Torres del Paine 2017
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Torres del Paine is a national park in southern Chile, in the region known as Patagonia. This huge, 227,000 acre park was declared a national park in 1959 and is one of the most visited parks in Chile.
Julie and I visited the park in 2015. Our friends, Sandy and Paul Renner, wanted to visit the park so we spent 5 days enjoying the scenery in this amazing place.
2017Julie MartensLago GreyPaul RennerRainerSandy RennerTorres del Paine
We flew to Santiago, Chile and then south to Punta Arenas where we rented a van and drove 4 hours north to the Park.
We found Chile to be a friendly, progressive country that offered warm hospitality to visitors from around the world.
You can get a sense of Torres del Paine from this map. Beautiful tourquoise-colored lakes, huge glaciers, and the distinctive Paine Massif, the rugged spires of these granite mountains.
Driving to Torres del Paine on Highway 9 we spotted a field of lupens that were calling our cameras to come take their picture. And we obliged.
An old abandoned bridge, a small stream, and a field full of lupens. Now that makes a picture.
Another view of this lovely field of lupens.
Lupens as foreground to the grasslands of the region.
A closer view of these flowers.
And one final photo of nature's handiwork. I could have spent a lot more time photographing these flowers but we had a couple more hours of driving to reach Torres del Paine.
On our drive to the park we were vigilant in spotting this animal. It looks like a llama or alpaca, but it's actually a guanaco, a common sight around the park.
We saw this guanaco in a field along the side of the road. She gave us a look of curiosity as we took her picture.
This ornery guanaco, who hadn't brushed his teeth in a while, kept attacking another guanaco lying on the ground.
Guanacos stand about 6 feet tall, weigh about 200-300 pounds, and live about 25 years.
These rugged mountains are called the Paine Massif, the rugged granite spires of Torres del Paine.
We arose very early to drive about 30 minutes to climb a hill to get this pre-sunrise photo of Cerro Paine Grande. Unfortunately a slight breeze did not give us the mirror-reflection we would have liked .
Capturing the alpenglow over Cerro Paine Grande.
One day we took a boat trip on Lago (lake) Grey to see Glacier Grey. As we traveled up the narrow lake we looked at mountains like these on either side.
As we approached the head of one arm of the glacier we saw a group of kayakers making their way toward the glacier.
A closer view of the kayakers.
We went by a huge iceberg with a tunnel through it.
Glacier Grey is about 4 miles wide and 17 miles long. This is one of three ends of the glacier.
Glacial ice is so blue because the dense ice of the glacier absorbs every other color of the light spectrum except blue.
The glacier covers about 100 square miles and is about 200 feet high at its terminus.
Nature displaying her art in ice.
A 200-foot tower of blue ice.
Observe how the movement of the glacier has carved away the granite behind it.
One day we made our way to Salto Grande, the beautiful waterfall and rapids in the park. As we hiked in we had a glimpse of Cuernos del Paine, part of the Paine Massif.
Salto Grande from above.
Waterfall
These are the rapids on the Paine River before the falls.
Here is another view of the Paine River just before the falls with Cerro Paine Grande in the background.
And one additional view with Cerro Paine Grande and Cuernos del Paine in the background.
Mating season for guanacos is from November to February. Eleven and half months after conception a single chulengoes is born and is able to walk immediately.
A small herd of guanacos. These animals were relatively unafraid of humans up to a distance of about 25 feet.
Guanacos do sit-ups each morning. Actually this female is scratching her back.
You have seen their faces, butt not this view. Guanacos travel in herds, usually about 10 females and one dominant male.
Looking at the Paine Massif across Lake Pehoe.
Another view of the Paine Massif from Lake Pehoe. Why is the water so blue? The silt created by the movement of the glacier creates what is called rock flour which is suspended in the water. The light reflecting on the rock flour creates the beautiful blue-green color.
Is it an ostrich or an emu? Neither one. It is a rhea, which is related to the ostrich family. Rheas may stand up to six feet tall and weigh 90 lbs. They are declining in number and are on the near-threatened list.
A young rhea and her mother. Rheas are flightless birds.
Flamingos on Lake Amargo.
This red fox stopped to give us a look. It was the only fox we saw during our time in the park. The park also has pumas, but we never saw one on this trip.
