Join us for a day trip to Chile's iconic Torres del Paine National Park! 😍 Head to https://squarespace.com/samuelandaudrey to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Hello and greetings from Chile! In today’s video, we’re going to be taking you on a day trip to Torres del Paine National Park. This is a major trekking destination in Chile and one could easily spend a few weeks on the trails, but since we were a bit short on time, today we’re going to be showing you some of the highlights you can experience on a day trip. During our tour, we saw all sorts of wildlife, visited the cave of a prehistoric animal, and even came face to face with icebergs, so all in all, a very good day and a great option for anyone wanting to day trip from Puerto Natales.

Our first stop of the day was the Mylodon’s Cave, which is a natural monument located about 30 minutes northwest of Puerto Natales. This site is comprised of several caves, the largest of which is 30 meters high and 200 metres deep. This is where the prehistoric mylodon's remains were found.

A bit of trivia: apparently, the mylodon’s state of conservation was so good that at first the remains were believed to be that of a living species. This launched a small wave of early 20th century expeditions in search of a living, breathing mylodon. Well, that search didn’t yield much. The samples were eventually dated back about 10,000 years...they were just in great condition because of the extreme cold and stable conditions the cave had to offer.

From there, we continued on our tour to Torres del Paine National Park, which is located 60 kilometres north of Puerto Natales. As you can imagine, it was a pretty scenic drive; the best surprise was spotting a group of condors circling just above us. This is the largest bird of prey in the world, so we were pretty excited to see several of them so close by!

Once we arrived in Torres del Paine National Park, we visited numerous attractions like the Paine River Waterfall, Laguna Amarga, Lago Nordenskjöld and Lago Pehoé. We also drove past estancias, experienced winds that nearly blew us over, and of course, we were greeted with incredible landscapes at every turn. Just driving through the park’s dirt roads was an adventure in and of itself!

In the afternoon we had lunch at the Río Pingo restaurant which is located inside the national park on the southern tip of Lago Gray. Then, we enjoyed a beautiful walk on the Gray Trail that goes down to a beach where you can see icebergs up close. It was an incredible experience!

We really enjoyed this 1-day excursion to Torres del Paine. If you are in Puerto Natales but are short on time and can't spend a week trekking in the park, this is a great option that allows you to enjoy a few of the highlights!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Day Trip to Chile's TORRES DEL PAINE National Park + The Most BEAUTIFUL PLACE in Chilean Patagonia?

GEAR WE USE
Panasonic GH5: http://amzn.to/2yqTUyi
Canon G7X ii: http://amzn.to/2yqtM6B
Rode Video Micro: http://amzn.to/2wTguTM
Joby Gorilla Pod: http://amzn.to/1PgoY5F
SanDisk 16GB Extreme Pro: http://amzn.to/25KEErs

* * * * * * * * * * * *

SOCIAL MEDIA & TRAVEL BLOGS

AUDREY:
blog: http://thatbackpacker.com/
instagram:   / thatbackpacker  
facebook:   / thatbackpacker  
twitter:   / thatbackpacker  

SAMUEL:
blog: http://nomadicsamuel.com/
facebook:   / nomadicsamuel  
twitter:   / nomadicsamuel  
instagram:   / nomadicsamuel  

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Music We Use: http://bit.ly/SamAudreyMusic