2-1 through 2-6-10 Torres del Paine Park (Chile)

2-1-10: We parked our car at the trailhead, packed our backpacks (Gaby and Luke were also carrying backpacks containing their sleeping bags and foam pad) then headed up the trail. We hiked 4.2 km with a steep ascent and a windy section just before hitting Refugio Chileno to set up camp; it took us about 2 hours to this point.

2-2-10: We continued our trek to Mirador Torres (4.8 km sans backpacks except for daypacks Mike and I were carrying). The granite towers of Torres del Paine, the surrounding mountains, and light green waters of the glacial lake were an amazing site although clouds tended to obscure the peaks of Torres most of the time. Luke and Gaby had a blast scrambling over large boulders (see the big boulder picture and pick out the kids to the right of it) and even discovered a neat cave that Mike and I had to see. After a couple of hours, the kids and I decided to begin our descent while Mike lagged behind to enjoy the views and peaceful solitude just a bit longer. We spent another night at our same camp.

2-3-10: We hiked back to the trailhead this morning and bid Torres del Paine Park goodbye as we headed back to Puerto Natales.

2-4-10: The Cueva del Milodon (cave of the Mylodon) warranted a visit before leaving the Puerto Natales area. It is a huge cave (30 m high) where the remains of a giant ground sloth creature were found in the 1890s. Mylodon is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth that lived in the Patagonia area of South America until roughly 10,000 years ago. Mylodon weighed about 200 kilograms (440 lb) and stood up to 3 m (10 ft) tall when raised up on its hind legs. Preserved dung has shown it was a herbivore. It had very thick hide and had osteoderms within its skin for added armor. The Mylodon museum had a small piece of the Mylodon's hide with fur still attached and some of its bones. After completing out tour of the cave and museum, we loaded up in the car and crossed back into Argentina with a planned destination of El Calafate. We took a wrong turn at one point and nearly found a new crossing back into Chile except for the road ending at the base of the mountains which effectively blocked our passage (ha,ha). Thus we turned around, ran into a couple of ranchers checking on their sheep who pointed out our wrong turn, and ended up on their estancia for the night since we wouldn't make El Calafate before nightfall. Their estancia, Rupai Pacha, had a nice campsite which made for a cozy stay. The next morning we chatted with our hosts and had a little tour explaining the history of their estancia as well as the inner workings of their sheep ranch. We were invited to their large garden to pick a small basket of organic starwberries for our road trip; what great hospitality!

2-5-10: We arrived at El Calafate and spent 2 nights here. Downtown Calafate had a nice mix of resto-bars, eateries, coffee shops, chocolate shops, souvenir shops, and bookstores.

2-6-10: Today's highlight was a trip into Parque Nacional Los Glaciares to view the amazing Glacier Perito Moreno; the park is 78 km from El Calafate. Glacier Moreno is among the Earth's most dynamic and accessible ice fields. It measures 30 m long, 5 km wide, and 60 m high but what makes it exceptional is its constant advance of up to 2 m/day, causing building-sized icebergs to braek off from its face. You could hear what sounded like a cannon shot as the glacier moved or broke off into the Lago Argentino!