By day two of our Patagonia trip we were tired, sunburnt (mainly Dave) and sore (just me), but that did not stop us! We had the French Valley hike to do! The French Valley hike is another main portion of the W Trek. Both this hike and the gray glacier hike are slightly inconvenient to get to as a day hike because you need to take a ferry across Lago Pehoe to Rifugio Paine Grande, the starting point of each of the hikes. However once we figured out the logistics is was not too bad and the ferry ride itself is a nice ride with beautiful scenery!
Navigating the Ferry to the Trailhead
The ferry goes from Rifugio Pudeto to Rifugio Paine Grande, and I believe there is only one company which runs the ferry. If you rented a car you can drive and park your car at the ferry stop next to Rifugio Pudeto. You can also take a bus from Puerto Natales to Estancia Pudeto, the bus stop at the ferry. Make sure to check bus and ferry times in advance.
You can book your ferry tickets online or pay in person. But if you show up to pay in cash before the ferry leaves you will be the last to board and they will only let you on if there is room. Therefore, I definitely recommend booking online – doing so the day before or even the day of is fine. The only downside is that if you buy your return ticket in advance it does give you a bit of a deadline to finish your hike and get back to the boat. Also, make sure you get to the ferry more than 15 minutes early! We showed up 15 minutes early, walked around a bit looking for where to board the ferry, and by the time we got to the entrance the staff had just closed the gate. Luckily one of the guys came back to check our tickets, but had we not purchased them yet I think the ferry would have left without us.
Information on prices and the ferry schedule can all be found here.
The Hike Itself
When you get off the ferry you will walk by Rifugio Paine Grande, the starting point for both the French Valley and Gray Glacier hikes if you are doing them as day hikes. If you are hiking the W Trek this is a stopping point between days/hikes. The Rifugio has a small mini market with beer and snacks and bathrooms. There is also a cafeteria where you can buy full meals but it is only open during certain hours. We started our hike as soon as we got off the ferry but went into the Rifugio for a post hike cerveza (beer) at the end of the day.
This hike is long, but less demanding than Mirador los Torres and the Gray Glacier hikes. After about two hours of walking with beautiful views of the lake there is another small campsite, the Italiano campsite. Do not expect any refreshments here though as this is a bare bones campsite with bathrooms and a water refill station. On the way back we noticed that they were no longer letting people hike past here. I am not sure if this is because conditions were too windy or if generally they had a cutoff time after which people were not allowed to continue hiking on the trail. This was the case on several of our hikes in Torres del Paine so I would always recommend starting your hikes in the morning.
After the Italiano campsite you start to get views of the glaciers, and there are plenty of spots to stop for photos!
There is a clear stopping point at the top of an incline where you have the best view of the glacier and a sign that says French Valley Mirador. At the end of the hike you can keep going if you are doing the W trek, or turn around to catch the ferry back if doing this as a day hike. We stopped for a late lunch and some photos and relaxation before turning around and hiking back to Rifugio Paine Grande.
Garmin Stats:
Here are the stats of the hike according to my Garmin:
- 13 miles round trip
- 3793 feet of ascent
- 3871 feet of descent
- 6 hours of hiking time
- 7 hours total with time for pictures and snack stops.
A Word of Caution
One word of caution on this hike, make sure you follow the physical trail signs as opposed to your apps like All Trails or Gaia. Gaia tried leading us down a closed trail, and had we listened to our maps we would have hiked for another hour only to reach a broken bridge with no other across a ravine! We almost trusted the maps but at the last minute decided to go with our gut and follow what looked more like a trial. The trail Gaia wanted us to take had a barricade in front of it, but there was no sign indicating why it was closed.
Overall, the French Valley hike was a challenging trail, mainly because of the distance, but it is full of beauty and allows you to see multiple types of landscape including the lake, glaciers, woods, and rock formations. It is a great trail to experience the variety of landscapes in the park.