The first branch of the W went towards a massive glacier on the edge of Lago Grey. Glacier Grey is a massive ice sheet taking up large portions of the park. Staying at the Refugio Grey, the mirador next door one could see the edge of the advancing glacier looking like someone had put Styrofoam under a microscope.
The next section of the W is the Valle del Frances. This part was the roughest trail and the highest point of elevation of all the trails in Torres del Paine. In this section, the trail leads to a mirador within the valley created by the crescent shaped mountains and the parks most notable river Rio del Frances flows out of this valley.
The coolest, but hardest part of Torres del Paine is carrying everything on your back. I carried all the camping equipment for Sydney and I (although she did lug around all the food). We shared my tiny two person tent with the additional bags of Douglas and Archil since their tent looked like something not made to be taken out of the backyard by people under the age of 10. Our little tent become home in the freezing nights though.
Finally, the last stop on the W is the parks most famous attraction. Giving the park its name, the towers of stone loom over the park's mountains. By camping at the base and making a 45 minute hike in the dark up a way too steep mountainside, one can watch the sunrise over the towers as the change from shimmering in the dark to glowing red.
