Mirador Cerro Dorotea

We decided to hike up to the Mirador Cerro Dorotea which boasts spectacular views. We had deciphered from TripAdvisor reviews that the taxi would cost roughly 7000 pesos each way and the entrance fee would be 5000 per person. We decided to walk there and taxi back to save our pesos for something more interesting. The walk just to get to the hike was about 5.5 miles, but it gave us an opportunity to see more of the scenery of the surrounding area and we weren’t in a hurry. 

To start the hike, you pay the entrance fee to a rancher whose field you cross before getting to the trailhead.The rancher explains in Spanish that the entry fee includes tea/coffee and bread after the hike and indicates where to start walking. The path cuts across his field and then goes straight up the hill.

We haven’t done many hikes that are this steep, but you do gain elevation quickly, and pretty soon you can see how the view from the top will be amazing. We have also never done a hike where the wind is blowing so strongly. The rancher recommended staying 30 meters from the edge and we think he is right – you could actually be blown over the edge if you were too close.

We continue up the steep path, winding occasionally through what we have affectionately named the Fuzzy Tree Forest. All of the trees are covered in this pale green, stringy lichen that makes them look fuzzy, and Eric, who loves exploring forests, says it’s the strangest forest he has ever been in.

When we arrive at the top, we are rewarded with a spectacular view. We can see the mountains of Torres del Paine in the distance, the small airport we flew into, and the town we walked from. After carefully enjoying a picnic snack on top of the blustery mountain lest it blow away over the edge, we returned back down the mountain to the rancher’s house for tea and coffee. 

When we arrived back at the house, there was no one to be found. We had read some angry TripAdvisor reviews about the same thing happening. In our case, we decided there was nothing to do but wait. We both agreed we didn’t want to walk 5.5 miles back into town since our legs were tired now but also because we would have a fierce headwind all the way back. We needed the rancher to call us a taxi. About ten minutes later he came out of the house and took us on a path through the chicken enclosure near the sheep pen to a small three-room house where he boiled us hot water for tea and coffee and brought us bread, dulce, and mackerel with onions. After our snack he called us a cab and then sat down with us for a chat while we waited. Chilean Spanish can be difficult to understand, so Jess was struggling, and Eric, who doesn’t speak much Spanish yet, was completely lost, but we still managed to talk about Eric’s cool adventure hat and the populations of various cities. The taxi arrived and took us back to Plaza de Armas for only 5000 pesos.

We tried walking around the town to see more of Puerto Natales before we left, but it was very windy and we soon tired of being buffeted, so we eventually went back to the hostel for a rest before our evening excursion.