Patagonia Trekking Itinerary
Day 1: You can arrive in Santiago at any time of the day. Most flights from North America arrive in the morning after an overnight flight. Our local representatives will meet you at the airport and shuttle you to our downtown hotel. We will have a walking tour of Santiago in the afternoon, followed by a welcome dinner and an overview talk of our upcoming trek.
Day 2: We shuttle back to the airport for our morning flight to Punta Arenas in southern Chile. We have a 230 mile drive north to Torres del Paine National Park - that is one reason it is remote - where we check into our Eco Camp, home for the next two nights. We'll have a an opportunity to take a brief walk that day.
Day 3: We take a warmup hike today, walking 10 kilometers to the park's namesake, the incredible Torres del Paine granite towers. Rising over 9,000 feet high, these towers dominate the landscape. We return to Eco Camp for the night and enjoy the delicious meal our cooks prepare.
Day 4: Today we begin the actual trek as we hike from one refugio to the next. We follow the Los Cuernos Trail on a 12 kilometer trek to Refugio Los Cuernos, situated underneath the impressive "Los Cuernos", jutting peaks that resemble the name ("the horns").
Day 5: We start the day with a one-hour walk over flat terrain to the wild Rio Frances. From there, we make a roundtrip hike to Mirador del Frances, where we have a magnificent view of the lakes below. We finish the day with a final eight kilometer hike down to Refugio Pehoe at Turquoise Pehoe Lake.
Day 6: We hike approximately four hours to the impressive Gray Glacier, situated above Grey Lake. From there, we catch a public ferry boat that takes us across the lake, crossing next to the calving glaciers for spectacular views. At the end of the boat ride, we are met by a bus that will shuttle us to a new area of the park and our refugio for the evening.
Day 7: Today we experience a unique hike not typically done in Patagonia. We walk a short distance to our Zodiac boats, take a 45-minute cruise to our campsite (located on a local rancher's land) for the evening, and then hike to Lake Geike, which has more floating icebergs than any other lake in the area. We return to our campsite where we spend our one night in tents for the trip.
Day 8: Today we leave Torres del Paine National Park. However, we are not done with the beauty yet as we jump in our Zodiacs and travel to Bernardo O'Higgins National Park, where we do a short hike to admire the glaciers. We then catch a ferry back to Puerto Natales where we check into our lodge and celebrate with a final farewell dinner.
Day 9: This is a transportation day. We drive back to Punta Arenas airport, catch an afternoon flight to Santiago, and connect with our evening flights home.