The W--Torres del Paine National Park

We did it. We really did it. We hiked the "W" in Torres del Paine National Park with our children. Almost 16 years ago (and when we only had one kid), I remember lying in a tent on this very same trek and saying to Frank, "I want to bring our kids here someday." And we did it. A real dream come true.

The "W" trail (in yellow) and the "O" trail (in red) in Torres del Paine National Park.

Our 5-day trek started with an early morning walk to the bus station, a bus to Laguna Amarga where we checked in to the park, then another bus to the Welcome Center for Torre Central. We only had to walk about 10 minutes to the camp registration office where we checked in, got our meal tickets, and were able to drop our bags for the day's hike to one of the most famous views in the park, The Towers. We crossed a hanging bridge that we totally remembered from 16 years ago and we were off on our trek by 1000. We hiked about two hours to Refugio Chileno, then about an hour through the woods (my favorite!), then began our final hour's climb to the towers. This is where we got the first big surprise of the trip--SO MANY PEOPLE! With people coming down and people going up, there were several points of stand-still bottlenecks. The wind was whipping for our final 20 minutes of climbing, but we were blessed with clear skies and amazing views! But with so many people clustered around the lake we opted to hang back and enjoy a little solitude on a big rock with a pretty awesome view. I cried! It was so great seeing our kids there and seeing them witness the majesty of Torres del Paine with their own eyes. Our hike back down took just under four hours and we "moved in" to our tents just as hot water was turned on at at the campground. Perfect! And the tents were cozy! We opted for the full gear campsite--tents, pads, and sleeping bags all included. And dinner? Delicious AND there was a bar! I think this was "glamping" rather than camping as we had fabulous weather and slept under a glorious southern sky.

This bridge brought a flood of memories! I remember starting our other trek here!

Entering the park and hiking up the valley along Rio Ascencio.

The famous Mirador de las Torres!

Our first campsite had a wonderful view of the towers!

Our second trekking day was an "easy" day with a five-hour hike to the Cuernos campsite. While short, the trail had plenty of ups and downs to keep it interesting. We arrived at the Cuernos Refugio about an hour before campsite checkin so we ordered some anniversary margaritas and settled in for a family game of Farkle under the Cuernos. It was awesome and I definitely think I remembered this place! Our tents were far from the refugio and the bathrooms, but the campground was small and it all worked out fine. We napped, showered, and relaxed. Dinner was excellent again (both the food and the company of a nice couple from Park City!) and we slept great ahead of our next long day on the trail.

We had great weather and amazing views of Los Cuernos as we hiked past Laguna Inge and along Lago Nordenskjöld for the day.

Thanks to the other Americanos for our pic with Lago Nordenskjöld!

The campsite at Los Cuernos was super fun and cozy (and was a nice place to mark our anniversary!).

We expected the third day to be a challenge and...it was! But it was also amazing and Frank recalled it being his favorite day from our previous visit. We hiked a few hours to the new Camp Italiano, dumped our big bags, and headed for Mirador Frances, location of a very cool Earth Cache with stunning views of Frances Glacer! We heard and saw many ice falls on our way up the valley, and got hit with some strong winds right at the viewpoint for the glacier. We opted to continue on another two kilometers to Mirador Británico which we didn't visit during our previous visit due to poor weather and a lack of time. The hike was through some pretty gorgeous woods and the view was absolutely worth it. But 1/4 of our crew was done with heading further for more views so we had lunch (BTW, box lunches were AMAZING) at Británico and made our way back to Camp Italiano to collect our big bags. From there, we had a 7.5km hike to the Paine Grande Refugio. I totally recognized this one! We checked in, picked out our four beds in a six-bed room, showered, and went to enjoy our free welcome drinks at the bar. We again had fabulous view of Los Cuernos and Paine Grande, and could see the wind whipping up the water. We ignored the 70+km/h forecast for the next day, enjoyed a big buffet dinner, and slept like babies in super cozy, warm beds. I think the kids were sold on refugios!

An early start took us right along the shore of Lago Nordenskjöld on the way to Camp Italiano. 

A windy stop at Mirador Frances!

Mirador Británico was amazing!

Packs back on, over some bridges, and into the wind as we made our way to Paine Grande.

Refugio Paine Grande was sweet (and very familiar!). We had great views of Paine Grande and Los Cuernos from our room and saw a beautiful rainbow over Lago Pehoé!

Day four FINALLY brought us some "real" Patagonia weather! We had to hike 11km into that sometimes 70km/hr cold wind to get to Refugio Grey. It was cold, hot, windy, sunny, rainy, hard on the face...everything we wanted the kids to experience from this trek! We arrived at the refugio ahead of check-in, but that was ok--we ate our lunches and hiked about an hour north (and uphill) to a suspension bridge with an amazing view of Glacier Grey! It was so windy on the water, but the hike through the woods was nice and afforded lots of time to reflect on the journey so far. When we returned to the refugio we were surprised that the rooms were four-man and we had one all to ourselves! After hot showers we settled in to the bar for a round of Farkle, snacks, and a World Cup semi-final! Argentina beat Croatia and the bar was lit!

Walking into 70km/hr was a challenge at times, but Lago Grey was spectacular!

Just enjoying the view of Glacier Grey.

We had time before check-in (and the fútbol game) so we hiked up to one of the suspension bridges for better views of the glacier. I loved it!

Refugio life...satellite tv, cold beers, fellow travelers, and plenty of relaxation.

The last day was...easy! We had a late breakfast, a slow hike back to Paine Grande refugio, a fantastic game of Farkle with our hiking friends Oscar and Sofia, and another crazy World Cup semi-final where France beat Morocco before we had to catch our ferry out of the park. I cried again. I love Torres del Paine. I love the challenge it gives my body, the time it gives my mind, and the beauty that it leaves in my memories. And after a half-hour ferry ride we were on the bus that would take us back to Puerto Natales. That bus ride has some stories of its own that I will leave for the boys to tell when they are ready... ;) 

A beautiful hike along Lago Grey (with the wind at our backs!).

Lunch in the forest and our final look at Los Cuernos before boarding the catamaran to cross Lago Pehoé  for our return to Puerto Natales. 

Did the trip live up to all of my expectations? No. I had built this up so much in my head…full of romance, life-changing for the kids, glorious views, new traveling friends, tons of laughs…that’s a lot to ask out of any trip and it’s part of the danger of dreaming about something so hard for so long. But it was many of those things, and that’s enough.

Thank you, Torres del Paine. You were, and remain, a dream come true.

THE DETAILS: There are so many ways to hike the "W" or the "O" in Torres del Paine that fit a range of budgets. When we were here 16 years ago we had a guide, private transportation, didn't worry about any tickets of any sort...we blissfully hiked from bed to bed and were fed! You can also self-book transportation, refugio/tent sites, carry all or some of your own gear and food, and follow the well-marked trails. Or you can go somewhere in between, which is what we did this time. I was trying to self-book the trip, but the booking site was down for quite a while and we were busy enjoying Peru so I started to shop for a tour company. We ended up booking the Classic 5-day W Trek through Vertice Travel. You can opt for camping with or without your own gear, refugios (think hostel) with full bedding or use your own, and with as many meals as you want. Given availability, we ended up with two nights at campsites with full equipment (tents, nice mats, and sleeping bags all set up and ready to go) and two nights at refugios with full bedding. The package included bus tickets from Puerto Natales to the park entrance, the park tickets, tickets for a shuttle bus within the park, catamaran tickets across the lake at the west end, and bus tickets back to town. We opted for the "full board" option, provided us with breakfast, a bag lunch, and dinner every day. And I can honestly say, it was worth every penny (hit me up for price details if you want, but the tour websites all give pretty detailed quotes). Vertice is VERY organized and at our orientation meeting the evening before we left, they gave us a perfectly ordered packet of tickets and vouchers for the entire trip, just like how I would have done it! They gave us some dry bags, water bottles, buffs, maps, and our lunch for the first day (fun fact--the vegetarian sandwiches were often better than the meat ones), then stored the luggage we weren't taking with us. Easy peasy! I personally am comfortable booking all of that myself at this point, but for those new to the park/area, we can definitely recommend Vertice as a reputable tour outfit. Also, no matter how you do it, BOOK EARLY! The best weather is limited to about two months and that overlaps with Southern Hemisphere summer vacations so popular routes/tours can sell out.

FUN SIDE STORY: When we first visited Patagonia (and did the W) in 2007 we carried LLBean packs and trekking poles. We have that same gear with us on the return trip in 2022! (I mean, why else would I have a purple pack?!?!)

That's me in 2007 (upper left) enjoying my first trip to Patagonia with my LLBean pack! And here it is again, in 2022 (and Frank's equally old pack) along with our 16 year-old LLBean Vario Hikelite trekking poles. Good gear lasts (even if the colors are a bit dated!)!

~Jo, Nomadic Momma