Cambios

Eventually you can reach the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the world's second largest contiguous extrapolar extra-polar ice field. Here giant rock towers sting into the sky while enormous glaciers to their feed calve colossal blocks of ice into wind battered lakes.

In the northern part of the route you will meet solitary herdsman with their animals that move every spring after the snow melt on higher ground to let their cattle, horses and goats feed on the mountain pastures. The trail crosses later the homeland of the indigenous Pehuenche where majestic Araucaria trees tower above the tribal land and provide the traditional food for this sometimes shy and sometimes proud people. When going further south you will meet courageous settlers that have ventured into challenging backcountryback-country. If you are interested you can listen to their stories while sitting around the warm stove and sharing the traditional drink of this region: Mate. These authentic encounters are part of the beauty of this trail.

In numerous parts countless locations the trail branches into different routes creating a wide network of tracks that give you various many choices. You may either walk the entire distance or you can take packraft gear with you to float down rivers and to paddle and sail over lakes and fjords. There are also various volcanos and other summits along the route that can be ascended without rock climbing gear. I have also included optional tracks that get you literally into the last valley and over the last mountain range next to the border between Chile and Argentina into barley known corners of the southern Andes. This is of interest for hikers that love to venture into particular remote back-country.