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[[Archivo:Laguna_Los_Hornitos.jpg|thumb|500px|right|Greater Patagonian Trail Section 1: Pass 2540 m viewing to Laguna Los Hornitos. Image: Jan Dudeck]]
This first long distance trail in South America leads right through the heart of the legendary Patagonian Andes. It's a stunningly beautiful and diverse trail that crosses volcanic fields, idyllic Andean valleys, snow covered mountain ranges, lush green forests and deep blue lakes and rivers.
On this trail you will meet herdsmen with their animals, indigenous Pehuenche on their homeland and courageous settlers that ventured into a challenging backcountry.
The Greater Patagonian trail is not an official trail that was planned and set up by a government agency. It’s better: it’s a compilation of the most beautiful and diverse trails, minor roads and cross country sections through the Patagonian Andes selected by a passionate hiker.
Greater Patagonian Trail with waypoints, options and alternatives: [[Media:GPT-GreaterPatagonianTrail-20140806.kmz| KMZ file (Update from 2014-Aug-06)]]
Read the [[#Comment to KMZ File for Trekking|comment to the KMZ file]] after downloading to understand the structure and nomenclature of this file.
The entire trail consists of 16 sections that require between 2 to 10 days each. Every section connects seamless with the following section and starts and ends near a road with public transportation. Therefore each section can be hiked as an individual trail or several sections can be combined to a longer trip.
The sections 2 and 3 can be combined with an alternative trial trail through a pristine area that bypasses the settlement and the road at the finish of section 2 and the start of section 3. This double section makes a true long distance endurance challange that gets you in 2 to 3 weeks through nearly untouched wilderness without passing a single village or a public road.
{| class="wikitable"
* '''Descent: 5820 meters ↓'''
The thrid third section of the Greater Patagonian Trail leads you first through the forest and pastries patches along the rivers Río Los SoucesSauces, Río Roble and Río Ñuble. Occasional farm houses show you till what point settlers have advanced but some abandoned buildings remind you that these settlers are retreating again. Making a living all year around in such a place is a challenge, that becomes invisible when passing on a charming summer day.
Eventually you will reach a first pass that opens your view to the volcano Chillan who has a notorious poor sleep. Lava streams and ash become your trail again. After having crossed the slope of the volcano you decent in the “Valle Termal” where you can taste the heat that constantly leaks out. Dive in the hot stream and relax in steaming water while watching the stars during a frezzing freezing night. The trail continues though untouched forest, goes up and down, crosses streams and get you once more to hot springs, but this time nicely enclosed and with a well build refuge next to it: the hot springs “Los Peucos”. The final highlight of this trail section is the Laguna de Las Lajas that like the Laguna Dial was created by a volcano. The Laguna de Las Lajas is just one or two sizes bigger and was formed when the perfect cone shaped volcano Antuco had a series of powerful erruptions and plugged the drain of the valley. It is not possible to hike on the shore of the lake all the way to the section finish because steep rocky terrain blocks the path. So you need to climb the ridge on the western side of the lake. Depending on the weather and your explorers mood you can continue on the ridge to the trail section end or take the “bad weather escape route” down into the valley Polcura on the other side of the ridge.
The final highlight of this trail section is the Laguna de Las Lajas that like the Laguna Dial was created by a volcano. The Laguna de Las Lajas is just one or two sizes bigger and was formed when the perfect cone shaped volcano Antuco had a series of powerful erruptions and plugged the drain of the valley. It is not possible to hike on the shore of the lake all the way to the section finish because steep rocky terrain blocks the path. So you need to climb the ridge on the western side of the lake. Depending on the weather and your explorers mood you can continue on the ridge to the trail section end, or take the “bad weather escape route” down into the valley Polcura on the other side of the ridge.
Here you can see plenty of [http://www.panoramio.com/user/7876187/tags/GPT%20Section%2003 images of section 3 of the Greater Patagonian Trail] that are uplodaded to Panoramio and Google Earth.
The fourth section of the Greater Patagonian Trail sets out on the base of volcano Antuco; a nearly perfect cone build with pitch black volcanic rocks and boulders. You can optionally climb this summit before continuing on the regular route. It’s a demanding long ascent over rather loose piles of sharp volcanic rocks that make the returning descent even more tiresome. But if the weather favours you, you get rewarded with an outlook that reaches north to the volcano Chillan and south to the volcano Copahue; a total distance that takes about 10 days to hike.
The regular trail takes the road to Argentine through vast fields of black volcanic ash in between the Laguna de Las Lajas and the volcano Antuco. On May 18, 2005 this road became the tragic scene of the worst peacetime military disaster in recent Chilean history. An overeager commander ordered about 400 poorly equipped conscripts to march this road despite a starting snow storm. 45 soldiers got disoriented and paralyze by the fierce snow storm and froze to death on the side of the road. Take it as an advise to always carry protective cloth and rather seek shelter if the weather turns against you. This trail is published for prudent hikers and not for wannabe heros.
After passing the ill-fated military post and the border control you need to leave the road before crossing into Argentina at the "Piedra del Indio" and turn south to enter the territory of the Pehuenche people. The "Piedra del Indio" or "Rock of the Indios" received its name because two "Indio " families where surprised by a similar fiece fierce snow storm and wipped were wiped out all together. A wide open valley leads you towards the first Araucaria trees that also mark the initial of the tribal land. Indigenous herdsman have set up their “Puestos” to look after their animals on the summer pastriespatches of grass. Centuries of disrespect, deceit and displacement by colonists have made this people withdrawn and sceptical compared to the settlers and “Puesteros” that you meet before. But if you approach them with respect and in a humble attitude you may get invited into their huts and listen to them speaking their native language Mapuche.