Being in the middle of nowhere, with no way to contact those I left behind, created a space for growth. I found it both exhilarating and challenging—being disconnected from the world I was used to felt like flipping a coin. On one side was the thrill of living entirely in the moment, unattached to the steady ping of messages or the urgency of news. On the other side was the gnawing awareness that those I loved were still living their lives without me, and I couldn’t instantly be part of their moments or share my own. This experience, however, taught me something profound: there is beauty in this disconnection, a freedom that opens space for the unexpected and the new.
In a world so big, I know I feel helpless at times thinking how my little life is going to make an impact. That’s just it though, no one life is little. Society is not going to flip on a dime, living a sustainable life doesn’t require you to move to Patagonia and start a farm, it can begin as simple separating your compost or choosing organic produce and ethically raised meat.
By Sam Gerrish from University of Puget Sound It’s 6am, and I’m up early to write this and to pack, because today we are leaving basecamp for the last time. Yesterday afternoon marked a week until we disband completely. I…
By Betsy Brown from University of Puget Sound, Patagonia Program Fall 2024 Join Betsy and an entirely unplanned guide, Phoebe, as they give us a tour of Basecamp at Aquasol in Cochrane, Chile. They answer nearly all the questions you…
The geography of Aysén is some of the most fascinating in the world – and some I believe everyone should experience first-hand at some point in their lives. My time here in Patagonia has been full of incredible sights, and some of the most beautiful geography I have ever seen.
By Bryce Martin from Ithaca College Hi all, my name is Bryce Martin, and I am from Fort Collins, Colorado. I currently attend Ithaca College and am studying Environmental Science. While you are reading this you will be taken along…
By Caledonia Jobin-Leeds from the University of Vermont, Patagonia Fall 2024 View this post on Instagram Learn more about Naturaleza Pública through their Instagram page: Naturaleza Pública (@naturalezapublica)
The past 12 days we conducted wildlife monitoring at the most recent concession, Khwai Private Reserve (KPR). We saw so much including elephants, hippos, buffalo, hyenas, jackals, leopards, and of course… Lions.
While in Kasane we had the incredible opportunity to go to Caracal Wildlife Sanctuary in Kasane Botswana there we spent the morning looking and interacting with wildlife some of which we hadn’t seen while on the trip.
The next morning groups were assigned and we headed out on our transects. There was a variety of different stories and experiences when we all returned and almost everyone was just a little sunburnt. Some transects passed through the administration area of Patagonia National Park, others took transects into knee-high mud and others climbed up in elevation and were able to look down on the valley.
We took our natural history quiz in which we applied all the knowledge we had learned on the trip so far. It included identifying native trees and shrubs, bird calls, and geographical and geological features of the basin. The Tamango Sector backpacking trip was a perfect introduction to Round River fieldwork and fun.
You don’t need a huge property or a large amount of money to live a suitable lifestyle that benefits yourself and the nature around you. What was once just a campground at Alma Verde, became a garden and greenhouse which then turned into a school about permaculture.
Sebastian Szweda, Westminster College, gives a point-of-view look at a day spent summiting mountains in the Taku watershed for the global GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments) project.
he Llewellyn Glacier is retreating which provides an opportunity to view depositional glacial features such as recessional moraines, and to observe patterns of vegetative succession in newly ice-free areas. Perhaps future Round River students will one day have the good fortune of conducting a rain-free vegetation survey at the Llewellyn terminus, but we made the most of our rainy days, and were content to fondly recount this trip’s adventures from the comfort of Phil’s couch.
While the unrelenting daylight of Atlin doesn’t lend much to traditional nighttime pleasures, we’ve had the privilege of finally witnessing the beautiful British Colombia sunsets during Nighthawk surveys in the past two weeks.
The GLORIA project is a global project that maps out plant species on different summit altitudes. Sentinel mountain is the tallest mountain used for research in the GLORIA project. The data gathered from this four-day backpacking trip will be used to track and monitor species at different elevations which include Nival, high alpine, low alpine, and tree line.
Gwen gives a walk through of sweeping transects for Magellanic Woodpeckers at the Trapananda Reserve.
Patagonia – Spring 2024
Sarah Maroney from the University of Vermont gives a tour of Cochrane’s Waste Management
https://youtu.be/nur9XfzDMww