Day One:
Your guide will meet you at the Punta Arenas Airport. The group will transfer to the town of Puerto Natales,
a three hour drive through the Patagonian pampa. Lodging at the Hotel Indigo, a new hotel with
private bathrooms, Internet access(WiFI), lounge, restaurant. We’ll have a group dinner, and a meeting
and slide show to discuss our adventure in Torres del Paine. |
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Day Two:
Transfer by van to Torres del Paine National Park. (2 hours)
Trek to the base of the famous Torres, or towers. It’s about a 7 hour roundtrip walk, depending on the
speed of the group. Lodging and dinner at the Hostel Chileno, nestled into the Ascencio Valley.
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Day Three:
Trek along Lago Nordenskjold to the base of the Los
miles. Lodging and dinner at the Hostel Cuernos.
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Day Four:
Trek to the French Valley, one of the most beautiful places in the park. Glaciers, granite amphitheaters,
and stunning views surround you as you hike farther and farther up this valley. After exploring
the french Valley, we’ll trek for about 2 more hours to Lake Pehoe (pronounced pay-way). It’s our
longest day, totaling 14 miles, but it is beautiful. Lodging and dinner at the Paine Grande Lodge.
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Day Five:
Today we’ll make our way to Grey Lake, a 3-4 hour trek from Pehoe. If you came to Patagonia to see
a glacier, this is the spot for you. The Grey Glacier, part of the Patagonian Ice Fields, is a huge river
of ice. It ends at Grey Lake, where the glacier calves off huge pieces of ice that float across the lake,
sometimes right to our camp! This is the only night of the trip where we’ll be staying in tents.
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Day Six:
Today you have a choice- you can either go for a hike that will take you face to ice with the massive Grey Glacier. It's an awesome experience to see and feel the very edge of a piece of ice that stretches all the way to the horizon. You can also arrange for a morning of ice hiking and climbing on the glacier. The ice hike is an option provided by a local service there, and is an additional $120. You'll wear crampons and use an ice axe to travel over the glacier, and get a chance to try out ice climbing as well. After the trips to the glacier, we'll board a boat, and work our way through the icebergs as we make the 2 hour crossing of Lago Grey. On the other side of the lake we'll transfer to a real Patagonia estancia, or ranch, for a traditional gaucho (Patagonian cowboy) barbecue. The estancia has an expansive view, .
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Day Seven:
We'll wake up at the estancia, have breakfast, and punctuate our trip to Patagonia with a morning of horseback riding. It's a fitting way to end a trip to this wild and rugged land. After our horseback ride, we'll transfer back to Puerto Natales, where we'll have a celebratory dinner, and another night in the new Indigo Hotel and Spa.
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Day Eight:
Unfortunately all trips have to end sometime- Escorted transfer to Punta Arenas for your flight home. On the way, we'll stop at a penguin reserve! That's right, face to face with penguins in Patagonia!
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