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→Packrafting on the GPT
[[File:GPT28-Rio_Palena.jpg|thumb|500px|GPT28: Packrafting the Río Palena. Image: Jan Dudeck]]
[[File:GPT_Glaciar_O'Higgins.jpg|thumb|500px|GPT38: Glaciar O'Higgins coming down from the Southern Icefield. Image: Jan Dudeck]]
The Greater Patagonian Trail (GPT) is a long distance network of trails in the southern [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes Andes] that spans from the outskirts of Santiago all the way to southern [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonia Patagonia].
This trail is therefore not suitable for hikers who are out to race a clock, that need to have full control and who measure their success in kilometers or miles. Its a trail for thoughtful discoverers who can accept being just guests. It's for hikers for whom completion or distance covered is irrelevant or at least secondary but that count their enjoyable and eventful days in a pristine and diverse nature instead. All this makes the GPT a discovery network with a good portion of unpredictability but impressive authenticity.
===An Advise for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thru-hiking Thru-Hikers]===With the recently added extensions to the north (that extends the trail all the way to Santiago) and in the south (that stretches the trail all the way to edge of the Southern Icefield) the trail now spans about 3000 km in often difficult and slow terrain. With this extension the trail became too long to be safely [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thru-hiking thru-hiked ] in one season. An experienced thru-hiker may disagree as with 3000 km the trail is a bit shorter than the Appalachian Trail (AT) but the varried and unpredictable terrain makes this comparison inadequate.
I know, sooner or later someone will try to thru-hike the trail in one season and may even succeed if he is lucky with the weather. But attempting thisseems foolish, especially this early in the development of the trail and the support system along and around the trail, seems foolish. This focus will mean needing to rush and take less attractive short cuts, i.e. walk more on gravel roads instead of hiking on horse trails. It inhibits slowing down to fully appreciate the land and share time with the people along the route. And more important: someone who tries to thru-hike the GPT in one season needs to take unreasonable risks by throwing himself in torrential rivers and climbing to high elevations when fierce blizzards can kill. And remember, when you walk on these trails you are a guest on the land of someone else. Just the idea of racing through strangers' backyards feels wrong for me.
From a thru-hiking perspective the GPT is less than a long distance trail. There is no clearly defined and well-marked trail to blaze along, there is no thru-hiking community to trail talk and there are no trail angles providing trail magic. On the GPT hikers have no domiciliary rights; they are just unexpected guests. And what might be the biggest disappointment for some thru-hikers on the GPT: nobody knows and understands the concept of thru-hiking and thru-hikers do not receive any special admiration.
But for respectful explorers the GPT is more than a long distance trail. It’s a wide network of routes in a diverse landscape with a unique blend of people living along the trails. If approached with respect and interest then these welcoming people will share with you much more than just the right-of-way, and this regardless where you are coming from and regardless where you are going walking to. On this trail your willingness and capability to immerse yourself in this culture will be more relevant than the weight of your backpack.
This trail was not created to thru-hike Patagonia, it's a route network for "immersion-hiking". The GPT does not get you through Patagonia but gets you deep into Patagonia.
===Understanding the Terrain===
If your expectation of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonia Patagonia] is based on a brief Google search and a few articles about Patagonia than you probably have seen primarily these three heavily hyped tourist magnets:
* the national park Torres del Paine
In contrast when reaching "real Patagonia" get ready for frequent and enduring rain. Also don't expect to walk high up in the mountains as there are simply no continuously high mountain ranges. In Patagonia high mountains are rather like islands that rise out of a wild sea of dense tempered rain forest. These island-like mountains are separated by wide valleys that were carved by giant glaciers during past glacial periods. Therefore "real Patagonia" is best traveled by packraft. [[#Packrafting on the GPT|More to this later.]]
[[File:GPT_Overview_Map_2.jpg|thumb|400px|Overview Map of Southern Cone with GPT. Image: GPSVisualizer.com]]
====Diversity of Patagonia====
=====East to West=====
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonia Patagonia] consists of surprisingly disparate zones. There are vast open plains in the east of Patagonia with a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonian_Desert dry and wind battered steppe] that spans from the eastern edge of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes Andes] to the Atlantic coast. The western part of Patagonia, due to the rainshadow caused by the Andes, is in some regards the opposite. In the west you have the rugged and rainy Pacific coast with countless fjords and islands. An impenetrable forest covers most of this land to the west of the Andes. And in between these two unlike areas – in between the dry plains in the east and the humid fjords in the west - tower the Patagonian Andes. Dormant and recently active volcanoes rise into the sky and glaciers cover all higher summits. During previous glacial periods these glaciers grew to a formidable size and carved deep wide valleys into the Patagonian Andes. These valleys are now partly filled by lakes and get drained by powerful rivers. All this is Patagonia and this diversity creates the mystery and magic of this region.
In this area the GPT guides you first though the mountains about 100 km east of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field. Here you can opt between attractive hiking and attractive packrafting routes but weather is volatile and distances between settlements are substantial. Towards the current southern terminus of the GPT you reach the eastern edge of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field what makes an impressive finish. From GPT38 to GPT40 you can walk and paddle through a rough wind battered land full of milky glacier lakes that get constantly refilled by immense streams of ice that flows from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.
===Packrafting on the GPT===
When I started planning my first long hike through Patagonia in 2013 I could not find a continuous hiking route south of Coñaripe (GPT16) because dense forest hides most of the trails on satellite images. But I could see calm rivers and lakes that bridged the gaps and wondered if there exists a light enough boat to be carried in a backpack to traverse these waters. I googled and found the packraft. This is the cause for all the packrafting options of the GPT: insufficient planning information. It was not until after our first hike that I could add additional hiking routes that render a packraft expendable but not less beneficial.
In retrospective I’m so happy that I had such insufficient planning information at this time. Otherwise I would probably not have discovered the packraft as the ideal hiking partner for Patagonia. A packraft does not carry only you backpack but it carries you! What matters in this “parternship” is a good balance; you don’t want to carry your packraft most of the time but benefit from it as much as possible. And this is the case on sections GPT17 to GPT39. Here the packraft carries you on up to 40% of the distance and this makes it a brilliant deal. Further north on sections GPT01 to GPT16 a packraft is more burden then benefit and I would only recommend packrafting if you specifically plan to explore a certain lake and the surrounding.
When packrafting on lakes and rivers we normally do not exceed hiking speed so the packraft does not make us faster. In contrast, all the packing and unpacking and the extra weight slows us down. But speed is not our objective. What we seek is diversity and a packraft opens up some of the most epic routes through Patagonia.
The required packrafting gear adds about 5 kg to a solo hiker’s pack or 4 kg if shared in between two. You need a boat, paddles, a dry suite, a PFD (personal flotation devise), an inflation bag and repair gear. A sail is optional. For an ultra-light hiker this is an unimaginable extra weight but if considering that the backpack weight drops on 40% of the distance to zero then this extra weight on 60% of the distance is a fair deal.
What you need when packrafting is a dry suite; not only for comfort but as a life insurance. In Patagonia weather is volatile and water temperatures are normally low. If you get wet then hypothermia can disable and kill quickly and only a dry suite protects you in such situations. The extra weight of a dry suite is not that much if you replace your normal rain gear with it. And a dry suite is so much better than any rain gear, also when hiking. It keeps you completely dry and warm even when fording glacier rivers. No rain gear does this. When we need to walk in cold rain or snow we put on our dry suite and we don't take it off until we have cooked our dinner and can slide in our sleeping bag or quilt.
If I can choose on a rainy day between hiking or packrafting than I do not need a blink of an eye to make my choice. Sitting in my boat protected by my dry suite make out of a nasty rainy day an enjoyable day on the water. Without a backpack on my back and with only moderate exertion I’m not sweating nor freezing, provided that I wear appropriate cloth below my dry suite. Protected with proper gloves and a cap only the face is exposed to the elements. What stops us packrafting is only too strong wind, but no rain.
When we started investigating the GPT we had no pre-experience with packrafting or kayaking; we were complete novices. Looking now back I would probably have taken some packrafting or kayak lessons, just to get some practice and a better feel for such a water activity. While we lacked experience at the beginning we were very careful even with small rapids and did not paddle larger lakes. But we grew with every river and lake and gained slowly confidence.
What is essential when packrafting is knowledge and respect of the hazards of water and good judgment. Great care must be taken to leave a river latest at the last recommended exit point because mortal rapids are often downstream even if you don’t see or hear them at the last exit point. Streams change constantly with rising and falling water levels, riverbeds alter over time and the weather in Patagonia is volatile. The fact that someone took a particular water route before does not mean that it is save anytime later. Therefore the track file for GPS is only an approximate guide and each packrafter needs to assess the situation himself; i.e. judge wind, waves and weather before attempting a lake or fjord crossing or scout a river rapid to decide if to paddle or porter around.
Packrafting gear is not cheep. If you don't have it expect to spend at least 2000 EUR or USD to buy the full set. That's a considerable investment but it's a lasting one if you treat it with care.
Before attempting to hike on the GPT evaluate careful what sections to travel and if carrying a packraft or not. For this you need to study in detail the [[#Section Evaluation and Trail Type Composition Charts|sections evaluation and trail type composition]] to make a smart choice that fits your capabilities and expectations. Thanks to the length of the GPT is easy to fill an entire hiking season either with hiking only or with a balanced combination of hiking and packrafting.
===Understanding the Host Nations===
The Greater Patagonian Trail is located in South America in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Chile Chile ] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Argentina Argentina]. These two countries are sometimes referred to as the “Southern Cone”“[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Cone Southern Cone]”. About 86% of the current trail is located on Chilean territory and 14% is on Argentine soil.
People that are not familiar with this continent often mingle all their associations of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America Latin America ] into one scary-lovely medley. If they listen a news report about unrest in Venezuela it also stains their mental record of Chile and Argentina – “It’s next door! Or?”. And when they listen Chile; they instantly think that they must eat spicy food like the Mexicans – “Come on, it’s called Chile!”. But like any other continent – maybe with the exception of Antarctica – it’s a socially, politically and economically diverse continent with quite different nations.
What you do not see much more is extreme poverty. Since the end of the military dictatorship in 1990 a center-left government runs Chile for most of the time. This government was quite successful in fighting extreme poverty and improving the infrastructure in rural areas. And hikers benefit from it in several ways. When hiking in Chile and Argentina you will not experience begging as this is the case in the neighboring countries of Bolivia and Peru. Also roads are built in rural areas, which is a mixed blessing from a hikers perspective. On one side these roads greatly facilitate resupplying and getting to the trail heads but on the other side they also replace horse trails that are nicer to walk. The government also subsidizes public transport into particular remote places that are not served be profit-oriented private bus and shipping ferry companies.
The middle class from the cities starts to discover the mountains in their vacation. A growing number of Chileans and Argentines begin to hike; , mainly in national parks; but many . Many of this novice hikers still lack experience and appropriate gear. Where the GPT passes national parks you will meet such novice less experience and sometimes inadequately equipped hikers. Please don't look down on them but when asked share your experience and knowledge in a positive manner. The growing number of inexperienced hikers results in normally concerned park rangers especially when you plan to walk off the standard trail. You might need to show your GPS and your satellite tracker to park rangers to convince them to let you pass and follow the remote routes of the GPT.
Owning large plots of land is a status symbol of the rich and super-rich. And this is where the right-of-way trouble often culminates. The rich owners (Spanish: "patron") of these properties (Chile: often "fundo", Argentina: often "hacienda") are rarely there themselves but hire caretakers (Spanish: "cuidador") to maintain their property. Sometimes the "patron" instructs the "cuidador" to not let anyone pass. How to deal with such a situation I will explain later.
You may read the Wikipedia articles to the demographics of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Chile Chile] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Argentina Argentina] to learn more about the ethnic groups and the long history of immigration into these countries.
====Security, Police and Border====
* Warm meal: 2500 CLP / 4000 CLP / 6000 CLP per meal
* Bread: 1000 CLP / 1500 CLP / 2500 CLP per kg of bread
* Flour: 600 CLP / 1000 CLP / 1500 CLP per kg
* Cheese: 4000 CLP / 6000 CLP / 8000 CLP per kg of cheese
* Live goat: 30000 CLP / 35000 CLP / 40000 CLP per animal with approx. 10 km of meat
Wealthy landlords ...
===Guiding Principles, Appropriate Attitude and Required Skills===
To be issued.
