Torres del Paine & Mylodon Cave

Thursday 5 March 2020

Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. is one of the largest ( over 181 thousand hectares) and most visited parks in Chile and is situated 112km north of Puerto Natales to the west of Los Glaciares National Park in neighbouring Argentina (visited on March 3).

The snow capped Andes mountains are easily seen from the road.

Paine means blue in the local native language and Torres is tower in Spanish.

View of the peaks from the highway to the park

To me the highlight of South American National Parks has to be Torres del Paine. The natural and rugged beauty of sheer granite towers and landscapes that encompass mountains, glaciers, lakes and rivers, the wild animals that roam the park, the accessible hiking trails to amazing lookouts plus well appointed campsites and even 5 star hotels.

Whilst Paine has become a major international destination, it's still wild country

Guanacos grazing along the roadside

Guanacos are native to South America are a member of the camel family; they are related to alpacas & llamas plus camels (found only in Africa & Asia).  They lack the characteristic camel humps and have a more slender body.

They are not domesticated and possibly alpacas and llamas were bred from guanacos. They graze along the arid grasslands along the mountainous regions of the Andes in Peru, Western Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and Tierra del Fuego and cope well in the variable climates along these regions. 
They were introduced to one of the islands in the Falklands and thrived.

On entering the park the view from the Sarmiento lake was stunning.

Looking across Lake Sarimento, the three sheer granite towers that gives the park its name.

Lake Sarimento is not part of the watershed from glacial melt. Like Amarga lagoon, it is formed by subterranean emanates and surface runoff.


The Torres del Paine are the distinctive three granite peaks of the Paine mountain range or Paine Massif. From left to right they are known as Torres d'Agostini, Torres Central and Torres Monzino. They extend up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) above sea level, and are joined by the Cuernos del Paine (The closer pyramidal-shaped peak).
The 3 granite towers have defied and resisted erosion from water, snow and ice that weathered the weaker sedimentary strata around them. to the centre of the picture is the snow covered and jagged Cuernos del Paine (Horns of Paine).  The full extent of Cuernos del Paine was better appreciated from other vantage points.
The highest point of Torres Del Paine National Park is 2,884 metres, which is below the 3,000-metre mark where altitude sickness sets in.

The snow capped Horns of Paine (Cuernos del Paine) seen across Largo Nordenskjold

Flamingo feeding on shrimp on lake Skottsberg

Traveling further through the park the centerpiece of the Horns of Paine were better appreciated. The view from Lake Nordenskjold gives the panorama of the massive rock outcrop

The glacial remains from the last ice age

Piane Massif

This grouping of mountains resembles the horns of a primeval beast.  The distinctive banding is due to the juxtaposition of soft sedimentary rock (darker color) and harder light-colored granite.  Because of the three-dimensional horned configuration of mountain, its banding and the effects of glacial erosion, the appearance of the mountain changes constantly as you move around it, depending on your point of view, as you can appreciate from the accompanying photos.  Also, the weather here is ever changing -- sometimes sunny, but with fog, mist and rain constantly moving through. (Travel Gumbo)

Paine Massif

 

The Salto Grande Waterfall is a spectacular cascade of the Paine river between lakes Nordenskjöld and Pehoé. The rushing water has a milk blue appearance since it is fed by glacial melt.

 

 

Along the short walk to the waterfall from the carpark there is beautiful vegetation & flowers

The soft sedimentary rock (darker colour) and the harder granite (lighter colour) in the sunlight

Lake Pehoe is regarded as the heart of the park, It allows entry to the mountain trails and leads to the roads to French valley and Grey Glacier.

The 5 hectare centre island in Lake Pehoe has 25 bedroom hotel, restaurant  plus camping

The milky turquoise colour of the lake is very apparent. The melting thaw is mainly transparent but the water is clouded by organisms and sediments as travels though the lakes system.  Trout and salmon have been introduced into some lakes in the park.

 Grey Lake has a visitors centre, cafeteria, police station and hotels. The bridge across Grey river was limited to 6 people at a time.

The police station had beautiful white horses

The Grey Glacier in the distance looking across Lake Grey

Leaving the park looking back on Lake Grey

Mylodon Cave Monument:

On the way back stopped at this attraction since it is only 24Km Northwest of Puerto Natales.

The largest cave in the monument is the 200 metres (660 ft) long Milodón Cave. It was discovered in 1895 by Hermann Eberhard, German explorer of Patagonia. He found a large, seemingly fresh piece of skin of an unidentified animal. In 1896 the cave was explored by Otto Nordenskjöld and later it was recognised that the skin belonged to Mylodon – an extinct animal which died 10,200–13,560 years ago.

In the cave and other caves of the monument have been found remnants of other extinct animals and human remnants.

At the entrance of the monument is a life size replica of the prehistoric Mylodon, which was a very large herbivore, somewhat resembling a large bear. It became extinct at the end of the Ice Age.

March 05, 2020 Tags : Magallanes , Torres del Paine

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