Torres Del Paine

Location Description

268 photos

At the entrance gate to Torres Del Paine, a guanico...
Our bus stopped so we could gawk at the views. All I...
One thing was for certain: we were in a very beautiful...
Tourists marveling at the scenery.
Jay looks out on Cuernos del Paine, or "Horns of Paine"...
Jay and John on our $26 20 minute boat ride. Welcome to...
Torres Del Paine from the boat ride across Lago Pehoe.
Campground for day 1. They put in boardwalks to help the...
John setting out to Glacier Gray, not too far from the...
Beautiful shot of ice encrusted mountains. Looks...
Jay hiking along.
Jay, as we walk past a little glacier-carved lake.
Our first view of Lago Grey with a monstrous iceberg...
Jay and John. I miss my beard.
Jay and Lago Grey. This was one massive lake. We hiked...
Jay hiking along on our first day in the park.
Jay cresting a hill giving us a good view of Glaciar...
Jay and Glaciar and Lago Grey.
The hike was beautiful but you wouldn't believe the...
The glacier is getting closer!
Jay hiking along. The wind was strong enough to move...
Zoomed in shot of the surface of the glacier. Looks like...
Jay hiking through some wildflowers.
Bridges across Patagonia: picture for Catherine.
This is the sort of clouds that form when winds are 150+...
Bridges across Patagonia. Lago Grey edition. For Catherine.
Inviting beach. Too bad it's several hundred feet down...
Self portrait.
Very interesting geological formation that proves this...
Cool shot of very high mountains between the clouds.
Another self portrait.
Glacially carved valley running parallel to the main watercourse.
Beautiful colors of stone and ice.
Yikes! Looks like fun climbing if you like pain.
The common dandelion. Is there anywhere they don't grow?...
Pretty meadow with looming mountains in the background.
I never got tired of watching the clouds whip by these...
Big icebergs that recently broke off Glaciar Grey.
John at the end of the road.
Jay looking at Glaciar Grey.
What a huge iceberg! Hard to tell from the photo but...
Surface of Glaciar Grey... zoomed in.
The Great Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Or, El Campo de...
John and Jay enjoying a break at the endpoint of our hike.
Sunlight + ice = pretty colors.
The way the cloud banks pile up actually remind me of...
Looking back down valley, toward our campsite on the...
Jay during the hike back.
Ice covered mountains.
Jay tiptoeing around a stream in the trail.
It's hard to appreciate the scale of these glaciers. We...
Jay with a classic Patagonia-scape.
Jay hiking back to camp in the afternoon sunlight.
All smiles...
Jay, probably laughing at the wind.
An attempt to do a candid Abbey Road shot.
Toward evening some of the torres started to really...
Zoomed out a bit, to give you an idea how massive these...
Reminds me of those stock market mountain pictures Dad...
As the sun sets we get some alpenglow on the mountains.
With El Cuernos in the background. We will hike pretty...
Amazing how the rock completely changes color and...
Our tent in the very close foreground, to put the last...
One parting shot. Wow, I thought it looked cold in the...
Waking up early in the morning before Mr. Ranger Bear...
Packing everything up. I have to say Jay and I did an...
My pack, ready for the road.
Jay hiking sans jacket. I was way too cold to go this...
Jay hiking along Lago Nordenskjold.
Bridges across Patagonia series for Catherine.
Jay and I were really hoofing it; we had an ambitious...
Hiking through the mist.
At this point, it had actually started to snow. I'm not...
Jay with snow on his head.
Then it really started to snow hard!
Jay was quite a trooper and didn't seem to be...
And then it really, really started to snow.
They say in Patagonia you'll see all four seasons in one...
Jay hiking through the woods. The snow had a very...
The snow sort of changes to rain.
Jay with his snow cap on.
Some fire bush (I think) with snow falling all around.
Jay's head collecting snow.
Jay collecting snow on his penguin color schemed backpack.
This was taken as we were getting close to our camp. I...
Bridges across Patagonia, for Catherine.
Good thing there is a bridge across this river.
Jay on the bridge across the river. It was actually a...
Jay on the suspension bridge.
Very secure looking stanchions at the end of the bridge.
It was rather rickety. I think there was a sign saying...
Finally, a sign that we have arrived at Campo Italiano....
After some reconnoitering and deliberating about camp...
After warming up in the tent for a few hours, we put on...
A pretty waterfall as we hike northwest up the Valle Del Frances.
Jay and I use timer mode to pose in front of the cascades.
Second attempt... Jay was the one who pushed the shutter...
We had to ford a couple of small streams. We were...
Jay climbing higher up Valle Del Frances, with Lago...
The fog clears a little bit allowing us to see the...
Jay, stop messing up my self portrait. :)
Very neat looking cascade coursing through deep cut...
John and cascade.
Cascading down the mountain.
Getting our first views of some of the tall torres to...
Closeup of the same.
There's a fun off-width crack to climb. Yikes! You could...
The clouds constantly moved around providing new views...
Can you spot all the birds? Actually, neither can I. But...
Jay with Lago Nordenskjold in the background.
Crazy colors from the glacial fed lakes in the distance....
Close up shot of the wild colors reflecting off the...
Bridges across Patagonia series for Catherine.
The glacier to the west comes into sharper focus as the...
John and some glacier-covered mountains to the west.
We had no idea this mountain was towering above us to...
John and Jay doing another Abbey Road album cover pose.
Jay going the other way.
Close up of some epic-looking rock towers.
From a distance. Hard to appreciate the scale of...
Park of the larger range.
With John in the picture.
John sitting on a log.
Balancing on a log.
Jay.
As we climbed higher, the vegetation grew more sparse...
Looks like a storm could be moving in. We should hurry up.
Very pretty stream.
Jay hiking through a sub-alpine meadow.
Jay with the Valle Del Frances behind him.
Strange tree fungus.
Eventually our trail was completely covered by snow,...
Jay hiking up, up, up.
Eventually we get onto dry rock again. I have no idea...
Stopping at the "top" or as far as we planned to go for...
Looking like a bearded Emperor Palpatine.
A family of little clouds wanders into the valley.
John in Patagonia.
Me again.
I guess Jay took a bunch of these.
Springtime still seems a far way off up here.
More self portraits.
I guess I really liked these clouds.
Jay packing up to head back down the hill.
Close up of nearby glacier.
Jay headed back down the hill.
I really, really liked this tree, and this photo of it.
Jay and this fantastic looking tree.
Better shot of mystery fungus.
Haunted forest.
John in the haunted forest.
I miss my beard.
Jay hiking down Valle Del Frances.
More creepy dead trees.
Jay and a glacier.
Waking up the next morning in our tent. I think it was a...
The cold got us out of bed early, and it felt great to...
John hiking with some Cuernos in the background.
At least two seasons in one photograph.
Jay ties his shoe.
Fantastic scenery.
Jay and Lago Nordenskjold.
Still can't believe that color!
We passed many, many hikers on this stretch of the trail.
It's still pretty cold, despite the sunshine.
I absolutely adore this lake and cannot possibly show...
Today was set to be our longest mileage day. I can't...
Close up of the weird pattern of wind buffeting on the...
Looking like a mountain man that has been without a...
What a crazy lake and weather!
Jay had a bottle of sunscreen that had a top that would...
Jay on the shore of Lago Nordenskjold.
Funny how the rock beach had steps from perhaps seasonal...
John on the shore of Lago Nordenskjold.
Jay looking at some weather coming in from the West. We...
Jay and the penguin backpack.
Beautiful contrast between the green forest and the...
After a long morning's hike, we arrived at Albergue Los...
Jay taking a break at Albergue Los Cuernos. I think we...
Los Cuernos (The Horns) with some fire bush in the...
We found this sign on the ground. We weren't really sure...
Jay inspects our trustworthy map. Less of a navigational...
Bridges Across Patagonia series for Catherine.
The aforementioned cabañas that rent out for $140 USD...
Amazing how the rock abruptly changes color (and...
Headed out from Albergue Los Cuernos for our afternoon...
Scenery changes again.
Another self portrait.
A river rushes down a slickrock stream bed toward Lago...
Taking a break.
Jay surveys the road ahead from a small prominence on our path.
This was mostly what this part of the trail was like:...
This part of the hike did seem to go on for a long time,...
Another fire bush.
Where did this boulder come from? It was as big as a small house.
Jay, walking through a boulder field.
Very interesting looking seed pods on the fire bush....
Hiking through some beautiful country.
A man sits at the end of a windy path, writing in his...
Spotting some horses from afar on a different trail....
Jay packing up after a short snack/rest break.
Taking a self portrait on the way across to the third...
Jay and John hiking back uphill into the mountains on...
First people we had seen in several hours. Basically at...
Very steep ground below our trail.
Looking up-canyon along the Rio Ascencio toward our...
Jay and the Rio Ascencio.
The trail here was held up by pink sandbags. It was...
Jay walking along at a brisk pace.
Gripping a rock over fear of tumbling down?
We passed a pay campground that had a wind generator and...
Bridges across Patagonia. This one led to Albergue...
Tourists, horses, and horse poo. Glad we were under our...
Pretty soon we were shrouded in thick stands of trees...
So quite apparently we bombed up the trail without so...
Our campground contained a ranger station that was in an...
Happy to have a place to rest our heavy packs.
The park ranger who lives in this station decorated a...
So, we picked a campsite, dropped packs and immediately...
The trail was brutally steep, with hand lines in many places.
Our very first view of Los Torres as we crested the...
Very first view of these towers. Hard to appreciate the...
Close up shot.
Tried to take a self portrait.
Jay taking some photos of the towers. It was really...
Self portrait with two of the three towers. Almost!
Jay, the towers, and our very last chocolate bar. We ate...
Jay and Los Torres del Paine.
John and the three towers.
Another shot, vertical.
Some dutch tourists showed up and we managed to ask them...
It was cold as there was no sunshine left on this side...
One more shot of the towers as clouds roll in.
Still having fun with self portraits.
Back at camp: our tent is the yellow one in the...
Making dinner. Mac and Cheese if I remember correctly....
On our last morning in Torres del Paine, we woke up...
Dandelions. They grow anywhere.
Hiking back to Campo Chileno.
Taking a break to use the convenient indoor plumbing,...
We timed this well! This is the look up the valley...
Bridge picture for Catherine.
A cold, blustery morning in Patagonia.
A cute sign showing our path down from our camp (near...
A gray, drizzly day.
Back on flat land, more or less.
Bridge picture, for Catherine.
Refugio Las Torres. Or maybe this was the hotel. No idea...
Back to civilization. Taking a break the gift shop at...
Bird flying over some scorched earth. Apparently, about...
Our 5 mile walk back to the bus stop. Maybe we'll see...
Apparently this entire national park was quite recently...
Half way through our walk, we spotted an overland...
Interesting landscape. No guanaco though.
Catherine, he's a rather impressive bridge for you.
And an even more impressive one.
Suspension bridge in middle of nowhere Torres Del Paine...
Jay on the bridge.
In case you were wondering.
Jay crosses the bridge.
Ha! Catherine, what do you think of this sign?
In context. Hope you don't miss it!
Bad condition bridge and good condition bridge. I took...
Finally! At the bus stop. But not our bus.
Hanging out at the (thankfully covered) bus stop with...
Bus ride on the way back to town.
(Out the bus window) Finally, guanaco!
Lots of them in fact!