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This relative comparison shall help hikers and packrafters to make an educated choice of the sections that they attempt and to choose wisely where to hike and where to packraft.
==Trail TypesUsed Trails==To be issued[[File:GPT02-P0063.jpg|thumb|500px|Greater Patagonian Trail Section 2: Laguna Dial. File: Jan Dudeck]]When planning the Greater Patagonian Trail the first choice were the '''Horse or Hiking Trails''' that traverse the remote valleys and mountain passes in the heart of the Andes close to the border between Chile and Argentina. Most of these trails are created and maintained by local herdsmen to drive livestock to their summer pastures and by settlers that live in solitary.
The second choice were unused or rarely traveled '''Minor and Two-Track Roads'''. Such often neglected roads typically provide access to isolated settlements or villages without attracting any transit traffic. Until recently some of these villages could only be reached on horse or by food. Regional governments try to improve the living conditions in these remote settlments by "upgrading" these horse trail into minor dirt roads. This might be sad for hikers but since we are only guests we have no reason to compain. Also forest and logging roads are put in this category of minor roads. Some of these minor roads are not maintained anymore and not accessible by vehicle but remain passable for hikers. Most hiking trails in Europe would fall in this category since the majority of hiking trails in Europe are occasionally used by forestry and agricultural vehicles.
In some areas the Greater Patagonian Trail crosses through open terrain without a visible trail. Some of these '''Cross Country''' routes lead through steep and exposed terrain above the tree line but do not require technical climbing. These Cross Country routes often belong to the finest parts of the Greater Patagonian Trail because they offer you wide views in barely visited areas of the Patagonian Andes.
The Cross Country parts do not pass very dense vegetation. Only on a few short streches you need to hike through overgrown terrain and do some '''Bush Bashing'''. In some parts this cannot be avoided because old not maintained trails became overgrown or simply no trail was ever made. For someone that is used to hike fast and efficient this might be frustating but patient hikers will find their way step by step even in this challanging terrain.
Public roads with transit traffic were avoided wherever possible. On such '''Primary and Paved Roads''' you may find some moderate traffic but they are safe to hike. If you do not insist in "connecting footsteps" you may try to hitch-hike on these roads. Some drivers will even stop without being asked and offer you a ride as this is part of the back-country culture in this region.
Not all hiking options are recorded yet by GPS since the author investigated the Greater Patagonian Trail with a packraft. There is also a shorter part that could not be hiked because one area was closed at the time of the investigation due to a large wild fire. These '''to be verified''' trails may therefore be imprecisely shown in this trail description and by the KMZ/GPX files. But the author has reliable information that these trails exist and have been hiked recently. At this time the author has simply no precise GPS record and the route is not sufficiently visible on satellite images.
Wherever possible the Greater Patagonian Trail incorporates '''lake''' crossings, '''river''' downstream floats and even paddeling on '''fjords''' with a [[#Packraft|packraft]].If not carrying such a light-weight inflatable boat or if the weather does not permit paddling then all these water sections can be bypassed on foot, by ferry or with private boat transfers. The river downstream floats do not include white-water rivers with large rapids.
==Section Choises and Choise of Method of Travel==