Minus the extremely long day getting from Ushuaia to Puerto Natales, our first 3 days in Patagonia proved to be absolutely amazing. We were met by our guide Sandra at the bus station and after the transfer to our hotel she filled us in on the plan for our time in Chile, which was of hiking. We were very excited about that, and as an unexpected bonus we found our group would just be Julie, me and the guide. Sandra showed us where we could get some dinner, which we did before re-packing all of our crap so we could leave a bunch of things at the hotel.
We left town at 8:00 am headed to Torres del Paine National Park with plans to day hike most of the W track over the course of the next three days. Our first hike was was up to the towers of granite that the park is named after. We dropped our things at the Refugio (similar to a hostel) where we would be spending the night and headed out with our day packs. The trail was 9.5 kilometers one way and climbed steadily to the viewpoint with a very steep section to finish it off. We had amazing weather, with just a few clouds moving around the towers giving us intermittent views of our goal from the trail. Just before we got to the top, the clouds lifted and we were able to take in the full glory of three huge rock pillars. We ate lunch at the top before heading back down the same way. We got showers and dinner at the Refugio before heading to bed. We were glad to finally be doing some real hiking but 7 hours definately wore us out!
The next day started with a boat ride across a lake which took us to the next Refugio we would stay at as well as the starting point for the next two hikes. We once again dropped off our things and headed out. Today we were hiking the French Valley which would be the longest of the three days. It took two and a half hours to get to the camp where we turned north and actually started up the valley. From there we could see several large hanging glaciers on one side and the horns (another geographical feature of the park) on the other. We made it to the first viewpoint and had to make a decision to continue to the second or stay there. If we were to continue we had to leave right away - we had already been hiking for 3.5 hours and it would be at least one more to get to the next point. We decided to push for it and weren't disappointed. Our guide was going very fast so that we wouldn't have to turn around right away, and that meant we spent a half hour soaking in the scenery and the sunshine. Four and a half long hours later we had retraced our steps, completing 30 km, and were back to the Refugio. We were all starving so we grabbed dinner before showering and then had a quick beer before going to bed. I went to bed before anybody else staying in the room (6 total) and fell asleep with the lights still on!
Surprisingly Julie and I both awoke the next morning without any soreness in our legs. This would be our final hike in the park and it would take us to a point overlooking glacier grey. The hike was 11 kilometers each way and we had to be back to catch the boat across the lake before 6:30 pm. We decided to leave at 8:30 to give ourselves plenty of time and had the trail pretty much to ourselves for the first hour or so. We were walking on the west side of the largest mountain in the park so we had shade the entire way up, which actually made it very chilly - there was still frost on some of the plants at 11:00. Although our legs weren't sore, they were tired so we didn't walk quite as fast. We still made it to the end with plenty of time to spare so we ate a leisurely lunch while staring at the huge glacier across the lake. Even after we left the viewpoint we weren't in a hurry so we stopped for a coffee and a hot chocolate at one of the newer lodges in the park and sat outside soaking up the sunshine. 
We got back with plenty of time to spare before the boat and eventually rolled back in to Puerto Natales at about 9:45. We didn't have any information waiting for us, and Sandra didn't know anything about our transfer the next morning, so to be sure we got to the bus station she asked the hotel folks if they would call us a taxi. This made us feel a little better but we were still dreading the travel day after our last experience. We went to dinner and then to bed hoping for the best.
I don't think I explained just how outstanding the weather was during our three days of hiking. We had sunshine, little to no cloud cover, and no wind - which is supposedly unheard of this time of year in Patagonia, I'm sure our pictures won't do it justice. It felt good to be doing something active again and I was reminded how much I really enjoy hiking. Depending on which map you believe we hiked either 65 or 71 kilometers in 3 days and enjoyed every minute of it.
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