Now it was time to hit the road for Torres del Paine. Arriving at the bus station that morning, it was a complete mad house full of backpackers trying to figure out what bus to get on. Turned out there were several buses headed to the park entrance spaced 5-10 minutes apart. Grant overheard a worker tell one of the backpackers to follow him over to the 7am bus and yelled over the crowd to me to follow them. We also didn’t realize there were two stopping points once arriving to the park: Laguna Amarga and Pudeto. Our stop was Pudeto so the driver pulled our bags and put them in a different compartment away from the others. Our driver could have been plucked from a movie – buffed out with long hair kept back by a handkerchief and stunna shades on. He had two Monster energy drinks in the cab and we could hear the bass of his techno music blasting the whole way through the Patagonian desert. Some German travelers behind us likened him to the Rastafarian bus driver from the crazy bus ride in the 3rd Harry Potter movie. After a 1.5 hour bus ride along a very bumpy gravel road and some crazy driving, we made it to the entrance where we had to get off to scan our park tickets before re-boarding to head to the Pudeto stop. Pulling in to the National Park we saw lots of guanacos (similar to llamas or alpacas) and a flock of flamingos in the lake.

At Pudeto, we grabbed a quick Cappuccino before I realized the boat we needed to be on was already boarding and the next one wasn’t going for another 6 hours. Grant was worried that we wouldn’t make it on as we were one of the lasts in line and the boat was filling up quick. However, they crammed all of about 75-80 of us on with our backpacks and headed out to the Paine Grande port. The 30 minute boat ride was pretty smooth for how windy and wavy the water was outside. Being the last ones on, we were pretty excited to get off first. Unfortunately, we needed to have purchased a boat ticket prior to leaving the boat. The guy had not been available when we first got on so we had to head back to his booth in order to purchase the ticket. Thankfully it was a quick process and were able to get off before the big rush of people.

Making it to Paine Grande, it was time to check in and set up our tent. It turned out that being last on the boat had the advantage of us getting to be first in line for check-in since we were some of the first off the boat. The woman checking us in said it was first come first serve on specific campsite locations and recommended claiming one as close to the main building as possible for wind protection.

Setting the tent up in the wind was pretty tough but luckily we had practiced setting up our tent in the Airbnb in El Calafate beforehand so the process was fresh in our minds. We used our backpacks and rocks around us to hold the tent down while we went around hammering the stakes in as fast as we could. After putting on the rain fly we tied it to a wind blocking fence next to our tent with the hopes it wouldn’t fly away while we were out hiking. Our staking skills ended up working great!

Then it was off for our first hike of the trip! Grant wanted to make it to Grey Glacier before we needed to be back for dinner at 8pm. So it was off to the hills as it was to be a 23km (14mi) round trip hike. I hadn’t done much research on Torres del Paine prior to this trip and did not realize how windy it would be. As you can see in the video we took on the outlook at Mirador Grey, you can barely hear Grant speak. Though it was chilly with the wind, the views on every hill leading up to the viewpoint were spectacular. We made it a little past the viewpoint before turning around as it would have been another 3 miles to Refugio Grey. I didn’t want to push the mileage the first day as we had a long day ahead for Day 2, but we got in all the amazing views we wanted regardless. Other photos/videos can be viewed here.

After our 9.5 mile hike, we grabbed a drink and some Pringles at the bar over the cafeteria to hold us over until our 8pm dinner time. Who knew we would be able to do that daily on a backpacking trip? At dinner, we made friends with a great couple from Ohio who were nearing the end of their W circuit trek. They gave us great tips for the rest of our trip that we were able to return the favor later on in the week for other guests. They also gave us some good tips for things to bring on future backpacking trips like the PissOff towel (you guys can look it up). And it turned out they were also a COVID wedding couple and were calling this trip another “honeymoon” as well. After dinner and drinks, it was time for us to turn in for the night and prepare for Day 2! On the way back to our tent we had a fox sighting! There were signs around the campsite noting to keep your shoes in your tent as foxes like to take them, and we saw one on the prowl weaving between tents in the 11PM dusk light as backpackers were mostly retreated into their tents.