Patagonia, Torres Del Paine, W-Trek (Part 5)

Introduction

Day 5 was the longest day of the trek as we had to hike from Gray back to Paine Grande then cross a long distance of flats to get out of the park. Normally, trekkers can catch the boat from Paine Grande to exit the park, but it has limited service in the off season. No real highlights are found on this day, but we got pretty sights of sunrise, clear skies and turquoise lakes.

Exiting the Park on foot has its perks too

Day 5

Day 5 started with us walking as fast as possible from Gray back to Paine Grande. We had precious little time as we hoped to exit the park before nightfall, and had to cover a really large amount of distance. There was a group (doing a reverse route) who had done this part of the trek the previous day, hiking through the entire day and a couple of hours in the night in order to reach Gray Lodge. Hence, we were definitely in for a challenge on day 5.

Still, we squeeze in a couple of photos at sunrise!

Leaving from Paine Grande

We had lunch at Paine Grande, wait for it…. in direct sunlight! oh how i have missed the sun, break out them palm leaves and start that sun dance! Joking, I was still feeling really cold at 0 degrees celsius.

We started to circumvent the lake, proceeding almost in parallel opposite direction from where we had been going in the past few days. With a healthy amount of sun and a sparking lake beside us, we started in good spirits.

The Flat Marathon

Having put the lake behind us, we now faced a long long LONG flat walk out of the park. So what to do? Well I powered on with snacks, a little music and still caught several cool sights on the way out.

Exiting the Park

We finally met up with our transport and with that brought an end to our W-Trek adventure. We visited one last viewpoint of the park and celebrated our accomplishment with a hearty dinner. This trek was an absolute blast and just an unforgettable experience for me. From seeing the beautiful lakes, to the powerful glaciers and also the constant movement of clouds around the top of the mountains gave me a totally immersive experience.

Up Next

I will be taking a break from traveling for a bit. But will definitely be back in July! In the meantime, I may be doing some weekend trips and will update the blog if I do. I am also thinking of writing about exchange in general; stuff like living in a foreign country, doing exchange solo…etc

Stay tuned!