Torres Del Paine

I am currently in Puerto Natales, Chile, a small town beautifully situated along the southeastern flank of the Chilean fjords. Besides its great setting, the town doesn´t offer much besides supermarkets and camping stores where tourists stock up on supplies before heading up to Torres Del Paine National Park, a 2.5 hour bus ride to the north. This park is well known for its fantastic hiking or (trekking if you like) possibilities. I will be doing a 8 day circuit of the park, about 70 miles total. This sounds like a lot but the elevation change is supposed to be minimal as the route takes you around most of the big mountains, not through them. Still, the first few days might be tough because I will have 8 days of food on my back. Like on the previous trek, I will be out of touch because of this. Though in a rather shocking sidenote, someone did tell me that there is a small portion of the hike frequented by those doing 1-2 day hikes that does offer internet access at a cabin!!! The hike should have quite a different feel overall because it is much more visited than the area outside Ushuaia where I did my first hike. Because of this, open fires are not allowed, you actually have to pay for most of the campsites, and you have to camp at designated spots, not wherever you please. Though these restrictions might limit how much of a true wilderness feel the Ushuaia hike had, these restirctions are in place for a reason. The park is supposed to be quite a beauty and the authorities are doing their best to protect it.

One other thing, as you´ve noticed I like putting wikipedia links for a lot of the places I´m visiting and things I´m seeing. Obviously I´m not doing this for everything but if you do actually have the time and interest to learn more about some of these places I´m visiting it is truly amazing the depth of listings that wiki provides. Granted most of them are rather brief and could be improved but a little bit is better than nothing. I´ll report back sometime first week of March.