Day 1 – Central to Seron

The first day is a fairly short day with only 13k to walk, over mostly pretty flat terrain. My rucksack felt very heavy indeed, and the weight of it on my back provided plenty of warmth, so that I found in the unexpectedly sunny conditions I was hiking in just a short sleeved T-shirt and wondering if I’d overpacked. The scenery on this section is attractive but not dramatic so I didn’t take many photos. Arriving at the campsite I checked in and was allocated a very spacious tent on stilts, sheltered on a hillside among the trees. Those with their own tents were directed to pitch them anywhere on the open ground below.

I had booked full board (dinner, breakfast and a box lunch) at most of the campsites so dinner was a chance to meet some of the others doing the same hike. An American lady, Jen, a few years older than me, was concerned that her hiking buddy Leanne was not at all well and had chosen to go to bed early rather than come to dinner. Jen was worried about whether they would be able to continue the next day – it’s easy enough to hike back from Seron but once you continue on to the next camp, there are no easy ways out of the park until you reach Grey, usually on day 4. We all wondered how people do get out if they genuinely can’t continue – potentially one could be carried out on horseback, but there didn’t appear to be much in the way of road access on the back half of the circuit between Seron and Grey.

Day 2 – Seron to Dickson

I’d slept surprisingly well once snuggled up in my warm sleeping bag, and had been very grateful not to have needed to get up in the night, as the thought of having to clamber down the ladder from my tent and find my way down the hillside in the dark, wasn’t at all appealing.

At breakfast we were given a couple of baskets of bread and a bowl of scrambled eggs for the table. There were no plates and no individual cutlery – the only way to eat the eggs was to try to slide some onto the bread using the one knife provided, and then try to get it into one’s mouth without dropping it on the table! Thankfully there was also coffee, and subsequently some chocolate flakes appeared on the counter – for which bowls and a few spoons were also then set out. Leanne appeared, looking remarkably bright and declaring she felt much better than she had done the previous day, which was clearly a relief to Jen.

Having rained all night, it was still raining lightly when we left camp, everyone wearing full waterproof gear.

The rain turned out not too bad, persistent but light, reminding me of the Lake District. I was feeling surprisingly strong, my rucksack feeling much more comfortable and I found I was hiking at a steady pace, overtaking other groups who were either hiking more slowly or stopping more frequently. Eventually I found I was just following a short distance behind James, an American guy I’d got chatting to the previous day. When he stopped for a rest I overtook him and then he did the same when I stopped a little later. We continued overtaking each other the rest of the way to Dickson, with him eventually arriving a few minutes ahead of me after I stopped shortly before reaching camp, not realising at the time how close the camp was.

Overall it was a really enjoyable walk; 11 miles which took just over 5 hours. The scenery was beautiful and constantly changing, with our first sighting of snow as we headed up the hillside, lovely views of partially clouded-over mountains and a glacier, Lago Paine, a beautifully curved boardwalk over some wetlands, occasional painted boards telling us what plants we were seeing, and then eventually, as I came around a corner, suddenly I was treated to a stunning view of Lago Dickson with Dickson Camp nestled in the bend. The rain had stopped after about the first hour, and it was gloriously sunny by the time I reached the camp, with a lovely view of the hills from my tent.

The camp was very comfortable; the hot water wasn’t working in the campsite showers, but as I’d arrived early and not many people had checked in yet, I was advised to ask at the refuge for a hot shower, which I did. Others arriving later had to make do with cold showers – or not bother. Dinner was in the refuge and was another sociable meal. Leanne was by now feeling absolutely fine but Jen was now complaining of a very painful knee due to a strained meniscus.

Day 3 – Dickson to Perros

I set off at 9, feeling quite stiff, walking a bit slowly at first but hit my stride after about 20 minutes. This was another really enjoyable walk, mostly through forest with occasional clearings giving glorious views. I kept bumping into Andy and Claire, a British couple I’d met the first day, and they kindly took the below pictures for me, with the final view of Lago Dickson as we headed away from Dickson towards Perros, and the view of Lago Perros and Perros Glacier shortly before arriving at Los Perros camp. I particularly loved all the different bridges we encountered on the way.

The campsite was freezing! There was no heating in any of the communal areas, and the tents are situated in a forest under tree cover so don’t get any warmth from the sun during the day. Showers were cold so I didn’t bother. We all spent the afternoon hanging out together in the kitchen which is provided for those campers who bring their own food to prepare their own meals – our combined body heat eventually brought the room to a comfortable temperature. Even dinner was a cold affair; I had put on extra layers but still was barely warm enough in the unheated cabin where it was served. When we left the cabin to return to our tents I started shaking with the cold and could barely hold my toothbrush still when I went to brush my teeth. I ended up huddled inside my sleeping bag, wearing my down jacket and mittens, with the hood of the sleeping bag pulled up over my head. It was only about 8pm but I was too cold to do anything else.

Thankfully I warmed up pretty quickly once ensconced in the sleeping bag, and slept pretty well – though unfortunately had to get up in the night and found myself wandering in circles round the forest, unable to locate the toilet block in the pitch dark! I had a head torch but it wasn’t bright enough to properly illuminate my surroundings. Thankfully I eventually managed to find the toilets – and then the way back to the tent! But I must have spent a good 5 minutes wandering round in circles among the trees – which felt like a long time in the pitch dark!

Day 4 – Perros to Grey

This day will live on in all of our memories for years to come. We all expected a tough day, as we needed to get over the John Gardner Pass, which, despite not being that high at only 1220m, is notorious for strong winds and is known to be the toughest part of the trek. It was snowing lightly as we left the camp, and initially it was quite exciting seeing the snowfall. The lower section of the trail was very muddy, with lots of makeshift log and stone crossings – but as the path continued uphill we suddenly hit the snow line, so I stopped to put on the spikes I’d hired.

Initially they worked well, as we were walking up a clear, well-trodden trail, but as we got higher the snow got deeper, and although we were all trying to walk in the footsteps of other hikers, often a step would collapse, causing one’s leg to plunge thigh-deep into the soft snow, with the added weight of the heavy rucksack making it more difficult than usual to get out. And in this deep snow, suddenly my spikes kept coming off. I would notice one had fallen off and then have to backtrack through the deep snow to find it. After this happened a few times I decided to stop to take them off and put them away, but in the process lost sight of the rest of the group (although we were not walking as a cohesive group, everyone had set off from camp by 7am as we’d been directed to do, and everyone was headed in the same direction so had been following the same route, so until this point it had been easy to just follow those in front). But it was snowing heavily by now, and the strong wind was blowing snow straight into my eyes; I couldn’t see more than a couple of meters ahead. I didn’t have goggles so had put my sunglasses on, which provided some protection for my eyes but did nothing to improve visibility.

I kept walking in the direction I’d last seen people going, desperately scanning around for any sight of either an orange marker (the regular trail markers) or any other person. But could see neither markers nor people, and found myself on a plateau with slopes going uphill both ahead of me and to my right – though still couldn’t make out anyone else on either slope. I spent probably 10 minutes walking back and forth trying to catch any glimpse of either another person or a trail marker, then fished out my phone, turned it on and opened up Maps.me, the offline navigation app of choice among hikers in South America, praying that the phone battery would last long enough in the freezing conditions for me to figure out which way to go. Thankfully the GPS immediately pinpointed my position and the direction I needed to head, and I was just starting to head in that direction when I heard voices shouting. I wasn’t sure if they were shouting to me or to others in their group below but it didn’t matter – I just followed the voices and suddenly spotted a few people standing higher up on what looked like it may be the top of the pass. As I finally reached an orange marker, I caught up with Lachlan and Isabelle, two Australians, who asked if I was okay, having apparently spotted me wandering off in the wrong direction (it turned out Lachlan’s was one of the voices I’d heard; the others were a group of American lads higher up). I assured them I was fine, if a bit cold, and Lachlan asked if I would mind staying with him and Isabelle for a bit as they were both a bit freaked out by the conditions, being completely unused to such weather. They had been wondering whether they should turn back, but I assured them that, based on the map I’d just looked at, we were very nearly at the top of the pass and we absolutely shouldn’t be turning back at this stage. This appeared to reassure them, and we continued together, eventually reaching the top within about 10 minutes.

Miraculously, as soon as we started to drop down the other side, the wind dropped and visibility improved. Despite the gloomy conditions we could still make out the vast expanse of the Grey Glacier spread out below us.

It was still hard work coming down though – I put my spikes back on which helped enormously, and I had poles for balance, but Lachlan and Isabelle were struggling, with no poles and no spikes, having to choose between trying to walk in the track (which was slippery) or in the very deep snow to the side of it (which was just exhausting on already very tired legs). One particular part of the track had turned into a chute where people had clearly slid down on their bottoms – I found even my spikes wouldn’t keep me upright on this section and we had no choice but to do the same, trying our hardest to control our speed as we slid down. Poor Isabelle was in tears, clearly exhausted and more than a little frightened. Lachlan was being very patient but was clearly not liking the situation either. I wasn’t too bothered by the conditions now I could see clearly, and when we reached a steep section where a rope had been attached to a pole and laid out along the slope below, I showed them how we could use the rope as a belay, walking backwards down the slope rather than forwards. All those Ski Club holidays with mountain guides setting up similar rope belays suddenly paying off!

As we were heading down this section, a ranger appeared, heading up the pass and asking us how many people were still behind us. We had no idea but said at least 10 or 12. He asked us to ensure we signed in at Paso, the next camp where most people tend to stop for lunch.

We continued on and eventually dropped into the forest and below the snow line, at which stage we caught up with another couple who had stopped to take a break. Lachlan and Isabelle also opted to stop and I continued on.

It was around 12.30 when I finally reached Paso and signed in – I was the 23rd hiker to sign in, out of apparently 60 expected. Far more than 10 or 12 still to come then! Rumours started to circulate that the ranger would be turning people back if they didn’t reach the top of the pass by a certain time. We all expected Jen and Leanne to get turned back, as Jen had apparently been struggling even in the muddy section at the bottom. And I feared that Laura, a Colombian girl I’d met on day 1 and got quite friendly with, may also get turned back, as she had a very heavy pack carrying her own tent and food, and tended to hike quite slowly.

I didn’t spend long at Paso, quickly eating my lunch and then setting off for the remaining expected 4-hour hike from there to Grey, getting occasional beautiful views of the Grey glacier and Lago Grey, and crossing 3 suspension bridges along the way. Thankfully it ended up taking just over 3 hours rather than 4 – I arrived, exhausted, just before 4pm. Lachlan and Isabelle arrived about an hour later, and by 5.30 pm most people I knew had arrived.

Grey is the first campsite at which the W and the O Trek meet, so there were a lot more people queuing to check in than we were used to, with those doing the W Trek arriving from the opposite direction, from Paine Grande. When I gave my name the receptionist looked at her list, said “Coming from Perros. Congratulations” which was immensely satisfying to hear. She was similarly congratulating everyone who had arrived that day from Perros.

I found my tent, unpacked, had a lovely hot shower and then dinner. This was the best and largest dinner we’d had thus far – all dinners tended to consist of soup, a main and a dessert but at Grey we had a buffet with a choice of tomato or beef soup, and a main of either chicken, beef or stuffed peppers, all accompanied by mash, vegetables, and various salads. And 4 different puddings in a chiller cabinet from which we could help ourselves to whatever we fancied. After dinner it was straight back to the tent to lie down and rest my tired muscles – though as I went to brush my teeth at about 9pm I bumped into Laura and Jen. They, along with Leanne and a few others, had eventually struggled into camp around 8pm! It was wonderful to see that they had all made it, though Jen thought there had been a few people behind them who may have been turned back. Everyone I knew was accounted for though. I slept surprisingly well considering it snowed, rained and howled with wind all night.

Day 5 – Grey to Frances

Most of the others were planning to hike to Paine Grande this day, which is only a half day hike, perfect after the long day previous. Cat, Claire and Andy had all booked a kayaking excursion in the morning and were planning to hike to Paine Grande in the afternoon. And others were just having a lazy start to the day. But as I’d booked the trek rather late, I hadn’t been able to get a booking at Paine Grande and so needed to carry on to the next campsite, Frances. So I said my goodbyes to all my newfound friends in the morning, not expecting to see any of them again now our bookings were starting to diverge.

This was another miserable day – it rained or snowed on and off, mostly on, the entire day. There were very high winds a lot of the time, making the hiking rather unpleasant; I was passing lots of W hikers heading the other way, all looking absolutely miserable. Despite this, there were a few very good views along the way, though the peaks were all still in cloud.

I was pleasantly surprised, though, when I stopped at Paine Grande for a coffee, to bump into Lisa and Toon, a Canadian lady and Belgian guy, both of whom I’d chatted to a little over the last few days. It turned out they were also heading on to Frances.

I arrived at Frances at 4pm to be told I was booked into the refuge for the night – I had been expecting to be in a tent. I wasn’t so happy to find I needed to walk another 300m downhill to find the refuge – I was very wet and cold at this stage, and just wanted to be allocated a tent and able to unpack, worrying that there wouldn’t be sufficient room to do so in a dorm room in the refuge – but I was more than happy once I managed to check in and was showed to a self-contained dome with bunk beds, plenty of radiators and an internal frame on which to hang wet clothes, and en suite toilets and showers. I was allocated a top bunk which was not ideal, with the top rung of the ladder positioned above the level of the bed resulting in some rather complicated contortions to try to get onto it backwards from above – but just about managed to get the knack of it eventually, after a couple of not so successful attempts at trying to swing round onto it sideways to get around the top rung!

Having expected a box dinner to take away, I now found I was able to have dinner in the bar next to the refuge – lasagne, which was very good. Others at the table were very impressed to hear I was hiking the O – stories about the John Gardner Pass had already started to circulate and everyone was very interested to hear my take on the day.

Day 6 – Frances to Central

I was up early as my roommates (3 very nice German ladies) had been up and moving around at 6am – it was their final day on the W Trek and they had a long day planned. I hadn’t been able to book breakfast or packed lunch so was packed and ready to go by 7.30. I initially had hoped to do a side trip to Mirador Britanico before heading to Central, so left my heavy rucksack in a shelter at the campsite and started to hike back in that direction, but within 15 minutes it started to snow, and seemed to be getting heavier, so I turned round and headed back to retrieve my rucksack and carry on to Central. I realised once back at Frances that the chest strap had fallen off the backpack – I briefly thought about giving it up as a lost cause, but it’s fairly crucial to keeping the pack straight on my shoulders, plus, it being a rental rucksack, I didn’t want to return it missing the strap. So there was nothing for it but to put the rucksack back down again and walk back down the steep hill to look for the strap, as I knew it had to be somewhere in the vicinity of the refuge – thankfully I found it on the ground just outside the bar where I’d checked in. But by the time I’d hiked back up the hill to once again retrieve the rucksack, I realised just how knackered my legs were and decided it was a good thing the weather had prompted me to turn round, as I simply didn’t have the energy for the side trip to Britanico.

As I left Frances, the sun came out! It turned out to be a glorious day – though the cloud continued to lurk over the Frances valley, allowing me to console myself with thoughts that I wouldn’t have got decent views from the Mirador anyway. The first 4k, from Frances to Cuernos, was appalling – on the map it looks flat but in reality it’s constantly up and down over rough and rocky terrain. My right quad had almost completely seized up and every big step I had to take up or down was painful. My feet were also really sore by this stage and the rough ground really wasn’t helping matters. It took just under 2 hours to cover that first 4 kilometres and I was cursing most of the way.

James had told me that he and his wife had started the O Trek together, starting from Paine Grande and hiking the W section first – so when I met him at Seron he was already halfway round the circuit. But when they woke up in the morning to head from Central to Seron his wife apparently had suddenly announced she didn’t want to continue and had got the bus back to Puerto Natales, leaving James to hike the second half alone. Suddenly I could start to see why she gave up – most of the route from Grey to Frances had also been fairly rough underfoot, and the thought of three more days over that kind of terrain would probably have put me off too. But as James had ended up remarking as we walked from Dickson to Perros, the paths on the back side of the circuit are actually much better than those on the front, so she’d already done all the worst paths and ended up missing the best (with the exception of the John Gardner pass which she’ll have been glad to have missed).

Thankfully the terrain improved a bit beyond Cuernos – there was still lots of up and down but it was better underfoot which was the main thing. Beautiful scenery along the way, too, as the path followed the shores of Lago Nordenskjold.

I reached Central around 2pm – as I approached Hotel Torres I saw a group of people photographing something on the hillside, which turned out to be a puma just calmly sitting staring back at them! I felt quite emotional, on reaching the campsite, to find myself back where I’d started the trek – seeing the signpost pointing out the route to Seron I briefly felt I wanted to go back round and do it all again on fresh legs!

After settling into my tent (another stilted tent, the same as I’d had at Seron) and having a wonderful hot shower, I wandered over to the refuge to talk to them about having an early breakfast- I’d mentioned to the campsite check-in staff that I expected I’d have to miss breakfast as I wanted to be out by 5am to get up to the Towers and back in time for the 3pm bus. I’d asked if it would be possible to pick up a box lunch once I got back from the Towers, as I wouldn’t be able to pick it up at breakfast. I’d been told, though, that it was possible to request an early breakfast which could be left out on a table in the refuge for me, along with the box lunch. The staff at the refuge confirmed this and added my name to the list of people wanting early breakfast.

Dinner was another sociable affair, sat at a table with a number of other hikers, some of whom had just finished the W trek and some just about to start. On hearing I’d just finished the O, one remarked “We’ve been hearing all sorts of stories about the John Gardner Pass” to which I responded “They’re all true!”

Day 7 – The Torres (Towers)

Although, looking at the map, the hike to the Torres does not form part of the O circuit, no multi-day hike in the park would feel complete without doing it – it’s the most popular day hike in the park and is part of the W, so everyone tries to do it either at the start or end of their trek.

Some hikers hike up in the dark with the aim of reaching the top for sunrise – but it’s a 3-4 hour hike up, and with the sun coming up around 5.30 that makes for a ridiculously early start. I had decided to set out between 5 and 5.30, as soon as there was enough light to see by.

Thankfully this proved a good decision – as I headed up I could see the top was in cloud and as I entered the woods above Chileno campsite (about halfway up) it started to rain. Hikers coming down from the top were soaked, and not looking too happy having presumably not been able to see much at the top. But as I approached the top around 9am, the cloud lifted, and I was treated to glorious views – the perfect end to my week. Lisa and Toon were already there, having clearly set out slightly earlier than I had done.

On the way down I was delighted to bump into Claire and Andy, heading up towards Chileno where they were booked in for the night. We exchanged stories about the last couple of days, with them agreeing with me about how horrendous the section between Frances and Cuernos had been. They mentioned that Jen and Leanne had taken the decision to cut their trip short after reaching Grey – there is a bus service from Grey which can be used to return to Puerto Natales.

Lower down, I bumped into Cat, also bound for Chileno. Then finally, at the bus stop waiting for the bus back to Puerto Natales, I bumped into Beth and Shaun, a young British couple who had also been part of what I considered the regular “O Trek” gang. It was lovely to see familiar faces that I hadn’t expected to see again, having said goodbye to them all at Grey. I’d forgotten that Beth and Shaun had hiked up to the Towers at the start of the trek, so although they’d spent a night at Paine Grande, they’d hiked to Frances the following day and then arrived back at Central as I was making my way down from the Towers.

The bus journey back to Puerto Natales was incredibly silent – there was no chatting; everyone was too tired and most people went straight to sleep! Once back at Puerto Natales I checked back into the hostel where I was greeted with delight by the owner, who showed me to my new room where my suitcase was already waiting for me. After a lovely hot shower I set off to return the rental gear and to find something to eat, ending up back at Wild where I’d eaten a week ago. There I got chatting to a young German couple who had set out a couple of days previously to do the O Trek, but had turned back after the first night at Seron! They explained that she had fallen and hurt her hip, and didn’t think she could continue with the heavy rucksack – but they also confessed they had been very cold the first night and I suspected that was also a factor in their decision to turn back. They had been carrying their own tent, food and cooking equipment, and I got the impression their tent and possibly also their sleeping bags, simply weren’t robust enough to withstand the cold temperatures. They mentioned they were on their honeymoon – probably a good thing they turned back when they did; the John Gardner Pass would certainly have been a test of that marriage!

Overall an incredible experience – one that will live on in my memory for years to come!