difference from our hike just 3 years earlier! We were at Torres del Paine from Dec 26-30, 2014. We hiked the "W" on the south side over 4 days. No reservations were needed for camping. We just headed out and showed up at the campgrounds, whether CONAF (free) or private. I must say that the campgrounds were crowded. Campamento Italiano in particular had about 200 tents in a few acres! Perhaps now that they are on a reservation system, they won't be as crowded?

The other difference between your hike and ours was weather. It truly is extremely variable. We had no wind for our entire trip! And only one day of rain. Lots of clouds swirling around, but they usually parted quickly to reveal the peaks. We had pretty warm weather - warm enough to hike in t-shirt and shorts a couple of days. And none of that fresh snow that we see in your photos. We ran into hikers completing the O circuit like you did who told us that the word they got was that the first three weeks of December 2014 were pretty much continuous wind-driven rain. So, you really take your chances down there in Patagonia. We lucked out. Sounds like you had reasonable weather overall. But nothing like our predictably good Sierra Nevada weather.

I must say I'm glad we did our hike at Torres del Paine. The landscape is truly spectacular, rising up 9,000 feet directly from the big lakes to the tops of the peaks. With glaciers!

-Phil

Beautiful!!

Great report. Thanks!

Yes, it seems as though they have implemented many changes in the last couple years. We heard the campsites had simply gotten too overcrowded, and the park was being damaged as a result. They seem to be enforcing the new rules fairly strictly, though the information that is out there about quotas and reservations is confusing and lacking. The most annoying rule for us was that you can only use your stoves in designated mess tents. I am not sure when they implemented this rule, but it's a bummer when you want to cook outside next to your personal tent and take in the beautiful scenery!

The weather was certainly unpredictable for us. It definitely took some getting used to! Being used to California backpacking, we were anticipating that we would be able to hang out at camp and be comfortable for several hours after dinner. Instead, we ended up going to bed early every night because we were too cold (even with multiple layers and a down jacket on)!

wildhiker wrote:I read the introductory parts of your complete trip report - I'm saving the rest for later. I'm struck by the difference from our hike just 3 years earlier! We were at Torres del Paine from Dec 26-30, 2014. We hiked the "W" on the south side over 4 days. No reservations were needed for camping. We just headed out and showed up at the campgrounds, whether CONAF (free) or private. I must say that the campgrounds were crowded. Campamento Italiano in particular had about 200 tents in a few acres! Perhaps now that they are on a reservation system, they won't be as crowded?

The other difference between your hike and ours was weather. It truly is extremely variable. We had no wind for our entire trip! And only one day of rain. Lots of clouds swirling around, but they usually parted quickly to reveal the peaks. We had pretty warm weather - warm enough to hike in t-shirt and shorts a couple of days. And none of that fresh snow that we see in your photos. We ran into hikers completing the O circuit like you did who told us that the word they got was that the first three weeks of December 2014 were pretty much continuous wind-driven rain. So, you really take your chances down there in Patagonia. We lucked out. Sounds like you had reasonable weather overall. But nothing like our predictably good Sierra Nevada weather.

I must say I'm glad we did our hike at Torres del Paine. The landscape is truly spectacular, rising up 9,000 feet directly from the big lakes to the tops of the peaks. With glaciers!

-Phil

They had the "cook only in the designated shelter" rule when we were there in 2014, too. I think it was because of the fire danger. Because it is usually so windy, the vegetation dries out quickly after any rain, and any little spark or ember can start a fire. I believe that the big fire in 2012 was caused by a campfire that got away.
-Phil