Patagonia Trek – Valle del Frances (Day 3)
Leaving Los Cuernos Refugio early on Day 3 we knew we had a long day (~11 hours) of hiking ahead of us. The route for the day would take us into Valle del Frances (aka The French Valley) where we would get to see Glacier Frances up close. Surprisingly we would cover almost the same distance as we did in Day 2 but with much more challenging terrain (see route map).
Most of the morning we were hiking on an upward sloping ridge next to a river aptly named Rio del Frances that serves as the main waterway for all the melt water from the glacier. About 1.5 miles into Valle del Frances the trail opened up to offer a spectacular view of the glacier.
It was also at this point that we started noticing the periodic rumbling and rushing of snow caused by frequent avalanches coming down the glacier into the valley. From this point we ventured deeper into the valley another 1.5 hours (round trip). While the higher vantage point did offer a slightly different view of the glacier and terrain you could probably forgo this portion of the hike if you wanted to cut down the length of the day.
After a quick stop we retraced our steps back down the valley to begin our 5 hour hike to Refugio Paine Grande. Once out of Valle del Frances we crossed Rio del Frances at which point the trail flattened out and started meandering around Lago Skottsberg through light forest and meadows . A little over 10 hours after leaving Los Cuernos Refugio earlier that morning we made one last stop 2 miles out from the next refugio. At that point a handful of us including our guide decided to break into a run and race to Refugio Paine Grande. Needless to say our guide beat us pretty handily covering the remaining distance in 18 minutes with a 50 lbs pack on his back while it took the rest of us 23 minutes even though all we were carrying were our daypacks. The rest of our group staggered in at around 45 minutes which was still a very respectable time considering the length of the day.
To give you some more details on Refugio Paine Grande, it offers 2 different accommodation options: hostel or camping. We stayed in the hostel which was a step up from our accommodations at Los Cuernos Refugio. One advantage Refugio Paine Grande has is that it is able to get supplies via boat which definitely showed in its construction. To be honest it felt much more like a hotel than a hostel. The price of food and drinks was also cheaper than the previous night and they even offer a small convenience store where you could buy necessary food supplies.
Read more about our trek in Patagonia:
- Patagonia Trek – Intro
- Patagonia Trek – Recommended Gear
- Patagonia Trek – Milodon Cave (Day 1)
- Patagonia Trek – Paso Los Cuernos (Day 2)
- Patagonia Trek – Valle del Frances (Day 3)
- Patagonia Trek – The Grey Glacier (Day 4)
- Patagonia Trek – The Towers (Day 5)
- Patagonia Trek – The Eastern Lakes (Day 6)
