Trek ('W' Trek Torres del Paine) 3:00:00 [1] 11.0 km (16:22 / km)
We boarded a bus from Puerto Natales, Chile, and headed the 3 hrs to and into the national park to Gaurdería Pudeto to catch a boat across to Refugio Paine Grande to start the trek. This area we were advised to skip due to a fire that had started up at Refugio Grey campsite on the 28th of Dec, when a camper wandered off into the bush to go to the toilet, tried to burn his toilet paper, which resulted in probably about 40% of the National park being destroyed! No idea how nobody died because the hundred km strong winds that blow basically all the time would have spread the fire incredibly fast. This section of the walk had only just opened and a few of the campsites were still closed. Somehow Refugio Paine Grande which is a massive hut/hotel, which was in the direct path of the fire survived, and sits in the middle of a black charcoaled valley with a meter of green grass surrounding it! Check out the photos.
The first day was freezing, wet, with a massive head wind (Patagonia is always windy), and sleet, but this was only a short 11km day. When we got to the refugio grey, next to glacier grey, we were cold and wet, so walked straight into the refugio and they had spare beds for $30. It was like a five star hotel. But we still had to cook with the camping plebs and felt a little bad, especially when we pulled out and cooked up some chorizo sausages and most of these walkers had been 5 days into the 10day full circuit of Torres del Paine.
Seb bailed again...