Hiking in Torres Del Paine

A map of the "W" hike in Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chile

Paul

Kevin and I

Russell

A great fall photo

Glacier Grey, at the end of our first day's hike

Our first glimpse of Los Cuernos through the clouds

A not-so-happy-camper?

Los Cuernos

The back side view of the peaks of Los Torres

Taking a rest during our day hike in the French Valley

A closer view of Los Torres

Kevin!

The sunrise on the fourth day, seen from Campamento Los Cuernos

Another view of Los Torres

A view down the Valle de Los Torres (the path is on the left slope)

Los Torres at 6 am

Paul and Los Torres

Russell, Kevin and I take a break during our hike to the Japanese camp

Goofing off

Looking down the Valley of Silences

At the Japanese camp

Jon

Russell

Kevin

And me

Other artwork left at the Japanese camp

A beautiful fungus growing near the path

Now that's what Los Torress are supposed to look like at dawn!

A last shot of Los Torres

We had gorgeous weather the day we hiked out

Me, hugging a mastodon

Yup, definitely me

Jon

I think Jon made it mad and it's taking it out on Russell!



**All the photos in this post were taken by Jon Brak. Please don't reproduce them in any way without his permission**

After spending a few days in Chile, doing laundry and catching up on email, I headed a short ways north to hike in Torres del Paine national park. I was traveling with four really great guys: Paul, Jon, Russell and Kevin. We hiked the entire "W" (see map above) and a little extra over 6 days, covering about 80 miles in total. The weather wasn't perfect everyday,- we had some rain and wind, but it felt good to be out in it and we had two really nice days which made up for the bad ones. We were in the park just as the peak of fall colors were coming over the trees and it was stunning to see- oranges and yellow everywhere. It's been years since I've been in a forest, let alone one in the fall and I was pretty happy to see all the colors. It was a great way to decompress after the season and I had a really great time hiking with the guys.