After having breakfast at 7:00am [this is when breakfast starts], I made my way onto Highway 9 to visit Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. I went from Highway 9 and drove passed a truck that had flipped over at least once with debris all around the vehicle. After driving through a little community, Cerro Castillo, that had a round-a-bout that you can either go to Argentina border or continue around loop to go to Torres del Paine. This section of Highway 9 between Cerro Castillo and the park was under repair and had many sections of the pavement converted to gravel to be repaved eventually. A short distance from the park entrance Highway 9 changed to Route Y-156 as this section was under heavy construction and this was the only one main road into the park [The Porteria Lago Sarmiento Park entrance and road Y-150 was closed]. At what seemed to be the main part of construction, a huge herd of Guanaco’s were right beside the road. I pulled over to take a few pics. One Guanaco was quite angry and chasing another around quite a distance. First they ran across in front of my vehicle and after taking a few pics the angry Guanaco was still chasing the other and ran right behind my vehicle. Talk about fast moving and aggressive!
I continued down Route Y-156 which would eventually take me directly to Porteria Laguna Amarga park entrance. Along the way I stopped at Laguna Amarga to take a photo of the lake with the Las Torres Mountains in the background.
A short distance down this road I arrived at the entrance to pay the fee. There were a large number of buses and people lined up for over a block! I started to drive between the buses and the line up and was stopped by a park attendant. She took my information, filled out a form and told me to park up ahead. She also stated for me to go directly in and not wait in the lineup. There were 3 parts that you have to do to at this office. First, the form is filled out, then you line up to pay in the office cubicles and lastly you go to third section to have park entrance stamped and a map of area given. As indicated before, the pass is good for 3 consecutive days. I was so glad I did not have to wait in the line up.
Now in the park and continuing along Route Y-156 I stopped along the way to take a few mountainscape photo’s along with a lonely Guanaco on the side of the mountain.
I then continued along and stopped at the Mirador Nordenskjold viewpoint for a few more photos. Such magnificent views along the way.
I eventually made my way to Zona Pudeto. Parking in the lot I did a hike of 0.6km to a waterfall along the path.
I continued another 2.3km to Mirador Cuernos and just before reaching the end of the hike there were some Guanaco’s on the hilltop. These were some of my favourite Guanaco photos as I captured baby Guanaco and Momma Guanaco kissing each other.
I went over the crest of the hill to see such a beautiful site! In the foreground was Lago Nordenskjold with Frances Glacier, Cuernos del Paine Mountain and Almitante Nieto Mountains in the background. When the sun came out between the clouds the water turned a beautiful aqua color. I sat on a rock, enjoyed the view and ate my snack with water. You could hear the calving of the Ice from the glacier that sounded like thunder … amazing!
Making my way back to the car, I stopped to take a few more photos along the path including the old tree in Lago Nordenskjold [near one end of this lake] with the mountains in the background.
You could hear the thunderous roar of the glacier calving. Approximately half way back on the trail, two people were taking pictures of what I thought was plant life. As I got closer their cameras were pointed down but in my direction. At that moment, coming around the bend on the path towards me was an armadillo! I sat down my backpack and took out my camera. I quickly turned around and the armadillo went a little ways off the path and started to eat.
After taking a few photo’s, the armadillo came down and ran by me to a little mound it had dug out in the side of the bank.
Not knowing if it had young ones inside its den, I grabbed my gear and left the area. After returning to the car, I prepared a lunch before continuing my journey.
It is approximately 3:00pm, and I made my way a little further down the road. Pehoe Lake ran parallel to the road. I stopped in a parking lot and walked halfway across a bridge that went to a hospital and Pehoe hostel which were on an island. I took a few photo’s here and then drove a few hundred metres to take a few more photo’s from Pehoe Lookout. I thought this would be a great place to stay, such a beautiful view from this area.
I continued on my way until I reached Grey ranger station. If a person wished to take a cruise up to Grey glacier, this is where you would go [cost approximately 85,000.00 Chilean Pesos]. They had a little restaurant and store at this site and I bought a bottle of cold water for 2,000.00 Chilean Pesos [approximately $4.00 CDN.]. I opted to do a one hour hike on the Grey lookout trail.
This was another awesome short hike! After travelling through t thick forest region, you end up on a beach by Grey Lake.
There is a huge deposit of gravel in this area that was once where the glacier had been before retreating and also was part of the Grey Lake before reducing in size. Once crossing the beach, there is an “island” that has the trail. Right beside this island is where one would hop on the cruise vessel to visit Grey Glacier. In other words you have to walk over half an hour to the little pier to get on the boat.
After walking to the tip of the island, this is the closest you can get to see the glacier without a huge hike [over 8 hours hiking one way] or taking a cruise boat. The glacier was in the distance and definitely looked grey.
A few chunks of the glacier can be seen from this point and I was amazed at the blue color of the icebergs. I sat on the bench and waited for better lighting on the iceburgs.
While sitting on the bench enjoying the view and the wind strongly blowing a cool breeze, I realized how warm it really was … I had removed both jackets. This lady saw my camera and approached me if I would kindly take a photo of her family. She passed me her camera and I obliged. One of her sons approached me and asked me a few questions. He was from Santiago and was quite a joy to talk to … a nice young lad. Continuing the loop around this “island”, approximately half way back to the beginning point, were two icebergs in the inlet. They were so close and a beautiful blue color. The shape of one iceberg was absolutely amazing … I took so many photo’s. LOL
After making my way back to the car, I continued to the Serrano Entrance and Ranger station, where I had stopped at yesterday. This is where Y-156 ends and Route Y-290 begins, it is also the quickest way back to Puerto Natales and it was now after 6:30pm.
I went to a different restaurant this evening and shortly after I sat down, Nick walked in. We chatted about our day and that he had been able to arrange a four day hiking experience. I was interested in how this would turn out. Both being tired we parted ways and it was early to bed tonight.