National Geographic Traveler USA - 04.2019 - 05.2019

BETH WALD

NATGEOTRAVEL.COM

From the snowcapped

Andes down to the rugged

coastlines, Chile has some

of South America’s most

spectacular landscapes—

and they’ve recently

gained vast protections.

For more than 20 years,

Kristine Tompkins, the

former CEO of clothing

company Patagonia, and

her late husband, Doug,

founder of The North Face,

acquired land in southern

Chile with the goal of

restoring it to wilderness.

In 2018 Tompkins donated

more than a million acres

Into the Wild

Go back to nature on

an epic route through

Chilean Patagonia

to the Chilean government;

combined with public

lands, the gift has helped

Chile designate new

parklands equal to the

size of Switzerland.

Visitors to Pumalín

Park can take in lush

temperate rainforests,

including groves of ancient

cypresses, that overlook

sapphire-hued fjords.

Patagonia National Park

(pictured) shelters steppe

grasslands studded with

lagoons and herds of

native guanacos, related

to llamas.

With so many vistas to

explore, how can a traveler

see them all? By following

the Ruta de los Parques

(Route of Parks), which

connects 17 national parks

in a 1,700-mile corridor

stretching to the tip of

South America, aka the

end of the world.

—Michael Greshko

PLACES WE LOVE

CHILE