O Trek - Patagonia

I am sitting here, back at the hotel after a 7 day, 65 mile hike with 15,000 foot incline through one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and I am at a loss for words. I’ve never done something so physically difficult. I have never simultaneously wanted something to be over with while also wishing it to never end. I want to write it all down and remember it forever but I know this experience won’t translate as perfectly into words as I would like - but I will try.

Let me start off with explaining what the O trek is, because I personally didn’t know until day two of this trek what I was doing. The O trek is a loop through Torres del Pine National Park in the Patagonia region of Chile that spans approximately 65 miles. There are refugios that people stay at along the way, either in tents or, in some cases, inside the refugio. When you sign up, you have the option to purchase room and board at some or all of the refugios. This way, you have the option to not carry a tent/sleeping bag/sleeping pad and/or food. There are options to complete the O trek in either 6, 7, 8, or 9 days, depending on how much milage you want to do in the days after day four (everyone does the same milage and route on days one through four). You may’ve heard of the more popular W trek, which is a shorter option to just do the second half of the O trek. Here’s a map to give you a visual:

from Flashpacker Connect

Sam’s been wanting to do the O trek for a while, so when we decided to take our six month trip, this was the first thing he booked. He convinced his mom and sister, Melinda and Miranda, to join us too. We all, plus his dad, Dave, met in Puerto Natales, Chile two days before the trek began. The day before the trek, we unpacked and repacked our backpacks, bought food, made a bunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (which lasted about 24 hours), and enjoyed our last night of sleep in real beds. On Friday December 6th, we woke up at 5:45 AM for our 7:00 AM bus ride from Puerto Natales into Torres del Pine National Park (approximately two hours). Once we got into the park, we were surprised that we had to pay for yet another short bus ride to the Welcome Center where our trek began. We made it to the Welcome Center and were on our way by before 11:00 AM. That first day we only had about 8.13 miles and 1,155 ft incline. I recall arriving to Refugio Serrano that afternoon, after being giddy all day taking in the beauty of Torres Del Paine, and it really hitting me how this was just the first (and one of the easiest) of seven days. We all took showers and rested until dinner time. Melinda bought two dinners and one breakfast at Refugio Serrano, so her and Sam had dinner the first night and I had the breakfast in the morning. After Miranda and I made an interesting mix of tuna and instant mashed potatoes for dinner the night before, the breakfast the next morning was particularly delicious. Refugio Serrano actually ended up being my favorite refugio throughout this week, but I didn’t realize how good we had it that first night. What I also didn’t realize until day two was that the refugios in Torres del Paine are all owned by private corporations, rather than run by the park themselves. Out of the refugios we stayed in, Las Torres owned the ones we stayed in nights one, five, and six and Vertice owned the rest. In my opinion, Las Torres had better food, a less corporate feel, and generally friendlier staff. This first night is when we met our favorite people, Jim and Kat, a lovely British couple who we plan to remain in touch with and hopefully see again. That night, like all the other nights, we went to bed when it was still light out (the sun doesn’t set until after 10:30 PM).

Day two:

A few miles into day two was when it hit me that I probably should’ve trained for this hike on a stair master. Although the elevation increase was supposed to be basically the same as day one, it was 2,133 ft, less than 1,000 ft incline greater than day one. A pattern we noticed throughout this trek was how inaccurate the distance and elevation measurements were in our reservation information and on the park signage. I was glad that Sam had his Garmin watch so we could see the actual stats for each day. A few miles into what ended up being a 11.06 mile day, we went up this huge hill that I was eager to be at the top of. As soon as we got to the top, and to my surprise, the wind at the top of the hill nearly knocked us over. The view from the top metaphorically knocked me over, with snow covered mountains positioned behind a huge blue-green lake that looked almost milky. After many more miles we made it to another hill that had an incredible view at the top - our Refugio for the night, Refugio Dickson. Not only were we simply ecstatic to see the finish line for the day, but the view itself was the most gorgeous view I had seen all trip. Refugio Dickson was the prettiest place we stayed the whole week in my opinion. Since this land was shared with park rangers, there were horses just grazing around the refugio. The mountains were towering over the refugio and there was a river that opened up into a lake right next to the refugio.

Day three:

Day three was the “easy” day, where we ultimately clocked in around 7.5 miles and 1,870 ft in elevation gain. For most sane people, that is not “easy,” especially when you’re carrying 40+ pounds on your back. Alas, this was a shorter day because there is a pass called the John Gardner (?) pass that people are not allowed to go over in the afternoon because it gets too windy. The campsite for the third night, located just a couple miles before the pass, required that you leave the campsite by 7:00 AM to ensure it wasn’t too windy when getting to the top of the pass. Anywho, back to day three and being “easy.” My experience, particularly with this trek, is that when you anticipate something will be easy, it ultimately ends up feeling harder based on the expectation. While day three wasn’t particularly difficult, it felt like it was never ending because it was supposed to be so short. When we were almost at our destination for the night, Los Peros campsite, we see a glacier that we decide to go look at before we turn into the campsite. Upon arrival, we see one of our friends, Lawrence, a German, doing a cold plunge in the water, along with a Bolivian woman and a German woman. Sam, Miranda, and I obviously couldn’t resist going into the glacier water now that we saw other people doing it. It was COLD. I only lasted about 45 seconds before getting out. Like anything that pushes you past your comfort zone, I am so happy I did it. That night, we ate some of the food we brought in a kitchen area meant for cooking, chatted with a Swedish woman, an Italian man, two Germans, and of course, Jim and Kat, then went to Melinda and Miranda’s tent to play cards before heading to bed early so we got plenty of rest for our 4:45 AM wake up to summit the John Gardner pass.

Day four:

The fourth day of the O trek is known as the hardest day. While it’s only 10.15 miles, it’s 3,484 ft in elevation. We had our overnight oats before starting our ascent by 6:00 AM. The first hour was straight uphill through the woods, until finally we got out of the woods and into a complete change of scenery. We had nearly passed the snow line at this point. With now complete open air, we could see our fellow trekkers traversing across the rocky mountainside and up the snow covered pass. By 9:00 AM we had finally reached the top of the pass and were staring open jawed at the biggest glacier I had ever seen, Grey Glacier. While pictures definitely don’t do it justice, I hope you can still appreciate the magnitude of this view. At this point, we’re all giddy thinking we finished the hardest part. Oh, were we wrong! Refugio Paso was the (closed) refugio that people recommended we stop at to eat lunch after passing over the pass. Park rangers said it was a little under the halfway point between Los Peros to Refugio Grey (where we were all staying on night four). Given this, we (and everyone else on our trek that day) assumed that it would be under an hour after the pass. It was not. And if that steep uphill was hard, the downhill on the other side of the pass was on a whole new level of hard. I have no sense of how long it took us to get down to Refugio Paso or how many miles it was, but I know it was the hardest part of the whole 7 days. When we finally stopped, we and the other trekkers around us were physically and mentally exhausted. We then had to get to terms with the fact that we were still less than halfway to our destination. At Los Peros the night before we thought that the estimation of 10 hours for this 10 mile day was wrong for us (we had been faster than the time estimations for all the days up until this day). At this point it became clear that this 10 hour estimation wasn’t completely off. As we’re re-packing up our water and food to continue on to our destination, Refugio Grey, we see our friend Jim coming up the hill towards us with a lopsided pack. We plan to let him know his pack is unbalanced, but before he could say anything, he starts to tell us that he is carrying another trekker’s tent because she is injured. He tells us that he and Kat came across Lawrence carrying two packs, his on his back and Jessica’s (a German woman) on his front. Jim explained that Jessica had blood soaked through her pants from falling multiple times. Sam, Miranda, and I start running back on the trail. We get to Lawrence and Jessica sitting on a rock next to a waterfall about five minutes away. Lawrence, who we quickly learned was a perpetual optimist, had a smile on his face, and Jessica, with tears in her eyes. Sam takes her pack and brings it back to the rest point of Refugio Paso where Jim and other trekkers were, while Miranda and I comfort Jessica. Turns out that it wasn’t so much the pain she was in, as much as it was her being exhausted from the hike, underfed, and disappointed in herself for needing help. She told us she left the campsite at 4:00 AM because she was worried it would take her a long time to complete today. She, like everyone else, was set on completing the hardest day successfully with no help. After her third fall in a short period of time, she allowed Lawrence to help her out. Lawrence later told us he passed by her after her second fall, prompting him to stay near her despite her telling him she doesn’t need help. She finally accepted it when she fell a third time. After making sure she ate and drank water, Miranda, Lawrence, and I walked with her five minutes to Refugio Paso. People had already sprung into action by the time we arrived with Jessica to Paso. A Swedish woman started hiking to Refugio Grey to tell rangers there about what had happened so they could help. Jim and Sam had discussed the two options - use Jim’s fancy Garmin to send an emergency alert and get park rangers to somehow carry Jessica out (even though the typical mode of transport for park rangers was horses, who absolutely could not make it to this part of the park) or split up Jessica’s backpack amongst the other trekkers so she could try to walk out on her own. Jessica chose the second option. So we went through Jessica’s bag as people volunteered to carry her items. It truly was heartwarming to see people stepping up to help someone that we all just met. Not only did people volunteer to add weight to their already heavy packs on the hardest day of the trek, but people offered support in all the ways they could. Magda, a Belgian woman, offered her chocolate to Jessica. Kat, filling the classic British stereotype, made Jessica a cup of tea (“Jim and I already have a pot of water up for our afternoon tea!”). An Australian woman offered full use of her med kit. Lawrence said to Jessica, “if you wouldn’t mind I am going to walk the rest of the way with you to make sure you don’t spent the night in the woods.” After dividing up her bag and making sure Jessica would be all taken care of, we continued our hike. The rest of the trek that day was less steep than the first part, which was a blessing with our now 60 pound bags (Sam’s was probably closer to 90 pounds and he was carrying Jessica’s sleeping bag in his hands. When we finally got to Refugio Grey, a table full of our fellow O trekkers who had already finished and were drinking beers shouted out “the gringos!” and started applauding. Then we had to explain what had happened with Jessica about 10 times over because news apparently travels fast. After a mediocre dinner that the four of us obviously scarfed down after a physically and emotionally tolling day, and after making sure Jessica and Lawrence made it to Refugio Grey, we retreated to our tents and passed out by 8:00 PM. What I find to be the most peculiar is that, despite (and likely because) this day was so very hard, Melinda, Miranda, Sam, and I all agreed that day four was the best day of the whole trek. I think that fact is one of the strange parts of life - the hardest things where you push yourself to limits you didn’t know you were capable of, end up being the most rewarding.

Day five:

This was the day that we separated from most of the people we had been with for the first four days (unfortunately, including Jim and Kat. Fortunately, not including Lawrence). As I wrote at the beginning, you can choose to do the hike in any number of days ranging from six to nine. Sam picked the seven day one for us, which we learned was much less common than the eight day trek. While the eight day people today only had to go about 8 miles, Melinda, Miranda, Sam, and I had a 14 mile hike ahead of us. After saying our goodbyes to Jim and Kat, we started on our day. The funny thing about this day was, probably because we anticipated it to be really hard, it actually was not too bad. Although our legs were sore, we were just happy to not have much altitude (2,848 ft) and to not have the added weight of Jessica’s belongings. About halfway through, we stopped at the Refugio that the eight and nine day O trekkers were staying at that was situated on a lake for lunch. We continued onwards until we reached Refugio Italiano, which was about 2 kilometers from Refugio Frances where we were staying on night five. The recommendation is to drop your backpacks off at Refugio Italiano to then go up to Mirador Frances (to see Frances Glacier) and then summit Bratanico. We arrived at Italiano around 4:00 PM to learn that the path going up to Mirador Frances and Bratanico was closed at 2:00 PM. After some negotiating, we convinced the park ranger to let us sneak past to at least see Mirador Frances. Although we were sad we didn’t have the opportunity to see Bratanico, I was fine with taking my tired self to Refugio Frances to rest. Upon arrival at Refugio Frances, we could clearly see that our stay wouldn’t be entirely restful. This Refugio, although owned by our favorite refugio company, Las Torres, is situated entirely on a steep hill. To get anywhere, the bathroom, the kitchen, our tents, was a workout. Thanks to Melinda’s generosity, we enjoyed a delicious meal made by Refugio Frances. After enjoying a long conversation with Lawrence over dinner, we went to sleep.

What we observed during day five’s hike and at Refugio Frances was that the influx of people due to now being on the ‘W’ part of the trek was noticeable. People either doing day hikes or completing the shorter W trek were seemingly multiplying and annoyingly clean. We definitely missed the peace on the trails and the refugios filled with just the small group of O people we had become familiar with.

Day six:

By day six we thought our hardest days (day four and five) were behind us. We also thought day six was only 8 miles. It was nearly 10.5 miles with the same-ish incline (2,976 ft) as day five. As it goes, since we expected it to be easier, day five felt never ending and very difficult. It also was our first really cloudy and partially rainy day (although it cleared up for a bit around lunch time for us to enjoy our food next to a waterfall). I was also growing increasingly frustrated with more and more people on the trails, which I recognized is a bit unfair to feel. Obviously day hikers and W trekkers should be enjoying the beauty of Torres del Paine, but we simply missed the serenity of the O part of the trek. We arrived at Refugio Chileno for our last night. I will also note for anyone interested in doing this trek, this Refugio was the most expensive by far to book. Since Sam and I had our own tent, we had been paying only about $10 to $12 per night. Refugio Chileno charged us $80. Being so close to the Welcome Center of Torres del Paine, Refugio Chileno is accessible to people who just want to hike up for a night. This is likely the reason for their high prices. Refugio Chileno is also the closest refugio to one of the most popular hikes in the park, which is the one you can hike up to see the towers up close. The towers (“torres” in Spanish) is where the park got its name from. You can see the famous three towers from many spots in the park, but this particular hike brings you close to them. Many O trek people, including us, plan on hiking up for sunrise on the last morning of their trek to see the towers as the sun comes up before you hike down to the Welcome Center to complete your trek. When we arrived at Refugio Chileno, we planned on hiking up to the towers that night because of the cloudy and rainy weather predicted for the next morning that would impair our view of the towers and sunrise. Upon arrival we were told the hike to the towers, like the hike to Mirador Frances and Bratanico, was unfortunately closed at 2:00 PM. After talking with other O trekkers who had already hiked up to the towers and with someone who worked at the Refugio, we determined we wouldn’t wake up early the next day to hike up to the towers. According to the woman who worked at the Refugio, we weren’t going to be able to see the towers or sunrise if we hiked up. According to fellow O trekkers, the view of the towers wasn’t anything special compared to all the amazing views we had in the past weeks.

Day seven:

Since we decided against hiking up to the towers on the last morning for sunset, we only hiked down to the Welcome Center about 3.53 miles on the final day. As if the park was saying its final goodbye to us, there was a full rainbow that we saw right as we began our descent, which faded away into the valley as we made our way down the mountain.

As I’m finishing up writing this post, this trek ended yesterday. It feels like a lifetime ago. I’ve taken four showers, happily eaten food that actually contained fruits and veggies, slept in a queen bed, finally got WiFi and reconnected to the outside world on my phone, and walked around without 40+ pounds on my back. I have to say - I really miss the woods. There is something so deeply satisfying about accomplishing something each day with your own two feet and your mind. There is also something so beautiful about meeting people from around the world in an environment where no one has their phones to rely on and where everyone has a common love for the outdoors. It was so incredible to share something so difficult yet so special with Melinda, Miranda, and Sam. I want to do it all over again, yet I never want to go through it again.

Advice if you’re thinking about doing this!

• Set a reminder to sign up as soon as sign ups open up. Sam did all the trek planning and signing up for us, so I was lucky enough to not go through this nightmare. I heard stories from him and other trekkers about how inefficient the website was and how you have to sign up for each individual night with each refugio and how difficult and time-consuming the whole process is. So be prepared and know that things fill up quickly.

• Bring flip-flops. You will not want to wear hiking boots once you are done with each day. Melinda and Miranda both didn’t bring flip-flops and they completely regretted it. They also come in super handy for the shower.

• Bring bug spray. The mosquitos were only bad on the first night (the only spot where it was warm enough for them), but it was no fun having to deal with them even just for one night.

• Plan out your meals. We had a mixture of meals we brought and meals that Melinda (shout out to Melinda!) bought for us at the refugios. While we vaguely had an idea of how much food we needed, we didn’t plan enough what we’d have for each meal and by the end we were low on food. Kat told us the first night she planned out all their meals and I thought that was a really smart way to do it.

• Know that day four is hard, and that getting over the pass isn’t the hardest part. We had the expectation that the hardest part of day four was getting over the pass, so when the very difficult downhill after the pass was seemingly never-ending, it was really tough mentally. Just manage your expectations and know that when they say day four will take around ten hours, they’re not exaggerating.

• If you are less experienced of a hiker or above 50 or so, I would 100% recommend spending the extra money for all the meals and tent/bed each day. Just having to carry your clothes will make the whole experience more enjoyable.

• Expect to not be reachable for the extent of your trip. You could purchase WiFi at all refugios with the exception of nights 2 and 3, but WiFi was very pricey and I do think part of the beauty of the whole experience for me was being without a phone for 7 days.