Not just a guided eco-tour, but a true adventure…
These 14-day trips take you deep into the wilderness of the northern Patagonian Cordillera de los Andes, offering abundant opportunities to learn about the flora, fauna, and geology of this unique part of the world. During our journey we make our way through the ascending plateaus of the Andean steppe and the rugged, high elevation “Altoandino” habitats along the mountainous South American continental divide. Either on foot, carrying all of our supplies in backpacks, or on horseback, packing our gear in with horses and mules, we plunge ourselves deep into the vast cordillera following the rivers to their headwater sources along the spine of the Andes.
As we make time to look more closely at the details of our natural world that we so rarely take the time to appreciate, we also immerse ourselves in a context that is best described as “elemental”. Our senses become permeated by the crisp, clean scents of wool, leather, horse, earth, and wood smoke. We travel with the ever-present sounds of spring-fed creeks and rivers, and the winds that bathe the snow-gilded peaks of the Patagonian Andes, having traveled, unimpeded, over thousands of leagues of open ocean. With the coming of each evening, if the expanses of the cordillera haven’t been breathtaking enough, out past the sunset, beyond the flickering firelight, the darkening sky reveals the Southern Cross and Magellanic Clouds in the most brilliant and uninterrupted night sky. These are times to learn more about both our environment and ourselves. People come away from these trips with things far more important than photos and images. They move forward with memories, stories, new skills, experience, and a deeper understanding.
We keep the group size on these trips limited to minimize our impacts to the habitats we travel through, and the people we meet along the way. If this sounds like an experience for you, take a look at the more detailed descriptions.
DATES & PRICES
14-day Natural History on Horseback: 2012 Feb 15th-28th, $3200 USD per person
14-day Natural History on Foot: 2012 Feb 15th-28th, $2500 USD per person
GUIDE
Brett is a well-seasoned naturalist, guide, and instructor. He has a Masters Degree in Biology from Humboldt State University, where he has taught Botany, Plant Taxonomy, and Herpetology. Since 2005 he has led nine-week university-accredited field courses throughout both Argentine and Chilean Patagonia, and has studied the natural and cultural history of this region extensively. When not in South America he conducts scientific research in the tops of the tallest forest canopies on earth, the coast redwoods of California. Academia aside, Brett has decades of backcountry experience in the wilderness of North America as well. Since a young boy, he has spent months at a time in remote regions of the western Coast Ranges, the Cascades, the Rocky Mountains, the Olympic Peninsula, and has hiked a good deal of the Pacific Crest Trail. Brett is a competent horseman, and has been riding, packing, and shoeing horses in the Patagonian Andes for years. He maintains current Wilderness First Responder certification (medical training) and has been a registered Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (W-EMT). In his spare time he likes to work hot metal at his forge and anvil, and he makes wine. Having led numerous groups into the Patagonian wilderness in Argentina and Chile over the past decade, he has ample experience in this region, and is a solid, knowledgeable, and competent guide.
What people have had to say over the years about their experience with Brett as a guide in Patagonia
