Are you a fair-weather hiker, or will you even go out in the rain?
For our second day in Torres Del Paine National Park, we were still breaking in our legs in preparation for the big hike we were there for. The rain only helped in our decision to do another warmup hike rather than tackle the park’s namesake trek.
Ideally, we wanted to get out to the park’s glacier: Glacier Grey. However, that would require either a ridiculously long hike (provided we could get to the correct side of the water) or a ridiculously expensive boat trip. Neither sounded appealing, so we opted for a several-hour jaunt along the Rio Pingo.
The trailhead was nearly impossible to find. If not for our AllTrails app, I don’t think we would have found it! There was some construction at the visitor center there, and the only visible path crossed the river on a precarious-looking suspension bridge.
Skirting the construction, we finally picked up the correct trail, and we set out along the river.
The weather was less than perfect, and we quickly became a little damp. But that wouldn’t phase us; it was still a beautiful day to be out!
The trail rose and fell as it followed the river, affording us occasional views of cloud-obscured spires in the distance. Along the way, we were delighted to stumble upon white-butt bees, a few horses, and the cutest tiny mouse munching on seeds!
We picnicked and turned around at a peaceful waterfall, opting to not ascend the steep hill to the “mirador” (which we joked looked like “Mordor”).
With the sprinkles, we were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow, a pleasant cherry on top of this refreshing day. With our legs warmed up, we were finally ready to tackle The Big One the next day. Torres, here we come!
Don’t miss out on new content!
Follow our blog for new snippets every day and full posts and videos every week.