Cambios

===Idea for the Trail===

I did my first hike in Patagonia in 2002 and returned several times in the following years. As most casual hikers I used a trekking guide book (Lonely Planet: “Trekking in the Patagonian Andes”) and ventured onto trails described by books or printed on maps. It did not even appear to me to go beyond.

A few years later I was recommended the „Adventure Handbook Central Chile“ from Franz Schubert and Malte Sieber. This booked introduced me to the often overlooked area between the Chilean capital Santiago and Patagonia. Before I always passed this area without seriously considering to stop before reaching Patagonia.

In 2011 we planned to do the hike to the Laguna las Truchas that is recommended in the Adventure Handbook. But before we set out we were told by locals that the landlord does not let pass any backpackers. The locals recommended a different trail instead for which we had no guide books, no maps and no guide willing to lead us. After long considerations we eventually took our backpacks and hiked on our own to the impressive Laguna Dial. We were surprised to walk on a well maintained trails where maps are simply blank. In the following months and years repeated this experience again and again: there are plenty of undocumented trails. I also noticed that these trails are often visible on Google Earth, which gave me a new tool to plan hikes.

===Planning of the Trail===