Patagonia stretches from central Chile and Argentina to the Strait of Magellan at the southern tip of the South American continent, covering an area of 260,000 square miles.

The landscape includes snow-capped mountains, spare arctic steppes, desert plains, blue-white glaciers of the Southern Patagonian ice fields, and turquoise glacier-fed rivers and lakes. The climate is cold, dry, and windy, but a few species of trees and drought-tolerant bushes and an array of fauna manage to survive in the harsh environment.

In November 2014, I visited southern Patagonia. Highlights included Chile's Torres del Paine National Park, with its iconic granite "cuernos" (horns), glacial lakes, and expansive landscapes. In Argentina, the glaciers and ice formations in Los Glaciares National Park, near El Calafate, and Mt. Fitzroy, a world-class climbing destination near El Chalten, were trip highlights.

I made a second trip in April 2016, revisiting many of the locations from my first visit and getting a taste of the southern hemisphere's autumn. Argentina had vibrant sunrises and sunsets and beautiful fall colors in the mountains. Chilean Patagonia was drier than it had been in my springtime visit and, with few trees, was less colorful than Argentine Patagonia. But it was no less beautiful, lacking only the spring wildflowers.

Chile - Torres del Paine "cuernos"

Chile - Torres del Paine "grand landscapes"

Chile - Grey Lake / Grey Glacier

Argentina - Los Glaciares National Park

Argentina - El Chalten / Mt. Fitzroy

Southern Patagonia

Patagonia Fall Scenes