Patagonia: Could I Hike It Too?
Brian and Sylvia managed to complete a pair of major top shelf trekking destinations in 2019, both in the region of South America known as Patagonia…the extreme southern tip of the continent, where the scenery is otherworldly but the weather conditions often brutish.
Some may be wondering if this is something that they could do too. The short answer to this question is…of course you can. We saw hikers of all abilities, from young children and people who were obviously senior citizens, enjoying themselves on the trail. If you can hike at all, there is a trail here for you.
However, this is not quite the same as saying everyone would enjoy doing the same treks we did — The W in particular, and the long day hike to Laguna del los Tres. It’s probable that most reasonably active people could do both, but whether or not they would enjoy the experience or find it a hard, nightmarish slog is another question.
Those who have no experience backpacking we would strongly discourage from attempting the W…Patagonia isn’t the place to get your feet wet, so to speak. The trails here are not easy, the distances not small, and the weather too likely to be inclement, and possibly godawful. Chances are simply too high that this could turn into a wretched slog that could prove quite discouraging to an inexperienced backpacker.
For those who might be interested in travelling here and hiking either Torres del Paine or Fitz Roy, we’ve prepared some resources to help. These are by no means the only online resources for Patagonia…but we have found that much of the material on line is effectively marketing material for tour guides, tourist promotions agencies, etc. Not all of it is accurate. Our advice is to thoroughly investigate this any area you hope to hike,
Good luck with your adventures in Patagonia!
The ‘W’ Trek, Torres del Paine
Fitz Roy (Los Glaciares National Park of Argentina)
