Backpacking Torres del Paine, Patagonia

I had always dreamed of backpacking the W circuit, but when it came time to actually do it, it was hard to find the information we needed. Here's a recap of our experiences - four of us went in Feb / March 2011 - starting from Punta Arenas, where we flew after a brief stop in Santiago.

A couple of notes before I start: be careful about the food you bring! The customs agents really do go through your bag (although they relied on us to point out the food), will very much fine you, and will confiscate anything that they think is suspicious. Freeze-dried packaged food was fine (we did have to open some of it, FYI) but generally nuts were not. If nothing else, please declare that you are bringing supplies into the country, as the fines are pretty hefty and someone in our party did have to pay (puppy dogs eyes and profuse apologies did not suffice.) Plan to buy supplies and fuel in either Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales.

From Santiago, the group of us flew into Punta Arenas, where we bought gas and some food supplies from the Zona Franca (Duty Free Zone; gas we found at the Baifer store which is in the mall kitty-corner from the big Sanchez y Sanchez.) Getting there can be done via cab hire (cost 3000), bus (the #8), walk (we were told about 20 min) or a cab-share program that is run. For the latter, you walk into the center of town (Magallanes Street I believe) and look for a cab with the number 15 or 20 on it. You will see people lined up at the “cab stops” for them, and just hail one down with an open seat. The cost is 350 pp. Another option is to buy supplies in Puerto Natales – I had heard that this is difficult in high season but there seemed no shortage when we visited in March.

While in Punta Arenas, we visited Isla Magallanes to see the swarms of penguins nesting there. There are multiple tours for this a day, at least one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We purchased our tickets through Comapa, a tour agency with an office right in town (cost 25,000 each). Alternatively, you can look for the Transbordadora Austral Broom tickets directly (http://www.tabsa.cl/Eng/Html/Magdalena.php#Novedades). Their boat is equal to other nice passenger ferries I’ve seen, with upholstered seats, bathrooms, and a small counter selling snacks and hot cocoa (there is no food on the island.) The two-hour (each way) boat ride is warm and boring, so bring something to do and the hour on the island can be chilly, so we were glad we had jackets and hats.

From Punta Arenas, it is simple to buy tickets to Puerto Natales (cost 4000). Go to the Bus Fernandez counter – there are multiple trips a day and you are assigned seats for the trip you want (http://busesfernandez.com/.) This is on Avenue Sanhueza near Ignacio Carrera Pinto. The bus ride to Puerto Natales is in a big passenger bus and scenic. There are no stops, so brings snacks. (There is a bathroom on board.)

In Puerto Natales, we stayed at the Keoken, where the owner was very helpful in arranging further travel, giving advice, and storing our luggage while we were gone. You can also do these things yourself; this would save cost - we know there were small markups on a couple of items - but we found it enjoyable to instead go out and see the city while he did the legwork. It was also great to have a place to store the extra baggage we had and not worry about it while we were camping.

Through him, we purchased tickets on Bus Gomez (www.busesgomez.com) to the Torres del Paine park. It’s also a big passenger bus, and takes a few hours, depending on where you are going. There are multiple stops – at the Administration office, Pudeto, and Laguna Amarga. Everyone, from multiple buses, gets off at the Administration office, where you pay your park entry fee (cost 15000.) Then for us there was a bus shuffle, with those of us going to Pudeto filing in to another bus.

Our “W” trek went as follows:
Day 1: Bus to the park, Catamaran across Lake Pehoe, and the hike from Guarderia Pehoe to Campamento Los Guardas (11km) with the quick trip to the viewpoint
Day 2: Refugio Grey to Campamento Italiano (18.6km)
Day 3: Day hike into Valle del Frances and back out, then onto Campamento Los Cuernos
Day 4:
Day 5: Pre-sunrise hike up to the Torres viewpoint, then out to Laguna Amarga for the shuttle + bus to Puerto Natales

Once you arrive at Pudeto, head down to the catamaran loading area. (There are bathrooms on the way.) You purchase tickets on the boat for the ~40 min ride, which I imagine would have been scenic had it not been raining. All bags are stored in one location so if you do want to have access to money / camera / etc, pack these in a smaller bag. The catamaran brings you to Guarderia Pehoe, where there are more bathrooms, a covered cooking area, and a ranger station. Since there’s a refugio too, there are also options to sleep there, buy food, etc. As this is a stop in/out, we found that there was extra gas there (don't count on this!) sitting in one of the covered food prep areas.

We set off pretty quickly for Campamento Los Guardas (11km hike.) Although the map lists this at about 2.5 hours, we found that to be an underestimate. We probably hiked for about 3 hours, and had stops (including a lunch) for another hour. Some of this also depends on how many photos you want to take – we didn’t stop everything for pictures but we did take a few, especially when we got high enough that you can begin to see Grey Glacier in the distance. Although we generally had great weather, it was very windy on this part of the trail. The wind isn’t bad – you’re mostly hiking on rock and solid ground, so there’s not the issue of blowing sand / dirt – but I still lost my baseball cap. This probably also depends on what size pack you are carrying; we had about 35-45 lbs on our backs, but many others (staying in the refugios) are only hiking with daypacks and blew by us.

At Refugio Grey, you pay per person to set up your tent. There is a Refugio there, and you can generally buy “snacks” – chips, cookies, whole (raw) eggs, etc. The markup is high, but not as bad as I’d expect all things considered. You can also pay for a meal plan or for individual meals, even if you’re staying in a tent. We did this day four (about $10 a person) and it was a treat to not have to set up the tent, boil water, and eat freeze-dried food.

Another option, besides hiking, (that I am not entirely sure is possible, but did hear about) is to take the Grey Glacier sightseeing boat one way to the Refugio. If this is feasible, it saves you hours of hiking. The downside is that although you’re doing the exact same trip two days in a row, I would say the way towards the glacier is generally more attractive than the reverse. And since day 2 is harder anyway (since you continue to Campamento Italiano), I would see if you could arrange to hike out to Refugio Grey and boat back. I have no idea, if even available, if the times would work for this, but it might be something worth looking into.

Another option to “treat yourself” is to forgo the tent and stay at the Refugio. This would change your trekking of the W – our route involved some campsites without Refugios – but generally seemed like a pretty pleasant affair, if you are willing to spend the money. I do admit to being jealous of the hikers (carrying day packs!) that sped by us as we hauled tent, stove, food, etc up the same paths. The Refugios have showers (warm water too – I wish I had known this) that even tenters can use, so bring some soap, flip flops, and a quick-dry towel. If you do stay at the Refugio, I would pack lightly; there’s really no need for a big pack, as they’ll prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner for you, and you’ll move much quicker. The meals packed also seem fairly healthy, fyi - on more than one occassion we passed people eating fresh carrots or fruit provided as their snack.

Day two takes you from Grey to Italiano, passing by Pehoe en route. There are beautiful views, especially just after Pehoe as you pass along the lakes. A great spot for a break is when you walk along Lake , where the scenery changes dramatically from earlier in the day and it’s peaceful to sit on the rocks lining the water. Campamento Italiano is tent only and was a mess when we went; with the toilets broken and people being pretty disgusting with their liberal interpretation of the rules. Please people! If you need to use the bathroom in the woods, do it away from the water and pack out your TP!

We left our tent up at Italiano while we hiked into Valle del Frances on day three. This hike was harder than we anticipated in the beginning, mostly due to the terrain on our we-haven’t-been-hiking-all-winter knees. I would suggest bringing poles. Before the viewpoint, the area clears, and you can sit and watch the avalanches on . It’s a great spot for lunch. After getting back and packing up our things, we continued on to Los Cuernos.

Day four was the roughest day because it was the hottest and sunniest and the hike is mostly exposed the entire day. Take the opportunities to rest in the shade when they come up and you are warm, because they’re not always frequent in parts. En route, there is a turnoff for a shortcut to take you around Laguna Amarga which shaves hiking time off (you’ll appreciate it) and is less busy.

More to come...

Greece

I've been so busy, that it's only now that I'm posting pictures from May. Yikes! So, rather than wait and maybe never post about this trip, here's at least something - we'll call it the condensed version. :o)

At the very end of April, Phil and I flew back east to celebrate Patty and Chris tying the knot. After a wonderful weekend, he flew to Michigan (to work, poor thing!) while I met up with Simone, her sister Melanie, and her friend Angela in Greece for a week, before heading off to London.

I caught up with them on Mykonos, one of the popular Greek Islands. That first day, the weather was cool and damp, I was exhausted from flying almost the entire day prior, and Angela was still recovering from a bout of food poisioning (caught in their previous stop, Turkey.)

So to start, the three of us (minus Angela) walked around town a bit, checked out the shops, and generally relaxed. It's pretty - but not cheap! There also weren't a lot of people around, and even when we went out at night, we found it wasn't as busy as we expected - perhaps it was still a little off-season?













The next day, we rented a car and drove around the island - checking out the interior and (most importantly :o)) the beaches. We went to Elia, Paradise, and... Super Paradise. Gorgeous!

On our final day, we ferried over to Delos for the morning:












The beautiful harbor in Mykonos:

The same day, we took an afternoon ferry ride from Mykonos over to Santorini, a picturesque island that formed out of a volcano. Here, we stayed at a little guesthouse that had the most amazing views.

From our balconey...







The first evening, we went out to a cozy restaurant for Italian food and had a large dinner. Unfortunately, as safe as this sounds, it gave Melanie and I food posioning (all night), and we spent the next day recovering.

Her and I only had one day to really see the island, which was a shame. But, so is life.

The four of us, outside the hotel:

Our next, and final stop, was Athens.

Changing of the guard:















Around the Acropolis...

And, just for kicks, Olympic Stadium:

Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, and Temecula (visting Danielle in California)

Danielle (my sister) was in southern California for January and February, so I decided to fly down and spend some quality sister-time with her. At least, that was the original reason, but by the time I was packing, it was clear that flying out of chilly Seattle and into seventy-degree weather wasn't a bad thing, either!

I arrived late Friday night, not realizing how small Long Beach airport is (hint: backage claim is outside.) That night, we slept at Kam's house and Saturday morning we drove out to Palm Springs. We were way too early to check-in at the Pepper Tree Inn, so we walked down Palm Canyon Drive a few blocks to the Blue Coyote Grill, grabbing lunch and delicious rasberry margaritas.

When we returned, it was still early for checkin, but the weather was great and the hotel property looked amazing. We changed into bikinis, soaked in the sun, and tested out the heated swimming pool and hot tub. Jealous yet?

On Sunday, we woke up early and drove out to Joshua Tree National Park.

The sky was sunny, but the morning was also cool and extremely windy, aborting our first hike attempt (up Ryan Mountain.) Instead, we drove through the park to Keys View lookout and then down Pinto Basin Road. We stopped to marvel at the ever-present and quirky Joshua trees as well as the interesting rock structures that have formed over millions of years.


Here's a close-up of a Joshua tree:

As one moves from northwest to southeast in the park, you actually cross over from the Mojave Desert to the Colorado Desert, and the incidence of Joshua trees dramatically decreases. Around this switch lies the Cholla Cactus Garden, where Bigelow (jumping) cholla cactus concentrate. We stopped to walk along the nature path and get close, but not too close, to these prickly plants.

After the Cholla garden, we continued along Pinto Basin Road towards the southern exit. At the Cottonwood Visitor Center, we detoured to the Cottonwood Springs area.

Luckily, both a decrease in wind and an increase in weather made for much better hiking, and we set out for Mastodon Peak. After climbing to the high-point, we continued on to Lost Palms Canyon, for a total of about 8 miles roundtrip!

Upon returning that evening, we were pretty tired, but managed to stumble into Hamburger Mary's, where (amusingly) neither of us actually had a hamburger. Still, the meal was enjoyable!

The next morning, we took one last walk through Palm Springs before we headed out. How I miss that weather!

To drive to Temecula, we used back roads, which ended up taking more time than expected. We were relieved when we arrived, and had fun stopping at a few wineries to try out the goods. I love wine, so obviously this was a real sacrifice for me.

Finally, we ended up at Ponte, where Danielle and Kam (newly engaged) had been thinking about having their wedding. We ate lunch on site (delicious) and toured the scenic grounds - I've included some of the photos I took below. Ultimately, after meeting with the events coordinator and reviewing dates, we put down a deposit! I'm very excited, I think it's the perfect place.

Disney World

M-I-C, K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E.
I'll admit it: I was a little skeptical when Phil brought up the possibility of a long weekend in Florida, to be spent entirely at Disney World. Images of screaming children, long lines, and fried foods kept creeping into my head. But I went - his father had just had a birthday and, as he would be in Florida already for a conference, had decided to check out mouse headquarters. We would fly down and surprise him there to celebrate. And that sounded like fun.

Friday night we boarded a red-eye (a connecting flight at that!) and finally arrived in Orlando around 9:30am. Luckily, the Disney "magic" started immediately. We literally walked off the plane, out of security, and to the Disney counter. They took our baggage claim stickers, put us on a bus, and took us to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we had reservations. It was too early for check-in, but we were still given keys (which also serve as credit cards) and general information. We hopped on a bus to the Animal Kingdom, where we spent the nice few hours. On the bus return, we called to get our room number (negating the need to stand in line at checkin again) and upon arrival, our bags were patiently waiting for us, already in the room. I can't begin to describe how wonderful it was to not have to deal with baggage claim, especially after such a long flight.

The Animal Kingdom Lodge was gorgeous, with high ceilings, a huge and open great room, fire pits along one side, and beautiful decorations.

Spending Saturday at the Animal Kingdom park was perfect - Phil's parents were already there, and it's on the smaller size (great for when you're exhausted from flying all night.) We walked around, especially within Asia and Africa, checking out the Tree of Life, a tour with the Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Expedition Everest.

We also ate lunch, where I was pleased to find out that Disney serves food that's above the standard amusement park fare. Turkey wraps, carrot sticks, grapes, and tomato salad were all in that first meal - and the options we found there were indicative of the menus across Disney. Yum!

Of course, we also met up with Phil's parents and were able to surprise his father (who did not know we were going to be there.) It was wonderful.

For dinner that night, we ate at the Lodge while catching up with his parents, and then woke early on Sunday to visit Epcot. Arriving early at the park was the best way to avoid lines: between 9am and 10am, you could easily do 2-3 rides, whereas a few hours later, you'd be lucky to get one ride in. So that's what we did - the four of us walked in as the park opened and immediately raced for the popular rides in Future World.

That morning we were able to ride/see Test Track, Soarin', Mission Space, "Honey, I shrunk the audience", and even the Seas w/ Nemo and Friends! We also went on the Spaceship Earth ride, which showed just how far rides have come in the last few decades.

We spent the afternoon walking around the World Showcase, checking out the different country exhibits and rating them. We began with Norway's ride Maelstrom - where visitors board a Viking-style boat and travel along in a convulated story with trolls and fjords. Afterwards, there is a film about Norway. Perhaps if the film had been wonderful, the ride would have appeared folksy and quaint, but instead the film jerked around from one scene to the next in an "artistic" but not quite successful fashion.

China, our next stop, had an amazingly intricit building, which lead into a 360 degree movie room. Here a Circle-Vision film about the county was shown, and although the film might have been older, you would have never known it. We left wanting to visit China! This was probably one of the most successful exhibits, and later that evening we also caught Chinese acrobats performing outside.

We continued around the World Showcase Lagoon, checking out most countries as we went past, eating (and watching belly-dancing) in Morocco, and watching Canada's Circle Vision film as well. If you think Canada has a lot of birds, does not contain Quebec, and is sort of "off", then this is the movie for you! After we had been around the lagoon once, Phil's parents left for the Magic Kingdom, while Phil and I went back to see Mexico, drink wine in Italy, and stroll around Paris. We had a great time, and visiting Epcot was definately one of the highlights of my trip.

When you stay inside the Disney park, you qualify for extended magic hours; even though it was almost 9pm, we left Epcot and headed to the Magic Kingdom (against traffic - yay!) The two of us met Phil's parents there, grabbed a bite to eat, and hit up the rides we were interested in: Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and - of course - Space Mountain and "it's a small world." We all had fond memories of riding Space Mountain years ago, although I must admit it's gotten a little less scary over time. ;o)

On Monday, we awoke early and headed to Disney / MGM studios for our last day. Although the rides in all the parks were good, especially because Disney really nails the immersive details, I liked the rides here the best. The Rock 'n' Roll roller coaster and the Tower of Terror were the most adreneline pumping (which I love), and we also had fun on the "One Man's Dream" tour, the voyage of the little mermaid, Star Tours, and Phil's favorite, Muppet Vision 3D. The only disappointments were the Narnia journey (thrown together and more of a trailer than anything else) and the Great Movie Ride, the latter only an issue because our guide had a slightly screetchy voice.

As we were leaving, a parade of characters began floating by, motivating us to stop and watch. That night, we ate dinner at the Lodge again, which was a wonderful way to end the trip. Such fun!

New camera

I finally bought a digital SLR! After months of pining away (and drooling every time my coworker Eugene came in with yet another amazing photo,) I broke down after the holidays, found a good price, and plugged in my credit card number.

And now I am the proud owner of a Canon 350D (otherwise known as the digital rebel xt.)

Two initial observations:

1. It's a good thing I initially deceived myself into thinking the camera would be the big purchase, because this could be just the beginning of a love that threatens to suck every last penny out of my bank account. No, the camera isn't cheap. But that pales in comparison to the sum of the accessories I'll ultimately want: a wide-angle lens, polarizer, macro lens, extra batteries and CF cards, carrying case, cleaning kit... oh, and a new computer to digitally edit the images on.

2. My cats probably already hate this new toy. Why? Because they are the perfect models for me to practice on. "Oh, isn't Clark cute when he sleeps like that?" Click, click. Flash of light. "Wait, let me try it this way!" Another click, another flash. Don't get me wrong - I feel little guilt. The boy gets to (and does) sleep a good 80% of the day. But I'm sure they'll grow weary of having a big black box shoved in front of their face only to be blinded by the light that it emits next. In fact, Clark already is learning to close his eyes when he hears the camera auto-focus...