This is a land of windswept grasslands, soaring mountains, bright blue icebergs that cleave from glaciers, and three famous peaks of granite that will have you in awe.

I'm Alice Ford, and we're back in northern Norway.

This is the Garden Island, Kauai, Hawaii.

As you guys can see, it is absolutely beautiful down here.

The views are just already stunning.

We are on our way to Antarctica.

So right now we're having a traditional tea here.

Wow.

I hope you guys are ready to check off another one of the world's best hikes.

Because right now, I am in Chilean Patagonia, Torres del Paine National Park.

We are close to the bottom of South America here, where I'm going to be doing the W Trek.

I've been wanting to do this hike for a long time, and I am so excited to be here now.

This hike takes five days, and this park in particular protects sunny mountain ranges, glaciers, lakes, rivers.

There's a ton of wildlife here too, and one of the main features along this hike is actually getting up to see the viewpoint for the mountain that this park is named after the Torres del Paine, a three big towers that are just absolutely stunning.

While I'm here in Torres del Paine and before and after my trek, I'm staying at a hotel called Hotel Lago Grey.

It's a sustainable hotel and it sits right along this lake.

Grey Glacier is at the end of it, and the views here are just insane.

Now, this is on the western side of the park.

So if you're starting or ending W Trek from this side of the park, or you're coming to see Grey Glacier, this is a great place to stay.

There's a restaurant here.

The views are spectacular.

There's plenty of places to hike, even if you're not doing a W Trek.

And there's even some other nearby places you can eat and obviously take in the scenery.

I had one night to relax, repack, and enjoy this stunning scenery at Lago Grey before starting my hike.

And this hotel did not disappoint.

I felt like Snow White staying here.

A family of foxes lived in front of the lodge.

Woodpeckers also enjoyed visiting the windows and the iceberg and mountain views from the picturesque windows were unbelievably good.

After a day of relaxing, the time had come to start the W Trek.

But to get there, I would have to hop on a catamaran and head across the lake.

The entire west side of the park is covered by the huge Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which stretches for more than 8000mi, spanning the border of Chile and Argentina.

And from the Lago Grey Hotel, you can cruise right up to Grey Glacier on the hotel's catamaran.

The catamaran is both a glacier tour and a hiker transport from the trail across the water.

It took me right up to the edges of the massive glacier.

The walls are more than 30ft high, and the most vivid colors of blue, and the massive expanse of ice is around four miles wide.

Having shrunk dramatically in the last 40 years, it is one of six glaciers in the park and the most accessible to all visitors.

I am officially beginning the trail.

I got off the ferry and checked into Refugio Grey, which is where I'm staying tonight.

Just about a ten minute walk from where the boat drops you off.

And before dinner tonight, I'm actually going to be doing what most people do on their last day of the W Trek up to Gardiner Pass, which has several hanging bridges and some really spectacular scenery.

Now I'm hiking the W Trek backwards west to east.

Most people do it the other way, starting at the park headquarters and heading west.

All right.

I just got to the first swinging bridge here.

Definitely reminiscing from the West Coast Trail, because to get up to it, there's a ladder and it looks like it's going to have some pretty spectacular views.

All right.

I'm not going to lie.

These hanging bridges are pretty unnerving.

They sway a lot.

They are very high off the ground.

And when you've got a big backpack and your balance isn't great, can be pretty scary.

Walking across these narrow planks.

Just came over a hillside here and to the Mirador where you can see the Grey Glacier.

It is spectacular.

Wow.

Okay, we are at the second viewpoint and the second swinging bridge.

And the views of the glacier have gotten even better.

I can not get over the views up here.

It is just absolutely stunning.

It's also around 8 p.m., so it is time for me to head back to camp.

This trail has become increasingly popular for its beginner friendly setup and breathtaking scenery like we've already seen.

It spans approximately 50 miles and has about 9000ft of elevation gain.

It can be hiked in either direction, but overnight permits have to be secured well in advance.

The trail features designated mountain hostels like I'll be staying in tonight and camping areas.

These sites offer options for bring your own tent camping or pre-set up tent rentals.

You better get out of here before those bugs find me.

Just got back just after 9 and so going to grab some dinner, get ready for bed and I will show you guys around in the morning.

All right.

I am at Refugio Grey.

Just kind of got my bed set up.

There's actually a bar and restaurant here.

I missed dinner by a little bit, so I had a granola bar for dinner.

They've also got a mini market here and pretty much everything that you could need.

You can rent sleeping bags, mats, tents.

Pretty much makes it so you can do most of this with a day hike.

It's also really busy.

A lot busier than I actually expected this trail to be.

There's way more tent camping sites and people staying in all of these places than I expected, so it's a bit of a frat party vibe for me that I'm not really into.

But, hopefully some of the other campsites that I go to along in the next couple of days will be a little bit less busy.

On the route.

Now to Paine Grande.

This is about 10.5km.

Should take somewhere between 3 and 4 hours.

Now, one thing that I should have done is actually booked either a kayaking or a glacier tour.

I didn't know that you could do these over here, but where I actually got off the catamaran yesterday.

There's an outfitter called Bigfoot.

They offer both of these activities and the Glacier tour starts at 8 a.m. and the kayaking at 9 a.m..

There's a couple afternoon times as well, so that's something I definitely could have fit in today, knowing that the hike is actually pretty short today.

So far, we've just been kind of meandering along the side of the lake here, but there is a quite a bit of elevation gain today and are just starting to go uphill now.

Much like many of our parks in western United States.

Fire is something that park officials worry about greatly.

Now.

Right now I'm walking through one of the areas here in Torres del Paine that has burned.

Back in 2011, there was a huge wildfire here and unfortunately, it wasn't started naturally.

It was started by someone that was illegally camping here in the park.

Now, there are pretty strict rules when it comes to doing the W Trek or the O Trek.

Getting reservations and permits for the different places that you're going to stay.

There's also pretty strict rules about where you can have camp stoves.

Regular fires are not allowed anywhere in any of the campsites, and this is exactly why.

So the person that started this fire back in 2011 was camping out of bounds.

They didn't want to pay to get a permit.

And this is the result of this huge area of forest that's been completely decimated.

Now there is a lot of new growth, as we can see through here.

Lots of wildfires and hopefully these trees will one day be able to regrow.

But it's been over a decade now.

Most of these trees are still pretty bad shape.

Most of them are dead.

Very few have started to regrow, so I'm interested to see just how much this area can regenerate over the next couple of decades.

All right.

I've arrived here at Paine Grande, and just set up my tent.

Now you can get a premium tent, which are all in these kind of raised blocks here, where if you set up your own, there's actually a pretty crappy spot.

So now I'm available to alternate.

It's really windy.

I'm going to get some of my devices and the chargers and get some well-needed food.

Good morning.

Today is day three.

That has persisted to be extremely windy most of the night, and lots of gusts.

Every now and then this morning as well.

Today is a very long day.

About 14 or so miles.

I am going from here at Paine Grande all the way to a campsite called Cuernos.

But I'm going to be doing this really big hike up to Britanico in between.

So it's going to be a long one with some amazing views, and I should be able to drop some of my baggage at one of the refuges along the way, which will be nice, but I'm excited to see some of the close up views, of Cordelia Paine some of these big famous peaks.

The weather has now changed again, as we've kind of rounded the southern side here of the mountains.

No more wind.

And we're walking by a beautiful lake right now.

The scenery changes so much here.

You really do get something absolutely different each and every day.

We're about one third of the way into part one of today.

About four more kilometers to Italiano, which is where I'm going to drop my backpack and head up.

All right.

I have just dropped off my big backpack here at Campo Italiano.

This is a gard trek.

It's also one of the smaller areas that you can camp in as well.

There are some bathrooms here and a place to fill up water.

And we've got about 5.5km up to the top lookout here, which is called the Britanico.

There's a couple lookouts on the way, which I'm really excited to check out.

I'm hoping the weather holds because of look, a little rainy cloudy up there.

We'll see what happens.

There are so many colorful flowers around here.

One of my favorites is this.

Actually not sure what it's called.

It smells heavenly.

The area of the park that we're hiking into right now is called the French Valley.

Most of the people that I've asked have said this is their favorite part of the park because of the beauty and the biodiversity.

It has some of the most flora and fauna in any part of the park.

And as you hike up this part of the trail, you can smell all the wonderful flowers blooming.

Behind me are those lakes we hiked by this morning which are just dazzling in the sunshine.

And behind us here are several glaciers up on the mountainside that we are hiking up towards, and going to have an absolutely spectacular view of in just a few more minutes.

Just look at all those waterfalls.

I can count one, two, three, four.

There must be over a dozen of them.

Just incredible.

If you guys remember from my episode in Alaska, we talked a lot about glaciers.

And as you can see on this glacier, it's nice and white up here.

And then it gets Grey and black down here.

That's because it's covered with moraine, which is really common in these high mountain environments where you have glaciers that are melting, bringing rocks and other debris down as they move down the mountainside.

Check out this rock.

Look at this sheer force that would have taken a crack.

This.

And it's just filled with all these other smaller rocks.

It's really neat.

Welcome to Britannica viewpoint.

This is one of the highlights here on the tracks.

Definitely one you won't want to miss if you are coming to do this hike and the nice part was that my big backpack is down at the bottom, so wasn't too bad getting up here.

And this is a great place where you have 360 degree views of this mountain range, right in the heart of it you've got rocky spires and peaks in all directions, really emblematic of these southern Andes region.

I'm not going to stay here too long because we've got a lot more hiking to do today.

I got to get back down, grab the backpack and head to Los Cuernos to spend the night.

All right.

The bag is back on.

I am just leaving Italiano and heading to Cuernos, which I will hopefully arrive today in time for dinner.

Right now I'm passing through Camp Frances, which is another spot you can stay in.

And they've got some raised campsites here, which are pretty cool.

If you're doing the premium tents, you could stay in those.

I've got two more kilometers to where we're going, and I can think about is food.

Food, food.

Could pretty much eat anything right now.

Just seeing pretty far off over the lake there.

But the first Andean condors of the trip.

And hopefully we'll be able to see some more of those from camp tonight.

It'll be really exciting.

These birds are absolutely massive, actually.

I saw some new fields on the drive from Argentina into Chile, and they are just completely prehistoric.

We have arrived and in time for dinner, which will be in just about 45 minutes.

It's nice being by myself, because I can pretty much always get in, even when they're full.

Tonight I'm doing the premium camping, and at this location we're actually like rooftop tents from vehicles and pretty cool.

So nice shelter from any inclement weather here and inside.

Plenty of space in here.

And if there were two of you, definitely would have enough room to spread out well, in here I brought my own sleeping bag liner since I have been camping as well, so I'm going to use that inside of the sleeping bags they provided.

It provided pillows as well, and it's just a nice kind of cozy setup here where you're above the ground so you don't feel like you're down kind of in the dampness.

It is a bit dark.

I'm not going to get any sunlight coming in here as we are in the trees, and right now it's actually raining.

So I'm hoping that the rain gets all of itself out because I don't want any rain on the trail tomorrow.

So fingers crossed I'm going to shut my eyes here in a little bit, and I will see you guys in the morning.

One of the drawbacks of backpacking is that I can't just sit here all day staring at the scenery, because this morning, now that the rain is gone, everything is just blanketed in this beautiful sprinkling of water droplets and moisture.

The high mountains have fog that just seems to envelop it and disappear.

Showing the snow and revealing the hidden waterfalls.

It's just spectacular.

And then, of course, we've got the glacial lakes.

I could sit here probably half a day just staring.

But we have a really long day today.

Lots of mileage.

Most people doing this track that start at the beginning actually do this next section in two days.

Most of the people coming this way also do it in two days.

So I'm going to be attempting to do it in one.

We have a really long day.

Lots of incline and I'll probably be getting to camp around 10 p.m., so I think it's time to get on the trail.

Well, the trail is certainly getting busier as I'm kind of making my way to the eastern side of the park where most of the people that are coming for day hikes come.

And most of the people starting this hike as well will be beginning.

So passing quite a few more groups.

It's about 10:30 now and I'm hoping to be at Chileno, which is on the way up to the base Torres probably sometime after lunch.

All right.

I'm at the trail junction now.

That way goes back to the beginning of the park, and that's where a lot of the people that I passed this morning are coming from.

But we're going to be heading this way up to the Mirador base of Torres to see the Torres del Paine.

So, funnily enough, from this spot here you can actually see down into the valley and down here is actually one of the hotels in the park, some parking lots where most of the visitors coming to the entrance actually park to do their day hike so.

We still have a lot of mileage left, but part of me is like, do I have time to go drop my bag off down there, make it up to the Torres, and then back down?

Oh if only.

Hahaha.

So this section is also had a lot of mosquitoes from all the running water and the rain last night.

Definitely bring your bug spray.

All right.

We have gained some serious elevation over 1100 feet in the last couple of hours.

And this is where this trail is going to get a lot busier, because right behind me is the main trail that actually comes up from the park entrance, where all the day hikers, all the people starting the W Trek are also coming up.

So these trails join right up the hill here, and then there's going to be a lot of people making their way up to the Torres del Paine.

But we've got a couple more hours.

We are doing good, making good time, and I think we're definitely going to get this hike done today.

All right.

I haven't stopped here at Chileno putting on a cheese sandwich to get a little refuel here before we head to the top.

Looks pretty good.

And then we've got about two miles to get up to the Mirador.

Torres del Paine.

Well, we made it to the Mirador base.

Torres, where the famous peaks of the Torres del Paine.

are three big peak share made out of granite that this park was actually named after.

Unfortunately, they're completely hidden in clouds right now.

But I've been told.

Wait a few minutes and hopefully they'll appear.

So I've got my other camera set up for a time lapse of the clouds, and we're going to wait and see.

Well, unfortunately, it seems seeing the Torres del Paine today was not in my cards.

But the good news is the mountains will still be here tomorrow.

And so I, I think we've fully conquered this national park though.

And now it's time to head back down to Chile now.

Far back down to the beginning of the park to finish this trek.

Well, the hard part of this hike is now behind us.

We've gone up to all the big miradors, and I've rejoined my backpack now as well.

I just picked it up at the Refugio Chileno, and a lot of the other people that I was hiking with are actually going to be staying at that refugio tonight, heading up to Torres del Paine in the morning to try to catch it for sunrise.

So I hope that they get to see it without the clouds that we had.

This has been an extraordinary hike.

It's not over yet.

We've still got many more miles to go before we reach the end.

And I saw some wild horses in the distance on our way past the trail, so I'm hoping that we can catch them on our way down.

Well, this marks the end of the W Trek, and with it, Patagonia is showing us some of its true weather.

They say you can experience four seasons in a day, and the winds down here can be incredibly strong.

It's one of the things that will keep hikers off the trail down here.

One of the reasons some of the trails may close from time to time.

Luckily, I've been off the trail now before these winds took place and it was spectacular.

So much beautiful scenery, the glaciers, the mountains, the variety in each and every day.

I really enjoyed it and I really hope that you did too, and I hope you enjoyed seeing this little slice of Chile and Patagonia and I will see you in the next adventure.

As always, I'm Alice Ford.

You never stop exploring.