Patagonia Puma, Chiloe Pudu, Chile Feb.2019

[Zim Girl]

Also, my 'like' function is not working, but I am really enjoying your report.  Looking forward to what you see during your time at Torres del Paine.

[michael-ibk]

So do I, enjoying this a lot. That´s a fun - but comfy - looking room you had there!

[mapumbo]

Thank you all for your nice comments.  

I have not been able to log on for a couple of weeks so I can continue the TR now.

Glad to be able to access this site again.  I was having withdrawal symptoms to not check out what was happening and we were also in the middle of planning another Africa safari, so would have liked to do research.  All is well, I hope with the renewed site.

[mapumbo]

OK, so after a brief break we can continue our trip report on the second day in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.

 

As I mentioned, one is given three choices the evening before to choose an excursion for the next day with the Ecocamp staff.  We chose a day hike of around 3 or 4 miles, a barbecue at a ranch and a stop at Laguna Azul.  This was the easy choice.  Other choices for that day would be, towers  base trek, and Pehoe Lake boat ride and French Valley hike.   Both of these were more than 12 hours long.

 

The day is what I would describe as a generally average day for Patagonia.  Windy, around 20 to 30 mph, sun, clouds, a little bit of rain.  Pretty much what we had been expecting after doing research on the area.  Really not too uncomfortable. 

 

We went with a fairly large group of around 15 guests in two large vans.  We had 2 of the great young women guides and two drivers.  The hike took us near a large herd of guanacos.  We learned that in December 2011 there had been a huge fire that burned over 40,000 acres of the park.  It was started by a hiker in the back country trying to burn his toilet paper.  With the winds and dry grass the fire was extremely hard to control.  We saw many areas where there were blackened stumps of burned up trees.  

 

 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2019 by mapumbo

[Atdahl]

Great report @mapumbo.  Like others, Chile is high on our list so I eagerly await more installments.  So, glad that ST is back online!

 

Alan

[mapumbo]

1 hour ago, Atdahl said:

Great report @mapumbo.  Like others, Chile is high on our list so I eagerly await more installments.  So, glad that ST is back online!

 

Alan

Thanks, Alan.

I am waiting to continue the report until we are able to post photos.

[Atravelynn]

I want to get in the water and splash around with the Southern River Otter and my mouth is watering at that giant rhubarb!  Superb shingle shots!

Your dome does look superior.  Gorgeous sunset.  (p. 2)

[mapumbo]

 

HERD OF GUANACOS ON WALK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLACK FACED IBIS

 

 

 

 

 

 

AREA WHERE FIRE WENT THROUGH

[mapumbo]

BLUE LAKE OR LAGUNNA AZUL

 

 

ECHO CAMP GUIDES DOING THEIR YOGA ON POSTS

 

 

 

 

TORRES DEL PAINE RIVER

 

 

 

 

RED FOX KIT IN THE ECHO CAMP

[mapumbo]

After returning back from the Blue Lake we again went to the bar for pre- dinner snacks and a welcome drink.  This is the time they explain the excursions for the next day.  We had read that the boat excursion on Grey Lake to the face of the glacier that comes down from the southern ice field, was an excursion worth taking.  The other two excursions were longish hikes,  one was Western Lakes Drive and Cerro Ferrier hike,  the other was the Lazo Weber hike.

 

The guides cautioned us that the wind was going to be 60 mph tomorrow with stronger gusts and that the Grey Lake boat ride might get cancelled.  If that happened then they would come up with another excursion for us that wanted to take the boat.  We ate dinner and went back to our dome after a beautiful day in the park with a nice scenic hike, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

 

The domes are placed that the large window faces the Paine towers.  When we woke the next morning the sun was lighting up the face of the towers.  Every morning we had a different show depending on the cloud cover.   These views were quite spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RAINBOW ON THE WAY TO BREAKFAST

 

 

MOTHER FOX IN THE CAMP

Edited March 31, 2019 by mapumbo

[mapumbo]

At breakfast our group that was scheduled to go on the boat on Grey Lake was told that there was a chance we would be able to take the excursion.  The boat goes out three times a day and we would be on the last trip of the day which left at 4PM.  We were to leave mid morning and drive over to the west side of the park, eat lunch and visit a park visitor center before going to Grey Lake to find out if the boat would be allowed to depart.

 

They weren't kidding about the wind.  It was easily blowing 60 mph.  On our drive it would blow gravel against the van and when driving along a lake shore the water would splash up over the road onto the side of the vehicle.

 

It turned out to be a mostly sunny day despite the wind.  We had some really beautiful scenes along the drive.  One was a male guanaco who was the sentinel for his herd on a mountain bluff.  There is something about the attitude of the guanacos in general.  They have a regal aura in how they carry themselves.  This fellow was all of that and more. He was performing a valuable service of watching for pumas.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mapumbo]

LAKE PEHOE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHITE-TUFTED GREBE

 

 

3D MODEL OF THE PARK

[mapumbo]

We arrived at the parking lot for Grey Lake and one of the guides left to go check whether the boat was going to make the trip up the lake to the glacier.  She radioed back and said that it was a go.  It was hard to believe that they would take a boat out on a lake when the wind was blowing over 60 mph but we trusted their judgement.  

 

There is a narrow suspended walk bridge over the river that flows out of Grey Lake.  They only let 6 people walk over at a time.  There were passengers returning from the last trip on one side and a line of people waiting to cross to walk to the boat.  We alternated 6 from one way and six from the other.  The bridge was, as one would guess, swaying pretty nicely in the wind.  I don't like heights or exposed bridges but I convinced myself I could make it.  I put my eye glasses in my pack.  I remembered a similar bridge and similar wind while hiking in New Zealand where my glasses blew off my face and landed in the river below.  Eventually we made our way across and had close to a mile hike to the lake through a forest.  The trees sheltered us from the wind while we walked the trail but when we got to the lake shore we were totally exposed.  

 

The worst was yet to come.  There was a sandbar that you had to walk across that was about 40 foot wide.  It had the expanse of Grey Lake to the left and a small lagoon to the right.  We were totally exposed to the full force of the wind coming  unbridled down the length of the lake while crossing this quarter mile stretch of beach.  At times we were blown sideways toward the lagoon, other times the wind would blow us backwards.  I was watching the people approaching from the last trip and a young boy was blown off his feet.  We talked to a man on the boat and he said his wife had been blown over.  Mama Ndege was not happy and kept yelling how crazy this was.

 

We finally reached the other side where the boat was pulled up on the shore.  There was an island that was connected by the sandbar and it helped shield us from the brunt of the wind.  We gathered up with our Echocamp group and compared stories.  

 

The boat was a catamaran style with two hulls on each side and open space down the center.  We boarded and began our cruise up the length of the lake to where the glacier was at the other end.  Remarkably, the boat was very stable.  I think the wind was coming directly toward the front so it helped keep it running relatively smoothly.  It takes about an hour and a half to get to the other end of the lake where the glacier is.  A lady gave a very informative explanation of the glacier for the first half hour.

 

 

 

 

 

VIEW OF THE SHORE FROM THE BOAT

 

 

 

APPROACHING THE GLACIER ABOUT 2/3 OF THE WAY UP THE LAKE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PIECES THAT HAD CALVED OF THE FACE

 

 

 

 

 

APPROACHING THE SHORE NEAR THE GLACIER TO PICK UP SOME BACK COUNTRY HIKERS.  THERE IS A CAMP NEARBY

 

 

 

 

A PIECE OF THE GLACIER THEY PICKED UP FROM THE BEACH TO USE FOR THE PISCO SOURS.  12,000 TO 18,000 YEAR OLD ICE

 

 

[mapumbo]

After about 30 minutes of taking photos and admiring the glacier we returned back to the spot where we had boarded the boat.  Our day of adventure was far from over though.  On landing back at the beach, the lady who had given the talk mentioned that people could take the small boat across the lagoon to shore instead of walking back across the sand bar.  We jumped at the opportunity along with 5 more of our group.  A short trip across the lagoon and we discovered we were on the other side of the river as well, so we wouldn't have to cross the suspended bridge either.  

 

When we landed we thought we would be near the parking lot.  This was not the case.  We were at the Grey Lake Hotel and it became apparent that we probably should not have taken this route back.  There was a guide with clients from the hotel who pointed us toward the direction of the parking lot.  This was pretty much just a general nod in a not too definite direction.  The seven of us started out walking the way we were pointed.  After a 10 or 15 minute trek through the forest and along the shore of the lake we were beginning to question if we were even close to heading the right direction.  There was no sign of civilization.  

 

While walking across an open stretch of grassland Mama Ndege spotted some deer in the distance.  She yelled out to our companions that those must be the very rare and seldom seen Huemal Deer.  There are reportedly only a couple thousand of them left.  We stopped long enough to take photos.  There was a doe and a buck.  Our companions were too preoccupied with finding our tour bus to even stop and admire them.

 

We caught back up with our fellow adventurers and walked some more.  We were beginning to doubt if we were going to find the parking lot and considered returning to the hotel.  Finally, we popped out into the open where we could see the parking lot.  The van with the rest of the passengers and our guides was parked in the road down from the lot.  

 

We apologized for causing so much trouble as we entered the van.  The only problem was that there were only 5 of us.  Somehow we had left behind one of the couples.  So now the search was on for them.  One of the guides took off to retrace our trail back towards the hotel.  She came back without finding them.  Then we went to the hotel to see if they were there.  No luck.  We drove back to the parking lot of Grey Lake and the couple came out of the ranger station as we drove up.  Somehow we had missed seeing them come out of the woods while we were boarding the van and drove away.  They were not happy. 

 

We told our guides that we had seen the Huemal Deer.  They could not believe it.  One of the guides had never seen one and the other two had only seen them a couple of times.  They wanted to see Mama Ndege's photos.  When we were heading back we looked down towards the hotel and there were the two deer in sight so everyone got a look at them.  Most were so preoccupied with getting settled for the ride back that they hardly glanced at them.

 

FEMALE HUEMAL DEER

 

 

MALE HUEMAL DEER

 

 

SCENES ON OUR RETURN TO CAMP

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Atravelynn]

The scenery is really spectacular!  Those guides doing "post yoga" are very balanced. I hope that was not the test to go see the guanacos and I bet they couldn't perform those feats in 60 mph winds, which are some major gusts.  And someone from the open plains of Kansas knows about big winds!  I can understand Mama Ndege's concern with the blustery conditions if people were getting knocked down.  Wow!

 

Now back to the regal guanacos.  That's what I'd really like to see in Tierra del Fuego.  Was it easy to see them? 

 

Hope you enjoyed the glacial pisco sours with that ancient ice--truly mind boggling.

[mapumbo]

@Atravelynn

Yes, we have plenty of wind but I have never been in any like that day where it would blow you sideways.

The guanacos are like gazelles in Africa only tamer.  They are everywhere in Torres Del Paine.  I don't know about Tierra del Fuego.

[Atravelynn]

16 hours ago, mapumbo said:

@Atravelynn

Yes, we have plenty of wind but I have never been in any like that day where it would blow you sideways.

The guanacos are like gazelles in Africa only tamer.  They are everywhere in Torres Del Paine.  I don't know about Tierra del Fuego.

 

I had Fuego on the brain (does that make me a hot head? haha ), since that's where I was most recently.  I meant Paine.  Nice to know they are everywhere and not too skittish. 

I could see some of your scenery photos turned into paint-by-numbers kits and I mean that as a compliment!

[mapumbo]

@Atravelynn you were just a hop skip and a jump from Torres del Paine from Fuego..

[Atravelynn]

Please carry on in Torres del Paine.  Looking forward to pumas and more.

[mapumbo]

54 minutes ago, Atravelynn said:

Please carry on in Torres del Paine.  Looking forward to pumas and more.

 

As a Tanzania guide we both know would say "you must be patient", but here goes with another installment.

 

[mapumbo]

After our late arrival back at the Echo Camp we had another session to choose which excursions we would want to take the next day before we had dinner.  We chose the Sarmiento Lake and Fauna Trail hike.  The other choices were a couple of the long treks that had been offered before.

 

The wind rattled the dome all night long.  When we went to breakfast there was some rain and plenty of wind.  There were just a half dozen of us scheduled to take the Fauna Trail excursion so we had just one guide, Angie.  When we got to the trail the rain stopped and the sun was peeking in and out of the clouds.  The wind had not let up much, but it was calm compared to yesterday on Grey Lake.  

 

The trail was fairly level until we headed up a mountain to look at some cave paintings.  We had our lunch at the cave with a nice view of a lake below us and the stunning scenery all around.  After lunch we headed back down the trail and walked on towards Lake Sarmiento and the road where we were to be picked up. 

 

Along the way we witnessed a territorial battle between some male guanacos.  A chase went on for at least a half mile bounding over rough terrain.  The aggressors stayed right on the heals of the interloper.  We were told that one of the tactics of the aggressors is to bite the testicles of the male trying to move in on their territory.  We could see the bared teeth of the male  down towards the hind end of the other one.  I don't think he came away with a prize though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAVE PAINTINGS

 

 

VIEW FROM OUR LUNCH SPOT AT THE CAVE PAINTINGS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE CHASE IS ON

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was on enjoyable 4 hour day hike.  When we got back to camp it started raining so we felt like we had lucked out.  We talked to some of the folks who had done the longer treks and they got totally soaked plus the cool wind.  They were pretty miserable.

Edited April 5, 2019 by mapumbo

[mapumbo]

We could hear it raining all night.  When we woke up the next morning there still was some rain coming down, but not so hard.  Mama Ndege had been coming down with a cold and was not too sure about going out.  When she saw it would be rainy, she decided it would be wise to stay in camp.  I had chosen the Wild Horse Trek.  I was not all that interested in seeing the wild horses but the hike was to be in a totally new area of the park so I wanted to take the opportunity to view this area. 

 

When our group assembled to leave for the excursion we were told that the river had come up over night and a vehicle was drowned out on the bridge.  We needed to cross the Paine River to go on our trek.  We were to come back in a half hour to see if they had gotten the vehicle moved so that we could cross.  

 

When I returned it was clear that no one on this side of the river was going to the other side in a vehicle with tires.  With the heavy rain and an unusually warm day a couple days ago that caused a lot of snow melt, the river was well out of it's banks.  We were told this normally only happened once a year.  Lucky us.

 

Another hike was planned for our group if we wanted to take it.  It would start from the Echo Camp and return back.  We would not need a vehicle to take us.  It had let up raining, for the most part, so most of our small group decided to go.  We were led again by Angie and Marcella who had been our guide a couple of other times.  

 

The trail was through more forest than we had experienced previously.  It was really interesting.  We took a leisurely walk through the forest enjoying the sights and visiting with each other.  The young ladies who guided us all have so much enthusiasm and truly love their jobs.  We had to cross one drainage that normally does not run water.  We were able to pick our way across it.  We ended up coming to another drainage that was running too much water for us to safely cross without getting soaked so we turned around and headed back.  We stopped and had our lunch on the way back.  We still ended up walking six miles according to one of the hikers phones.

 

THE FIRST STREAM WE WERE ABLE TO CROSS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MARCELLA AND ANGIE TRYING TO FIND A SAFE CROSSING POINT ON A STREAM THAT WAS RUNNING TOO MUCH WATER TO CROSS.

 

This was the last day we were to be in the Echo Camp.  The next day was to be our Puma tracking section.  Would we get over the river to connect with our guides?   Would we see any pumas?

[mapumbo]

We got up at 5:15 to be ready to leave the Echo Camp by 6:15.  They wanted us to be down at the river when the first boat crossing was available at first light.  When we walked down to the reception area we had to be careful that we didn't slip on the board walk.  There was a heavy frost on the boards and they were slick.  We could see that there also was a good coating of snow on the mountains near camp,  well down from where it had been the day before.  It was quite beautiful and the day was going to dawn fairly clear.  

 

We were given a sack breakfast to take with us as we said our goodbyes with hugs from Angie and Marcella.  We were really impressed with our stay at Echo Camp.  The staff is top of the line.  The food is excellent and they have a nice set up for experiencing the park with their varied excursions.

 

We were taken down to the river to meet the boat to ferry us over to the other side to meet our people who were taking us on the puma tracking portion of our trip for the next 2 and a half days.  There was someone from the camp riding along who was also going to the other side.  It was still just barely getting light and he suddenly exclaimed "there is a puma".  Sure enough, running right along the side of the road was a puma.  The unfortunate thing was that we could see that it was limping.  We found out later from our puma tracker that he knew that particular puma and that it was surviving even though it had injured a leg.  What a way to start off our puma experience.

 

We arrived at the river and the zodiac was tied up on the overflowing river bank.  We could now see how immense the flooding had become.  The bridge was out of the water but it was in the middle of the river with the road on both sides of it covered with several feet of water.  The approaches from both directions were considerably lower than the bridge.   They stacked our luggage in the middle of the boat and we got in along the side along with 6 or 7 more passengers.  The ride across took just a few minutes and wasn't as dangerous as we had visions of it being.

 

 

 

 

 

We got to the other side and walked up the road to a parking lot where we met our guide and driver for the next days,  Pelin and Javier.   Pelin spoke perfect English and we found out later she was actually from Turkey.  They lead us to a crew cab pickup truck and put our luggage in the back in a wooden box.  Then they introduce us to the fellow who is the local expert puma tracker.  His name is Jose Vargas and his company is Wayaja Puma Tour.  He also had two helpers with him Raphael and Braulio.  Jose's father is a long time Park Ranger in Torres del Paine Park and still is working there.  Jose grew up in the park and showed us the little house that he grew up in in the center of the park.  His dad is a legendary puma tracker and now his son is following in his footsteps.

 

The sun is coming up and lighting up the towers across the river where we came from.  With the extra snow the light is extremely dramatic.  The changing light gives a new dramatic view from minute to minute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2019 by mapumbo

[mapumbo]

Each of us got in our respective vehicles and headed down the road.  Mama Ndege and I were not sure what to expect but we were along for the ride and ready for whatever we needed to do to get a good chance to see puma.  We did not go far and stopped along the road.  This looked familiar.  We were going to hike the Fauna trail again that we had walked just a couple days ago.  Javier and Jose were going to drive to the other side and Pelin and the two young trackers would walk with us.  

 

The two young guys took off ahead of us scanning the area with their binocs.  We enjoyed the beautiful day with not much wind and got to know Pelin as she asked questions of us.  We did not see anything on that trail and it did not take long to walk it as we went straight through instead of walking up to where the cave paintings are.

 

When we got to the other side Javier was waiting for us but Jose was not there.  Javier said, load up there is a puma up the road .  Four of us got in the cab and Raphael and Braulio jumped in the back. 

 

VIEW TO SARMIENTO LAKE ON THE FAUNA TRAIL

 

 

RAPHAEL AND BRAULIO 

[mapumbo]

Not far up the road sat Jose pulled over on the edge.  He was gazing up at the top of a ridge probably 200 yards away.  We scanned the horizon and I was able to see a couple of ears sticking up.  We crossed the road and found spots to settle in to see if the puma would show itself more than the top of it's head and ears.  It didn't take long and there was movement.  Now there were two heads showing and one was considerably smaller than the other.  As far as we could tell Jose did not speak much English.  Pelin would explain to us what was going on after we would ask a question and relay it to Jose or tell us what Jose was saying about the puma.  Raphael, who seemed to be a tracker in training, spoke some English and will probably be useful as a translator for when there is not another English speaking guide.

 

We were shown what was left of a guanaco carcass the mother puma had killed a few days before.  There were two Southern Crested Cara Cara sitting on it.  About this time the mother and cub got up and the show began.  It was play time.  This mother originally had 3 cubs but had lost two of them, probably to a male puma.  She was now mother and playmate for her remaining youngster.  We were privileged to spend about an hour and a half watching them interact and play up and down the hill facing the road.  A few other cars went by but no one stopped even though there were 7 of us sitting and standing on the edge of the road with tripods and cameras and binocs looking up the hill at an amazing wildlife drama a little over 100 yards away.  The pair was fully aware of us but the puma in Torres del Paine have become well habituated to humans on foot.  Their food supply is so abundant with the masses of guanacos that humans are not on their menu.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOW CAN YOU GET MUCH CUTER THAN THAT?????

Edited April 5, 2019 by mapumbo