Chile
This article is the second in a series of five detailing each day of the W-Circuit trek in Torres del Paine National Park. The trek was completed starting with the Glacier Grey leg and going west-to-east, though it can be completed in the opposite direction as well.
The second day of the W-Circuit is a fairly short one, you'll backtrack along Lago Grey to Paine Grande and stay there for the night. You may encounter very high winds in the pass between Lago Grey and Lago Pehoé as there is a bit of a wind tunnel effect.
The Paine Grande refugio and campground can be seen below.
This article is the first in a series of five detailing each day of the W-Circuit trek in Torres del Paine National Park. The trek was completed starting with the Glacier Grey leg and going west-to-east, though it can be completed in the opposite direction as well.
The first step in your Torres del Paine trek is actually getting to the park. There are several bus companies that run from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine, all of them will leave in two waves at 7:00 AM and 11:30 AM. The bus ride takes 2 hours so you should catch the 7:00 AM bus to give yourself enough time to hike on your first day. Bus tickets should be bought at least the day before. You can purchase tickets at the bus station in Puerto Natales or at Erratic Rock's equipment rental store (I would highly recommend their daily talk on Torres del Paine treks at 3PM).
The park entry fee is $21,000 Chilean Pesos and must be paid in cash. You're officially required to have already made reservations for your stay in the park at campgrounds or refugios to gain access to the park, in practice they were not actually checking people's reservations. This could change at any time and it is up to you if you want to risk it but it seemed unlikely they would turn anyone away. Even at the peak of high season they were plenty of vacancies available at refugios along the way, and given the fiasco that online reservations turned out to be with Fantastico Sur you might be better off turning up in person. As of 2017, credit cards are accepted at all of the refugios along the W-Circuit. There are no...
The catamaran trip across Lake Pehoé will give you spectacular views of the Cordillera del Paine range. The Lake's blue color comes from rock flour, finely ground mineral powder caused by the grinding of the glaciers against the rockbed, dispersed in the water.
The 3PM daily talk on Torres del Paine treks at Erratic Rock in Puerto Natales is an invaluable source of information. Make sure to drop by and also check out their excellent rates on equipment rentals.
Outlets
