Torres Del Paine

When I first arrived at the airport in Punta Arenas to kick off my Patagonia trip, I was really hesitant about doing the three days in Torres Del Paine. I was thinking what if it's too hard, if i get lost, if I'm too cold, I was basically filled with doubt and fears about the upcoming three days. But as soon as I took the bus ride the following morning from Puerto Natales to the park, I knew that this was going to be awesome. The first hike I did started right after I entered the park. I dropped off my things at the refugio and started on my way with just my camel back and the lunch they had packed for me. The hike was everything you could want to see in a hike. There was a birch tree forest which turned into a mountain pass that looked over a flowing river which turned into a homemade swinging bridge. It was sunny, then it snowed, it was flat then it went up hill then twisted and went down hill. It was awesome. The hike took me to the three towers which were situated in front a frosted lake. :) In total I would give the hike a 5/10 for difficulty and a 8.9/10 for awesomeness. It made me really thankful that I did the Villarrica volcano first because after that trek, everything seems like a walk in the park to me. I filled my camel back in the streams with the clear flowing water, and have never tasted water that pure. It was almost sweet.The duration of the hike took a total of just under 6.5 hours and was about 12 miles round trip. That night I stayed in refugio which was like spending the night in a ski lodge. I felt really spoiled. They fed me a big dinner, had a roaring fire place, comfty blankets, and a hot shower. What more can you ask for after a day of hiking?
Day 2 I took the catamaran over one of the lakes within the park and went to Refugio Pehoe. The ride was wild because it was one the windiest days ever. We had winds up to 70kmh and of course I went up top to check out the scenery and was rocked like no other. By the time the boat ride was over, it was already one oclock, which kind of bummed me out a little. But I rushed to the Refugio, dropped off my things, and headed on my way. This hike was a shorter one and realatively easy. Since I only had about 6 hours until night fall I had to book it. At the end of the hike I crossed this awesome bridge over the roaring river that was rocking fiercly back and forth due to the crazy wind. I knew that I didn't have much time and should turned back but decided to go a little farther to the next trail, and I am so happy that I did. I started to climb these big boulders covered in snow and walked for about half hour before I knew I had to turn back. I stopped and looked around. All of a sudden I was surrounded by a water fall on one side, a snowy mountain peak on the other, and a turquoise lake behind me with a rainbow over it, meanwhile the wind is blowing so intensesly that the snow is dancing across the lake. It felt unreal. I had met some friends on the catamaran so had a great dinner with them and passed out early because I knew that my last day was going to be a long one.
Day 3 I woke up early and was on the trail by 8am. This hike was just filled with amazing panoramic views. You pass three lakes, and the third of which is where Gray Glacier is. Glaciers are amazing. They are the clearest, most intense blue color I have ever seen, they appear to be glowing. You could not make a crayon this color. This was my long hike, and it was an intense one since it contanstly was up and down hill, but that just added to the incredible views. I ended up right about the glacier that spread across the tail end of the lake. So beautiful. The weather was perfect, I ended up hiking with just a long sleeve shirt on.  After hiking for about 7 hours round trip I walked up a hill and saw an amazing rainbow over the lake. At that point I realized I was lost, and of course as soon as that happened it started to rain and the extreme wind started again. So I freaked out for 2 seconds, then backtracked my steps and finally found the trail. Probably entered top ten scariest things that have ever happened to me. Being lost in the wilderness, by myself, in the freezing cold, in South America. After that I would give that hike a 7/10 on the difficutly, just because I was so sore after 3 days and it was a long distance of 16 miles roundtrip. After three days and  35 miles of hiking, I treated myself to a Austral pale ale and waited for the catamaran to pick me up and dreamed about coming back with Scott and doing the all the trails the park has to offer. This trip was really amazing. torres Del Paine is a fantastic park.The trails are really well marked, (when you're not chasing rainbows) and the scenery is so diverse, it doesn't make sense that all these things are next to each other. I wish I was a better writer and photographer to really demonstrate what this park meant to me, but I guess you'll just have to visit it yourself.