A frontier is a place that’s both physical and metaphorical. Our ongoing series, Dispatches from the Frontier, shares encounters and insights from life on the ranch, where the inner and outer wilderness converge.   

Dispatch from John Hauf, Founder and Director

When we determined to build a modest horse corral and to fence a small paddock at our remote Cacho ranch, obtaining good posts was a challenge.  Lenga beech is readily available, yet rots out quickly, lasting just five to eight years depending on conditions.  Don Moncho, Sra. Teresa and young Miguel, who lived across the valley two river crossings and six kilometers distant, offered us posts of a species that lasts 50+ years. 

They cut the dead, dry wood, carried it down to their house a shoulder at a time, then dragged the posts day after day through the brush, swamp and forest by horse.  To cross both rivers they lashed the posts into rafts, then towed these across the deep fords, again by horse.  It was a tremendous effort and signified an amazing advance in benefit of our school groups and clients whose educational programs are supported by packhorse.

We had to repeatedly insist they accept some form of payment for this infrastructural manna yet were only ever successful in their acceptance of a token sum.  Later, sharing this story with a group of high school students, one of them turned to don Moncho and with youthful straightforwardness asked him why they’d helped us out.  His answer, “We are neighbors.”

WE ARE CURRENTLY BOOKING TRIPS AND ENROLLING PROGRAMS FOR THE 2021-2022 SEASON AND INVITE YOU TO GET IN TOUCH TO PLAN YOUR ADVENTURE. 

John Hauf founded Patagonia Frontiers in 1999 to connect people with wilderness through education, conservation, and adventure. From our wilderness ranch home, Patagonia Frontiers offers multi-day trekking, horseback trips, mountaineering, and education programs in the heart of Chilean Patagonia.