Thursday, January 11, 2024
Today was our tour of National Parque Torres del Paine (Blue Towers National Park). After a hurried breakfast, we joined the Viking assemblage at the front of the hotel where we were issued bagged lunches. Rather than the usual tour bus, for this journey, we boarded a fleet of six white vans, each with up to six passengers. On the way out of Puerto Natales, our van was stopped for a short time as a very youthful gaucho helped herd cattle across the highway. After their passing, we continued on for over an hour as we progressed through the Patagonian steppes to the forest vegetation of the national park. Before entering the park, we stopped at an overlook with a beautiful view of Lago Toro. Jane discovered an interesting native plant near the parking area which we later identified as cadillo, or stick-tight (Acaena ovalifolia).
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| Young Gaucho Herding Cattle |
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| View of Lago Toro |
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| Cadillo, or stick-tight (Acaena ovalifolia) |
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| Another View of Lago Toro |
Our van fleet continued, crossing Rio Serrano, and parking at a small building at the park gate. As our guides checked us into the park, we could use the restrooms and read informative signage inside and outside of the building. Much of the information was directed toward fisherman. Several signs discussed ways to reduced the spread of didymo or rock snot, an introduced and invasive diatom. Another sign touted the construction of a new parking area for fisherman. The parking area afforded great views of the river in one direction and in another direction of Cuernos del Paine or the Blue Horns, one of the park’s iconic group of peaks.
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| Rio Serrano Bridge that led to the Park Entrance |
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| View from the Rio Serrano Bridge |
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| “Stop. Check-in is Mandatory.” |
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| Precautions to Prevent the Spread of Didymo |
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| Sign about Future Parking Area for Fishermen |
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| Cuernos del Paine from the Check-in Parking Lot |
Next, our vans proceeded into the park and stopped at a visitors’ center with a cafeteria, shoppes and restrooms. From here, we began a hike to Lago Grey that included a substantial pedestrian bridge over Rio Grey. Although cloudy, the weather was pleasant and it felt great to stretch our legs and absorb the beautiful surroundings. Our view of Lago Grey wasn’t great but we had another great view of Cuernos del Paine.
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| Visitor Center |
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| Vintage Posters on Sale in the Gift Shop |
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| Trail Sign for Lake Grey Overlook |
After our hike, we reboarded the vans and continued on our route. We pulled off at a scenic spot along the route to stretch our legs and take more photos and then proceeded to Pehoe, a picnic and camping area. As we disembarked, the van guides fastened coverings over the picnic tables to secure them against the stout wind and unloaded coolers of drinks. Our van members sat together at a table where we ate our bag lunches of sandwiches, trail mix, and dessert. We were provided drinks and since beer was an option, Jane and I each enjoyed one (well, two for me). After lunch, I checked out the restroom, then wandered around the Pehoe camping area. There were nice picnic shelters, rental cabins, RV sites (no hook-ups), and even geodesic domes for rent. Most to the campsites had spectacular views of the iconic Blue Towers (Torres) and Horns (Cuernos).
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| Another Nice View along our Route |
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| Time for Lunch |
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| Lunch with our Van-mates and Guide |
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| Los Torres (tops obscured) and Cuernos del Paine |
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| Picnic Shelter |
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| Rental Dome with a Great View |
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| The Grand Falls |
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| It was VERY Windy |
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| Panoramic View of Rio Paine and Grand Falls |
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| Upstream View |
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| Tottering in the Strong Wind |
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| Cuerno Close-up |
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| Los Torres, Cuernos and Rio del Paine |
After boarding the vans, we all straighten our tossed hair (some of us had less to bother with than others) and continued our picturesque tour through the park. At one point in our journey, we passed lots of guanacos near the road. Our van paused for us to get photos of these wary creatures.
Our final park stop was Cascada Paine (Paine Waterfall). Here, a large layered island rock splits the glacial Rio Paine into two channels. The smaller one descends as rapids and the larger section forms a short waterfall (about 50 ft. high) before the channels reunite below the rocky island. We were able to ramble along the riverside getting different perspectives of the water action which was set in a gorgeous landscape dominated by three towers and horns of the Paine Massif.
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| Van-Cautious Guanaco |
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| Four Wary Guanacos |
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| Rio Paine and the Waterfalls |
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| Main Section of Cascada Paine |
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| Cascada Paine and the Paine Massif |
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| Los Torres del Paine are named d’Agostini, Central, and Monzino (l to r) |
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| Another View of Cascada Paine and the Paine Massif |
After admiring the cascades, we boarded the vans and on the drive out of the park, drove along one shore of Laguna Amargo. Our guide called this the white lake because, indeed, from our viewpoint the lighting and the suspended glacial sediments as well as salt deposits from ancient oceans gave the lake a whitish appearance. Even outside of the park, the drive back to the Singular Hotel was scenic. We passed a few fields of exotic lupines in full bloom along the way.
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| Laguna Amargo |
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| Exotic Lupines |
Back at the Singular, after freshening-up in our room, Jane and I decided to explore the outside of this unique hotel. Later, we had a nice dinner in the hotel dining room but we both ate wearily because dinner began late, at 9 pm While we were exploring and dining, Jane had set her phone’s camera to take a time-lapse photo from our expansive room window. Three hours were reduced to a nice and interesting 22-second video of clouds passing over the channel while daylight transformed into darkness. Around midnight, we finally turned in for some much-needed rest knowing that we could sleep late tomorrow morning due to an unusually late designated start time.
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| Preserved Machinery. |
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| Channel-facing Room Windows of the Singular Hotel |
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| Dock on the Senoret Channel behind the Singular Hotel |
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| Outdoor Artifacts |
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| Wheel Barrow Storage Facility |
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| Exploring the Hotel Premises |
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An Appropriate Beverage
for the Evening |
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| An Attractive Salad … |
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| … and appetizer |
