Torres Del Paine, the destination of our first international backpacking trip in 2012 was a life-changing experience for us. We witnessed how wonderful it was to experience a country by slowly walking its trails. We came to appreciate the smell of its wilderness. The colors and the sounds on the trail imprinted on our memories so much more than sightseeing in any city could. From then on, a good trek or summit climb was a critical criterion for any country we looked at visiting.
During our research of the Torres del Paine National Park that first time around, the descriptions of the backside of the O-Trek invoked intimidation and fear in us. The potential of being trapped on a snow-covered pass, the fierce and unforgiving winds rendering the wind-chill factor unbearable, the narrow single track hugging the side of the cliff where one careless step can spell major disaster put it out of our comfort zone. Inexperienced and new to the backpacking world, we knew our limits and steered clear of the O-Trek. Instead, we set our goal on the more popular, more mild W-Trek. And even then, we did not complete the whole W; we skipped out on the French Valley and opted to stay at Refugio Grey for 2 days.
Twelve years later, with many backpacking trips, successful summits and mountain passes under our belts, we were ready to tackle the mighty O-Trek in December of 2024. And this time, we also brought backup. Anh Vu had expressed an interest in exploring Torres del Paine, so it was an easy choice to head to South America for our international backpacking trip of the year. Phong and Sandy quickly jumped on board. Javi already had plans to visit family in Argentina for the holidays, so tacking on more days to visit this world-renowned location was a no-brainer either, especially when he gets to spend those days with us.
In late spring when campgrounds were open for booking, we tried to make reservations by ourselves, but because the campgrounds are run by two different companies, it was difficult to get all the sites we needed on the days we wanted. In the end, we utilized Flashpacker Connect, the same company who managed our Jordan itinerary. With some flexibility, they were able to guarantee lodging for 6 people at most of the campgrounds we requested for the 9 nights in the park. Though it was much more costly than we had expected for a backpacking trip, the conveniences we’d receive was a great trade off. Our packs would be much lighter since we wouldn’t have to carry our own tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, nor meals! As we get older, these supported backpacking treks sound more and more appealing.
Puerto Natales
From LAX we flew into Puerto Natales, Chile with a connection in Santiago.
Since our rooms weren’t quite ready, we dropped our luggage at the hotel and wandered around town where we found all these cute, colorful trash cans. Who came up with this creative yet functional art project? Do you think it would work in a place like VN where whenever the government installs new trash cans, within a couple days, they’d all be stolen?
Bracing against the cold and wild wind, we walked down to the waterfront for a view into the park. Our prospects looked grim. Layers of gray clouds hovered over the park projecting threatening weather in that direction. At that point, we could only hope for the weather gods to be on our side.
A little further down the waterfront, we came upon this sculpture of 5 fingers partially sticking up out of the dirt. Not until the last full day of our trip, a month later in Paraguay, did we fully understand the meaning of this art installation. The fingers represent a drowning victim and is meant as a warning for those entering the waters.
O Trek Day 1-Camping Central to El Serano
Puerto Natales is considered the gateway to the Chilean Patagonia region. From this little town, we would hop on a bus for a couple hours, then transfer onto another bus for a short ride to the Welcome Center inside the park. Somehow Sandy became unofficially nominated to be our group secretary. From this point on, she handled all our paperwork, check-ins and meal arrangements at each of our campgrounds. Thanks Sandy. You did such an awesome job that you’ve been promoted to permanent status. Yippeee!!!
After arriving at the Welcome Center, I noticed my hiking poles and Lyle’s brand-new tripod, which were shoved in the side pockets of my backpack, were missing. We checked the buses that were still parked in front with no luck. We asked the front desk to call the other station and inquire about miss and found objects with no results either. In the end, Lyle and I walked the half mile over to the store at the lodge to buy a replacement set of hiking poles.
With the first hiccup of the trip resolved, we started on our way. Day one on the O-Trek was one of the easier days covering around 9 miles and only 1,100 ft. of elevation gain taking us from the Welcome Center to Camp Seron.
It wasn’t long before we met with the first incline of the day. Starting out around noon, we were glad for the cloud coverage overhead. And as if the trail itself knew that an early reward was the best motivation to keep going, the moment we reached the top of the climb, a whole meadow of dancing daisies welcomed us and applauded our endeavor. As it was austral summer in South America, flowers were in full bloom along the trail.
I distinctly remember these red flame flowers from our first time here. They are one of the visual memories I connect with Torres del Paine anytime I see them. And after this trip, they are now cemented with my understanding of this park and this trek.
From all the videos we’ve watched and all the research we’ve done, we didn’t really expect much from this section. But being on the trail ourselves, we felt quite the opposite. The scenery was constantly changing and demanded attention. We would be on top of a mountain with an expansive view into the valley then descend into a forest, which was so unexpected and quite a delightful surprise, with some old trees covered in moss and then be spit back out into the open above a meandering river below.
At a narrow point in the path, we even got delayed by a herd of grazing horses. With a sharp whistle, the huaso quickly got his horses moving again.
After a steep drop, we were back on flat trails winding along the river. And after 5 and a half hours of walking, we reached our destination for the night, Camp Seron.
At check-in we were assigned elevated tents. They rested on metal platforms and were pretty sturdy. The bottom of the whole tent was covered with a thick, supportive mattress. The tent itself was made of thick canvas and with a waterproof cover, we were well insulated. We were given sleeping bags and a dinner time with salmon steaks on the menu. In my opinion, this was our best meal on the trek. We ate well and slept well that night. And hoped it would be the same every night on the trek. We had requested to be upgraded to these elevated tents at any campground where they were available. It was a good call.
O Trek Day 2-El Serano to Dickson
The next morning, noticing that the new poles I bought vibrated too much with each step and that my troubled ankle had started complaining by the end of the first day, I swapped poles with Lyle, since he wasn’t using his. And I started wrapping both ankles before the start of each day, which helped to stabilize them tremendously. This was my first backpacking trip after my ankle injury had rendered me sedentary for the first 7 months of the year. I was so relieved to be hiking again and wanted to make sure to give it as much support as I could.
After a hot breakfast and receiving our to-go lunches, we set out for Camp Dickson. Day 2 was a harder and longer day, with close to 12 miles and 1,600 ft. of ascent. This section is also notorious for mosquitos, so much so that there’s a giant mosquito icon on the hiking map. We all decided it was best to put on long pants for this section, and not long after, we crossed a swarm of mosquitos near the lake.
This section of the O-Trek also promised stunning views. Almost immediately the trail gradually climbed the side of the mountain with a continuous view of the river on our right. Similar to Day 1, the major climb of the day was at the beginning of the hike, a steep 700 ft. incline in less than a mile over a mountain pass.
Just 500 ft. up, the vegetation had already changed. We noticed many different plants and flowers that we hadn’t seen before. The plump looking plants brimming with yellow flowers were deceiving. They looked all cute and cuddly, but they were equipped with pokey spikes and were quite deadly. Do not touch. Lyle and I both learned from painful first-hand experiences.
Over the pass, we shouted in celebration at the view in front of us, but with the winds blowing at our faces our voices were quickly carried away. The sun had just peeked out from behind the clouds and for a brief moment, the lake glimmered a deep turquois. These are the moments that make backpacking worth it. The moment your spirit is set free and unbounded to become one with the spirit of the mountains and the lakes and the trees, the spirit of all of nature around you. It's a moment of unhindered and carefree happiness and truly being alive.
Coming upon this weathered down wooden gate with a sign and logo of Torres del Paine National Park on the second day of our trek was a bit curious. So, does that mean that part of yesterday’s trek lay outside of the park boundaries?
I tried to walk up the ladder to get over but as I got to the top rung, a gust of wind knocked me off balance, and I had to jump back down so I wouldn’t tumble over. Caught off-guard, my haphazard jump gave Sandy a start.
The views of the mountains donning a collar of snow in the distance kept getting more impressive the further we walked. Though it was the same mountain range in our sight, we never got bored or tired of gazing at it.
The first of many amazing lunch spots with a view. The salmon and veggie sandwiches were delicious. Camp Seron really set the bar with their dinner and lunch menus. The chef there really enjoyed his job and took it seriously. We were thankful for that. Sadly, none of the other camps’ meals came close these first ones.
Though the rest of the way to camp was long, it was mostly flat and weaved through meadows full of wildflowers. I was in flower heaven once again.
In one marshy area, the trail became a boardwalk, which reminded us so much of New Zealand. We came upon some gnarled looking trees. One, in particular, was split down the trunk and looked so ghoulish and creepy, like the Halloween Tree.
On Lyle’s Alltrails map, there was a spike indicating a steep climb close to the end. We were all dreading it. But as we came upon it, both sides of the trail were lined with festive flame flower trees. We just turned our gaze from one glowing red flower to the next, and before we knew it, we were at the top with our first view of Camp Dickson below on the peninsula.
The short but incredibly steep and slippery descent to the peninsula was quite sketchy. We had just gotten down when we looked back to see a horse and his rider expertly making their way to the bottom. It looked as if the rider would have fallen off so many times!
Each camp was set up and ran in a different manner. At this camp, there were many horses roaming around wherever they pleased, which also meant we had to watch out for the land mines they left behind. We were suspicious as there was just one white horse that was tied up. Shadowfax! They didn’t want him to rally the other horses and run for their freedom.
The tents at Camp Dickson were pitched in a cluster close to each other on the ground, not elevated. As we headed to bed, a lit drizzle began, and rain continued off and on throughout the night. Falling asleep should have been easy after such a long day, but a group of ladies not far from us was talking and laughing so loudly late into the night. It was close to midnight when we heard someone tell them to quiet down.
At dinner, the options were a hefty chunky of beef or a hearty vegetarian lasagna. We knew we would be well fed on this trek. There’s no losing weight from lack of food on this trip. After dinner and hot showers, we walked down to the water. (Thanks to Anh Vu for tipping us off about the secret restrooms behind the restaurant. Wherever we go, AV always goes off on a scouting mission to learn the layout of the land and finds the best of everything and the most convenient routes to get there.) A rock skipping contest ensued. And yes, I, Thu Buu won! I had learned how to skip rocks just a few months before when we went to Convict Lake in Mammoth and spent about an hour skipping rocks with my friend’s daughter.
O Trek Day 3-Dickson to Los Perros
When we woke up, rain was still coming down at a good rate. However, once we had packed up and were ready to exit our tent, the rain had turned into just a light mist. The clouds were moving fast, and the first patches of blue skies appeared when we headed out. Very nicely timed, Mr. Sky.
Day 3 was one of our shortest days with only a little more than 7 miles and about 2000 ft. of elevation gain to get to Camp Los Perros. It started with a flat walk through a forest of slender beech trees, but it wasn’t long until we began our first climb out of the forest. This clearing was the perfect spot to take off some layers and get a good view back towards the lake. In the distance, we could see the glacier that originates in Argentina spilling into the lake. What a spectacular view!
The majority of Day 3 was a pleasant walk through the forest, with not too much incline. Walking in the forest was so relaxing. This was deep forest mainly of beech trees. There were sections of older growth with moss and lichen clinging onto big tree trunks where the canopy was an overlay of leafy branches horizontally crisscrossing each other. And when the sunlight filtered through the leaves, the world underneath glowed a magnificent green. It was just the most gorgeous forest, one of the best we’ve ever walked through.
We crossed many bridges on this day and a theme quickly emerged after the first few. Most of the bridges had missing planks, even the big one providing passage over a roaring river below!
Day 3’s lunch was more in tune with what we had expected from previous trips, and this became the standard lunch on the O-trek from this point on; a giant, dry sandwich with thick pieces of bread filled with a beef salad from last night’s leftover. There was always a package of dried apples, some dried nuts and a pouch of powdered electrolytes to mix with our water. Some days, we would get a fresh apple or fruit also. It was more than we could have eaten for lunch. And it was so heavy! Each morning at breakfast, we began examining our lunch bags and leaving behind the items we didn’t want. The staff thought it was weird and kept asking us if we were sure, especially when we left behind the electrolyte packages too.
Some of the trees had developed tumors on which little orange balls grew. Not knowing what they were, we were naturally curious, so we pulled out my Swiss army knife and had an operation right there on the rocks. The ball was light and squishy. When poked, it caved in easily, but once the pressure was taken off, it just as quickly expanded back into its spherical shape. Little holes covered the complete exterior of the ball. Upon dissection, we found the middle had just a thin webbing of fiber but was mostly airy. We learned later that this was a type of parasitic fungus, basically a mushroom that grows on Southern beech trees, attacking the tree’s sap ducts. In response, the trees develop galls or what looked like tumors to us as a way to get around the affected sap blockage. It’s an edible mushroom with a sweet flavor known as llao llao and is eaten as a dessert. It’s even been made into ice cream.
Once out of the forest, the final ascent up to our first glacier began. The scenery was unreal! The mixture of lively green trees and colorful flowers in the foreground, a massive layer of shimmering white ice sitting atop a mountain of barren, gray crumbling dirt and rocks all underneath a sky of blue and swirls of white clouds is such a perfect canvas as only nature can paint. We kept stopping to admire the scene unfolding in front of us even though we told ourselves that it’ll be better at the top. It didn’t matter. After every fifty feet or every bend, a new angle presented itself, and we had to stop to soak it in.
We finally got to the top with an unobstructed view of Los Perros glacier and the lake at its foot. Los Perros is a hanging glacier that slowly slides off the mountain and cascades onto the level below. It almost looks like a capital I. It was so windy up top, we all had to put on our jackets and zip up tight. We stayed up there for close to an hour. Besides shooting the timelapse and footage for our video, Lyle needed to take pictures and videos of the energy bars from a new company that had asked him to do some work for their promotional materials. The gusts of wind were so strong that setting up the bars was tricky and became an engineering project just to keep them from blowing away.
Leaving the glacier, Lyle heard a loud roar, looked back and saw an avalanche, our first on the trip. It looked like a waterfall of snow gracefully flowing down the middle of the mountain face. We walked up to the mouth of the lake and could have stayed there for a quite a while, but we were short on time and still had to get to camp before dinner.
Los Perros is the most remote and rustic of all the campgrounds on the O-Trek. The tents are pitched in the woods close to the river. We had a little bit of time to kill before dinner so we went out and stood under the sun on the rocks by the river to soak in as much heat as we could.
Los Perros is the only campground without hot showers, so most of us skipped showering that night. Anh Vu was the only brave soul. His method was to let the cold water hit his head and by the time the water traveled down his body, it would have gotten a little warmer from the heat off his head. Ugghhh. Good method but we’re still not convinced it’ll be warm enough for us not to scream in agony.
There is also no kitchen at this campground. Now we understood the need for the horses at Camp Dickson. Each day, meal service is delivered from Camp Dickson to Camp Los Perros by a train of horses. Our packaged meal is then heated up before dinner.