===Understanding the Landscape===
To The Greater Patagonian Trail crosses most of Patagonia and the adjacent regions north of it. For this reason I named the trail “Greater Patagonian Trail” to be issuedprecise and well descriptive as the same time. I coined the term "Greater Patagonia" when I started publishing the trail in 2014 to combine Patagonia in its traditional limits with the surrounding area like "Greater London" joins the city of London with the surroundings. The limits of Patagonia are as fuzzy as the imaginations of many when they hear “Patagonia”. There are some core ideas that most people connect with “Patagonia” like vastness, wilderness and solitude but few have actual knowledge. So are the limits of this region. There is no doubt that Patagonia is part of the Southern Cone but opinions deviate where it exactly starts and ends. The northern limit of Patagonia on the Chilean side can be seen as south as the Estuarió de Reloncaví (latitude 41° 30’ South) or as north as the river Río Biobío (about latitude 37° South if taking the mouth at Concepcion as reference). That’s a difference of about 500 km. On the Argentine side the understanding of the limits can be equally different. Some take the Río Negro with the tributary Río Limay as the northern limit (about latitude 39° South) others the Río Barrancas and the Río Colorado (Latitude 36° South). Also, some consider Tierra del Fuego as part of Patagonia others not. If you try to align Patagonia with the current administrative divisions of Chile and Argentina than the following provinces (Argentina) and regions (Chile) are typically considered Patagonia: In Argentina:* Neuquén* Río Negro* Chubut* Santa Cruz* Tierra del Fuego In Chile:* XIV. Region (Región de los Ríos with the provinces Valdivia and Ranco)* X. Region (Región de los Lagos with the provinces Chiloé, Llanquihue, Osorno and Palena)* XI. Region (Región de Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo with the provinces Aisén, Capitán Prat, Coihaique and General Carrera)* XII. Region (Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena with the provinces Magallanes, Tierra del Fuego, Última Esperanza and Antártica Chilena) For more information to this subject read [the Spanish Wikipedia article to Patagonia https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonia#Generalidades]. So depending on the chosen definition the Greater Patagonian Trail gets in casting distance to Patagonia at the end of section GPT05 where you can view for the first time over the border into Argentina into the province Neuquén. But with a different understanding you enter Patagonia on section GPT13 where you cross the Río Biobío, or on section GPT16 where you reach the administrative region XIV (Región de los Ríos) or on section GPT22 where you finally reach the Estuarió de Reloncaví and with this you step on terrain that is doubtless Patagonia.But all this does not matter if wish to discover “real Patagonia”. What matters most is an open mind and readiness for the true diversity of this region. If your expectation and knowledge of Patagonia is based on a brief Google search and a few articles about Patagonia than you probably have seen only the three heavily hyped tourist magnets: 1. the national park Torres del Paine2. the glacier Perito Moreno and 3. the surrounding of El Chalten with Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. These are three truly amazing spots on the western edge of the Southern Icefield but no representation of Patagonia. “Real Patagonia” it is much more than this and consist of surprisingly disparate zones. There are the vast open plains in the east - a cold wind battered steppe, a rugged wet Pacific coast with countless islands and fjords and impenetrable tempered rain forest in the west and the Patagonian Andes where Chile and Argentina agreed in 1881 to divide this region in between them. Patagonia is all this what is part of the mystery and magic of this region. So if you are only interest to visit the dwarfed popular version of Patagonia then go to these three famous tourist destinations. But don’t be surprised if you need to queue up to take your selfy with one of these millionfold pictured attractions in the background. At these attractions you can only image the solitude of Patagonia but not experience it. But if you want an ample experience of Patagonia to taste all the different often barely known zones than the Greater Patagonian Trail might be your choice.
===Understanding the Region===
