Day 52-53 Torres del Paine

One of the most fameous and must-see places in South America is the national park in Patagonia called Torres del Paine. From El Calafate via Ruta 40 and 7 I crossed the border to Chile again and entered the area around the national park.

Torres del Paine National Park

The road to Chile was indeed challenging – very strong cross-road winds and temperatures around 6-8 degrees made the trip cold and strugglesome. And on top the Ruta 7 was apparently not a very frequent used road, so like driving on loose coble-stones (size of baby-heads, sorry for the wording, but bike people know the size and trickery of these) mixed with sand and loose gravel. And side-wind blowing 50-80 kmh – ok it was only 75km stretch but did so look forward to paved roads again.

Simple fuel station at the end of Ruta 7
Ocean front of Puerto Natales

Road into Puerto Natales from the border was all new and an ease to drive – and with the spectacular national park on my right – something to look forward to on second day here.

View into the National Park

After a good meal and a single beer early to bed and prepare for the 240km roundtrip of the park – starting with a cave visit at Cueva de Milodón, followed by viewpoints at glacier rivers and waterfalls, lagunas and of course the spectacular mountain views. Unfortunately the weather was not that fantastic so the fameous peaks were hiding in the clouds – but I did get a feeling of the grandeur of this.

Enjoy the pictures – I did …

Cuevas de Milodon – the 10.000 year old “bear” found in the caves
The milodon
Look out of the cave
One of the many lakes – blue color is NOT manipulated

The enormous amount of melting water from the glaciers
… ending in a waterfall
And it was raining and wind guests of 80 km/h – but wtf I’m enjoying myself
The peaks – best shot with only a little cloud coverage

Another angle of the peaks