Hike Sendero Mirador Nordenskjöld

Hiking trail leading to the outlook Nordenskjold starts at the catamaran marina in Pudeto (50 m asl). Set out along the dusty road up the hill leading to the waterfall Salto Grande and after about half a kilometer turn right onto a path leading to the outlook point. Leave the waterfall to the end. The surrounding mountainous windswept Patagonian landscape looks decidedly higher-lying than few tens of meters above sea level. After a while, the first views of the lake Pehoe open, but it will be even better further on.
 

Views of Lago Nordenskjold (65 m asl) begin to open after a while. There are a lot of picturesque islands in the lake.
 

After less than 2.5 km walk from Pudeto you will come to a fabulous cove with Patagonian beach with bleached tree trunks. However, the most beautiful view is of the rock towers Cuernos and you will definitely enjoy these views during this walk. The highest and most ragged of them is Cuernos Principal (2 600 m asl).
 

Walking path is not very large, but it is very clear, so you will certainly not have any problems with orientation. Unlike other parts of the park there are no such crowds, which you might appreciate. In addition, the views of the rock towers are nearly constant.
 

After an hour of walking you finally arrive to the outlook point of a large part of Lake Nordenskjold. The trail of W-trek leads in the woods on the other side of the lake. Directly across you is a wide valley of Valle del Frances.
 

Do not definitely be discouraged by the end of the official path at the outlook point and climb along the paths to the top of the hill at about 130 meters asl. Here opens an incredible view of the surrounding beautiful countryside.
 

The highest mountain in the entire park is massif Paine Grande (2 884 m asl), whose height varies considerably in different sources.

If it is not just snowing or raining, it is best to have a rest at the top of the hill and admire the picturesque Lake Nordenskjold and the surrounding mountains.

The way back to Pudeto is almost the same, but it is worth to walk also to the great waterfall Salto Grande.

From the calm lake Nordenskjold flows very fierce river to end via waterfall Salto Grande thirty meters below in the lake Pehoe after few tens of meters.
 

Nearly thirty meters high waterfall Salto Grande
 

From the outlook point at the waterfall is also visible the lake Pehoe. Unfortunately, you will also see the remains of concrete bridge, which used to lead through here and enabled the connection of the tourist circuits on foot. Now there is no other choice than to use a catamaran, if you want to continue on for example to the glacier Grey.
 

Before you walk back to Pudeto, you can again enjoy the ridge of Cuernos del Paine and if you're lucky, local lamas will pose for you.