Loved Los Cuernos in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine

In doing my research and planning this trip, I read we could camp at Británico. This was old information as this campground has been closed a few years. Perhaps I should have purchased a book on the park rather than scanning the internet. The closest alternative was Campamento Italiano, so that is how we ended up there. Camping at Italiano made yesterday a few hours longer, but it made for a very short day today. According to the signs, we only had to trek 2.5 hours to Los Cuernos, operated by Fantástico Sur, where we had our next accommodations reserved. As such, we slept in (at least for our standards). David heated up some water, and we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of oatmeal and coffee in our tent.

The trail to Los Cuernos led us around rock formations, along the river and through the woods. The wind was so still that the temperature felt warm. We had to break out the bug spray and the sunscreen as we donned T-shirts. Soon we arrived on the shores of Nordernskjöld Lake. Its glassy turquoise surface reflected the clouds in the sky. We just chilled on the rocky beach and admired the scenery.

After a two hour stroll up and down the rocky trail, we arrived at Los Cuernos. We arrived 30 minutes earlier than expected, so we had to wait a little while to check in, but in the mean time we enjoyed the deck and adjusted for a few unexpected items that reared their head. We thought we bought two packages of ravioli in the grocery store, but we only bought one, so we adjusted our dinner last night and opted to buy one more lunch at Los Cuernos or perhaps more provisions at Los Cuernos. The small store at Campamento Paine Grande sold pasta and the like, but we did not know if Los Cuernos did the same, so we thought requesting an extra lunch would be the best choice.

IMG_3743

We were unaware that Los Cuernos gets their food by horseback, so accommodating us was a little bit of a challenge for them, but they hooked us up. The chef prepared a hot pasta lunch topped with meat just for us. Los Cuernos did not serve a buffet style lunch as we were accustomed to at Campamento Paine Grande. Had we known this, we would have just asked for a boxed lunch like we reserved in advance for tomorrow. Our other option was to eat some of our other food and get food at the end of the W or buy some cookies and chips which were the limited options at Los Cuernos along with wine and beer! David got some wine and cookies anyway. He was insistent on carrying a bottle all the way to Torres del Paine tomorrow for New Year’s Eve!

Enough about the logistics. The staff took us up the hillside to our cabin. I planned one day of luxury during our five nights in the park, and I wanted it to be in the middle of our camping experiences. Our cabin was a treat! It was only a room, but it had a giant bed, a wood burning stove, and an incredible view through its skylights and from its porch. We were steps away from a powerful waterfall that tumbled down the cliffside and our porch looked out on Nordernskjöld Lake and Francés Glacier. If that wasn’t enough, we could look out our skylight at granite peaks and more waterfalls! And to think I suggested we could skip our reservations at the cabins to take advantage of the good weather and go straight to the Torres lookout, for which the park is named.

David thought I was crazy yesterday when I suggested to skip the cabins if the weather was good. And once he saw the hot tub, I would have been in hot water, no pun intended, if I insisted we did. Clearly, photos of the torres were more important to me than comfort, though admittedly it was really nice to enjoy the glorious weather relaxing! So it probably isn’t hard to guess that David’s first stop was the hot tub! It looked like a whiskey barrel filled with river water and a woodburning stove with a black pipe sticking up! It probably wasn’t the most sanitary hot tub with ashes and gnats on the surface of only fresh water, but at least there was a skimmer to remove any debris.

I on the other hand, do not share the same excitement as David over hot tubs. The uniqueness of this one smack dab in the middle of amazing landscape, however, called my name for a few minutes. So I joined David in the warm water (I still wasn’t in hot water). I actually liked it better than normal because it didn’t make my skin crawl like most hot tubs. I still didn’t soak long, as I wanted a hot shower! The shower house, located behind our cabins, was clean and the shower had great water pressure though the drain could have been better. Regardless, I enjoyed my first HOT shower in the park.

Los Cuernos

We lounged around for the afternoon, read, and climbed on top of the nearby waterfall. For those who have the luxury of hiking the W route at a leisurely pace, having two nights in each general area of the park is the way to go. It provides so much flexibility if the weather stinks. My limited knowledge of the park resulted in a few planning mistakes that have worked out perfectly for us so far! Though the one plan that worked out the best, is that six months ago I could not get reservations at these cabins for the prior day when I wanted them so I reversed our entire trip. In hindsight, this made getting bus transportation more difficult, but it also saved us from being in the park during the snow storm and missing everything! We were in El Calafate and on the bus during the nasty weather. LUCKY!! I imagine the cabins wouldn’t have been quite as exciting if the weather were bad except they would have been a dry and warm place to stay.

Due to the small dining space, Los Cuernos has two seating times for meals. We chose the early dinner slot at 7. We were served chicken broth, a beef burger with hot sauce and rice that I didn’t find terribly appetizing, but then again we didn’t have to cook. We sat next to a tour group at the community tables. They were hiking the opposite direction of us. They hiked up to the Torres del Paine yesterday from Hotel Torres located in the valley. They said it was steep, and when we told them we were back packing up to Campamento Torres, a free campsite operated by the park only an hour from the lookout, they suggested we were in for a long day. The Aussies we met in Puerto Natales said the same thing. This conversation left me feeling a little nervous about tomorrow. The forecast also called for clouds, so I suggested to David that we could stop at the camping in the valley not far from the Hotel Torres at the Torre Central and Torre Norte Refugios operated by Fantástico Sur if we felt bad and the weather was bad as we had the next two days to see the Torres del Paine. David thought we could handle the elevation change, but we planned to play it by ear. ETB

For David’s map and corresponding pictures, click here: map of our hike

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Valle del Francés in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine

We arose early today. It’s not hard to do given it’s light at 5am. The moon lit the sky over the towers briefly before the clouds blew in. We packed up our camp and sat for the traditional South American camping breakfast. Toast, cheese, ham, oats, yogurt and surprisingly eggs that didn’t look like grits (yesterday was the first time we were served eggs for breakfast, but their texture was strange).

We turned in our lunch tickets for a to go box and stuffed it in our pack before we headed toward Campamento Italiano and the Valle del Francés. The wind gusted violently this morning. I was thankful to be following somewhat flat terrain through tall grass and low bushes by the lake so I could keep my balance. Soon we entered a stand of dead trees. It is amazing how well leafless trees block the wind. We turned from cold to hot as the morning sun gleamed on the white trunks. Eventually the dead trees turned to live ones, and we were in and out of stunted forest.

Lago Pehoé
Nordernskjöld Lake

The path was muddy from the many waterfalls that spilled down the walls to our left into the lake on our right. Many of the boardwalks and bridges were in complete disrepair and may have been the only run down thing we’ve seen at the park thus far. Some of them looked rather dangerous. I was careful to walk on the boards with supports beams, and looked for ones that might pop up from being loose. Sometimes I just followed along the side in the mud.

Francés Glacier

After we made it around the lake and up and over the ridge, we walked through the prettiest forest yet with large trees and soon arrived at a rickety, suspension bridge over an aqua river with a fantastic view of Francés Glacier. This bridge led us to Campamento Italiano which is free and operated by the park. We filled out a form and provided our reservation tickets to the ranger before we seeked a campsite. We didn’t look long because we wanted to climb up to Británico whose trailhead begins at the camp. We found a flat spot not too far from all the amenities (a kitchen and bathrooms which were 80 yards away). Had we scouted at all, we could have found a quieter spot along the river.

our campsite at Campamento Italiano
ranger station

We set up our tent quickly, packed up our day packs and followed the trail up the Valle del Francés. Signs pointed us in the direction of Británico. Our walk took us through the campground in the woods and then along a scree path. The gentle sloping path turned steep as we exited the forest to the rocks where we enjoyed a nice view of Francés while eating part of our lunch. We were still at the bottom of the trail, and I was feeling antsy as I wanted to reach the top during the nice weather given it is so unpredictable. Though during our short stop, we did spot another ice calving.

suspension bridge

The path, peppered with location signs, crossed countless waterfalls. At times when the trail leveled out, it turned into a small stream. We trounced through the water, climbed over boulders, and wandered through more forest until we stopped again at Francés lookout. Several people had stopped here for lunch as it provided a close up view of the glacier. We didn’t stay long, but kept going toward Británico lookout. We passed through an open space with dead trees, more forest, and more rocky steep areas before we finally reached our resting point surrounded by granite towers and walls a few hours later. What a magnificent panoramic view!

Francés Glacier
Nordernskjöld Lake from Francés Lookout
Francés lookout
Francés Glacier
took three pics from left to right…this is the left side
middle
right
cloudy
clear a few hours later
Británico Lookout
bird visited us
view from Británico lookout

Lucky for us, while slightly breezy, the usually windy lookout point was rather pleasant. We hung out with a handful of hikers for a few hours as we watched the clouds shift. Each set of peaks and walls, once wrapped in clouds soon protruded into blue sky. We sure have been fortunate with the weather! Come late afternoon, we ran out of snacks so we meandered slowly back to camp. Hearing several thunderous booms in the warming day, we decided to make one more stop at the glacier and wait to see ice calve. On the way up, we saw a few poofs of snow. At our final stop, we basically saw a waterfall of ice tumble down the rocks. With that, we finished our descent. After a ten mile day, we chopped up cheese and sausage and complemented it with dried fruit and walnuts for dinner. We were asleep by 9:15! The only disappointment is neither our pictures nor my description can do this place justice. It is so beautiful! ETB

For David’s map and corresponding pictures, click here: map of our hike

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