Late yesterday we returned, tired and weary, to Puerto Natales after a terrific, but tough !, five day backpacking trip in Torres del Paine National Park. The landscape in the park is stunning with high snow covered mountains, shear granite cliffs, glaciers and lakes. We hiked with tent, sleeping bags, and all our food over some very challenging terrain, some routes definitely not adhering to any contour paths! Even though it is late winter we had terrific calm weather, with some light rain at night. We hiked along the ¨W¨ route, which at this time of year was very quiet with few other hikers, the full circuit being closed. Annually the park hosts over 200 000 visitors, most of these arriving in summer. An extraordinarily beautiful and wild landscape.
