11/30: Phenomenal Hikes at Patagonia's Torres del Paine NP!

This was our very pricey four-bed room at the lodge just outside the southern entrance to Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia. Fortunately, we had the room to ourselves both nights as a roommate decided he didn't want a bunk so was given another room - phew!

Almost totally clear views at Mirador Serrano: 

A view of Pampa Lodge where we'd planned to stay for three nights until we realized how long the drive would be to the airport on the park's dirt roads. We were lucky to be able to switch our reservations around and spend two nights inside the park and the last one back here as it was about 45 minutes closer to the airport which was still three hours away from here, if and only if there was no construction on the poor roads.

When somebody describes something as 'breathtaking,' the views from Puente Weber or Weber Bridge surely must be the definition! The water really was that perfect Caribbean blue - my camera wasn't playing tricks.

Many serious hikers come to Torres Del Paine to do the famous 'W' trek which takes several days as they travel from hut to hut. That was way too ambitious for us. The Mirador Condor hike sounded far more our style as it was only described as 'medium difficulty.' The hike certainly looked pretty benign from the starting point.

The hike started off gently enough in the flat but ascended quickly as you can see. It wasn't cold at all but there was a very strong wind that made it more challenging. 

The mountain flowers were the icing on the cake as far as I was concerned.

I was so happy to have the trekking poles given me by the wonderful  Taiwanese couple who had been our companions at every meal on our just completed four-day Patagonia cruise.

Lago or Lake Pehoe in the background:

This space between the hills was certainly one of the windiest spots we've ever faced. It was very hard to stand upright, the wind was that bad.

The trek wasn't arduous but wouldn't be one I 'd like to repeat often in those windy conditions.

The mini or false summit!

Finally a little further on was the spectacular summit of Mirador Condor but there were no condors to be seen! I remember thinking as my picture was being taken, I was glad I was no closer to the edge as a strong gust could easily take me right off the top. We'd only ever experienced such fierce winds once before and that was a year ago in northern Spain.

Once we reached the bottom after about two hours and walked over to the Lake Pehoe Lookout, a sign indicated the lake was regarded as the heart of the park. Another explained why it was that phenomenal blue-green color. Transparency is one of the characteristics of water but there are elements that allow us to see colors in it like microorganisms, algae, bacteria and sediments. These elements that are imperceptible to the human eye, can, in large concentrations, 'dye' the water green, white, brown and even red.

Lakes and lagoons are full of microorganisms which are full of the basis of planktonic food chains which are critical for the ecology of the species. A neighboring lake, Lago Grey, looked the color of its name because of glacial sediments but Lake Pehoe's clear waters allowed light to penetrate easily. 

Though both lakes were fed by glacial melting and the melting thaw was transparent, the lakes were nourished by other organisms and sediments which caused each lake's color. 

The next day we'd be staying for two nights at Hosteria Pehoe on the island in the almost too beautiful to believe Lago Pehoe. As you can see, the hosteria was only accessible by the footbridge!

Lago Nordenskjold was a lake a little further along the road from Lago Pehoe.

Salte Grande Waterfall was visible from across Lake Pehoe.

If you click on the photo, you'll see the sign says Fuertos ventos or 'heavy winds.' Believe me, they were NOT kidding as, once again, we encountered some terrifically strong winds!

This was the first time I'd ever heard of a wind danger sign. Am I the only one to have only seen fire danger signs like this?

We could only figure the strong winds had caused the signs to fall down.

Initially we'd only planned to walk to the Salte Grande Waterfall Lookout but then figured we may as well hike up to Mirador Los Cuernos a good ways further. The waterfalls were no Niagara or Iguazu Falls but the lovely aquamarine color made these very special.

The waterfalls over the Paine River had an impressive flow per second of an equivalent of 1000 ten-minute showers or 100,000 one-liter water bottles!

This part of the national park was constantly hit by strong winds. That was because when a current of wind or water crosses a narrow valley between mountains, it accelerates and can double its speed and even be in excess of 120 km per hour. As the same thing also happens in the depressions of hills and mountain passes, we needed to be extra vigilant there, too.

I am not absolutely sure but I think the 2600 meter-high mountain in the middle was called Cuerno Principal and Cuerno Norte was 2400 meters high. The mountain range was formed by a series of magma intrusion and was composed of several types of rocks. The higher rocks or mountains were the oldest at 130 million years with the bottom ones a mere 12 million years old.

Coming across so many signs warning about the gale force winds made us realize why so many areas of the park had suffered from so many wildfires.

This was the first guanaco we'd seen in the park but we'd spotted a couple about an hour south of the park the day before.

The stunted trees were all that remained from a devastating fire that ravaged this part of the park several years ago.

Steven found an idyllic spot that was sheltered from the winds right by the lake where we rested for about an hour and just absorbed the beauty all around us.

We still had a ways to go to reach the Cuernos Lookout!

About 3:30, we arrived at the summit and another gorgeous view of the Cuernos or Horns with the sea-green lake in front. We had been fantastically lucky with the weather for both hikes that day as the forecast had called for rain in the morning which would have put a real damper (pun intended!) on things.

Oops - looked like the wind was showing my gray roots!

Yes, the fire had devastated so much of the park but there was still a raw beauty to what was left. 

Seeing these shots I took at 9, an hour before sunset from our lodge, it's impossible not to remember how much we fell in love with Torres del Paine National Park. We were just so thankful we had a couple more days to explore even more of one of the most beautiful places on earth we've ever visited.

Next post: More natural beauty if you can stand it!

Posted on January 14th, 2020, from a spring-like and breezy day in Denver but it was nothing like windy Patagonia!