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Twelve days toughing it out in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, Chilean Patagonia. A diary extract with photographs from Thursday 18th February to Monday 1st March 1999.

Legends of the Park [1]

Matthew
2005-11-02 17:21:10

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A Stooped Start [Feb 18th 1999]

A month on the road, it has been exactly 31 days since leaving Sydney and we find ourselves in Puerto Natales, southern Chile at 5:30am, preparing to leave for a two week hiking expedition in a national park. We're getting damn good at this packing lark - up early, get the tea and coffee brewed, couple of bowls of cornflakes, pack all the bags then dismantle the tent - and all in the pouring rain. At 7:00am a dusty, rickety old coach arrives full of other hikers - the transport doesn't look as if it will make it to the end of the street let alone a two and a half hour ride to the park, but the obligatory picture of Jesus Christ is hanging by the driver's seat so I guess we'll be fine. (This bus has been endorsed as 'safe' by the Catholic church - God bless all those who ride in it.) It seems the closer we get to the park the more the road deteriorates and the more bumpy and jerky the ride becomes. Trying to look at the scenery is difficult as the windows are filthy but I could slowly begin to make out a series of snow-capped peaks in the distance obscured by bursts of driving rain in a strong gusty wind.

We soon arrived at the starting point of the circular, anti-clockwise route we had decided upon over a few drinks in a café. After registering our names and details with a park ranger at Laguna Amarga we started the massive twenty kilometre trek to our first campsite "Seron". Twenty kilometres wouldn't normally be put in the "massive" category but bearing in mind the amount of equipment, food, fuel and water we're carrying it was pretty tough. Throughout the day the only thing the weather could make up its mind about was the wind, which was constantly gusting in all directions. Now and again the sun would show its face for a maximum of ten minutes at a time, only to be replaced by rain that ranged from a bleak drizzle to a furious torrent. The ...