Trip Ideas Nature Travel Chile Has a Massive New Hiking Trail That Spans a Third of the Country and Connects 17 National Parks By Talia Avakian Talia Avakian Website Talia Avakian is a lifestyle reporter with nearly a decade of experience writing digital and print content for noted national and international travel publications. She began her career in travel reporting at BBC Travel, where she covered news and features of global destinations, later working as a travel reporter at Business Insider and as a digital news reporter for Travel + Leisure. During her time at Travel + Leisure, she has covered airlines, hotels, new product launches for travelers, natural phenomena travelers can witness, new experience launches, and more. Her work has also appeared in The Independent, Time, Food & Wine, Fortune, Essence, and Departures, among others. Talia is currently a freelance lifestyle reporter in Los Angeles, where she covers content ranging from outdoor getaways, hotels, and transportation to food and experiential offerings at destinations across the globe. She has gone behind the scenes with airlines to learn about flight attendant training, scaled remote mountainsides at far-flung hotels, gone inside the inner workers of Air Force jets, shared the history of Frank Sinatra's favorite New York restaurant hideaway, documented what life is like inside the world's largest residential airpark, and more. She loves discovering unknown perks travelers can access and adventures they can take part in no matter where they go, sharing inside looks at offerings from around the world to help every traveler get the best out of each journey. * 9+ years of experience working as a travel reporter * Stories published and syndicated across over 50 national and international publications * Appeared as a travel expert on Cheddar to discuss emerging travel trends * Received a master's degree in multimedia reporting from the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines Published on October 2, 2018 Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Santiago Urquijo/Getty Images Outdoor enthusiasts can now explore a massive trail that spans a third of Chile and encompasses over a dozen national parks and millions of hectares of protected land to explore. The Route of the Parks of Patagonia takes hikers on a 1,740-mile-long journey across 17 different national parks that stretch from Puerto Montt in Chile’s Lake District to Cape Horn, which is located in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. There are more than 60 communities that visitors can explore along the way, with the entire trail encompassing three different regions and a total of 11.5 million hectares of protected land. The scenic route, which also integrates existing routes like the Carretera Austral, was created to both put Chile on the map as a country filled with natural attractions and to serve as an example of conservation, Carolina Morgado, executive director of Tompkins Conservation Chile said in a statement. Take a look at the video below to get a taste of what the trail includes. In 2017, Tompkins Conservation donated a vast amount of land to the Chilean government to spur the creation of five new national parks, leading the government to then reclassify 2.2 million hectares of reserves into national parks that now exist as part of the trail. All together, the trail includes 24 different ecosystems where visitors can see 140 different bird species, many of which are endangered, alongside 46 different mammal species. Parks include famed locations like the Torres del Paine National Park, which is known for its turquoise icebergs, glaciers, and its soaring peaks, and less-traversed locations like the San Rafael Lagoon National Park, which is dotted with stunning glaciers and snowdrifts to observe. Icebergs at San Rafael Lagoon National Park. Danita Delimont/Getty Images Those looking to explore the new trail will find detailed information on its website that includes what types of amenities exist in each park (from picnic areas and accommodations to bathrooms and restaurants) in addition to transportation advice and more than 50 GPS-mapped paths. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit