Patagonia: Wild Land at the End of the Earth by photography by Tim Hauf; text by Conger Beasley Jr.

Patagonia is a wild and desolate land located near the tip of South America that includes portions of Chile and Argentina. Despite a century of settlement, it remains sparsely populated. It is a wild and windswept land, featuring spectacular granite towers, some of the biggest glaciers in the Southern Hemisphere, and grassy steppes where colorful gauchos herd cattle and sheep across limitless praines.

Patagonia has always appealed to a special kind of traveler, lured by lofty summits and stupendous scenery. It's the kind of land where you can wander at will and find yourself lost in interesting ways. The Chilean port city of Punta Arenas provides a convenient port of entry to this remarkable down-under region.

Photographer Tim Hauf has explored the area in different types of weather; starting with the penguin sanctuaries around the Straits of Magellan, he and writer Conger Beasley Jr. traveled to Torres del Paine and Los Glaciares National Parks, located along the edge of the Andean cordillera.

They then traversed the width of the South America cone to the frontier town of Rio Gallegos, where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid staged a spectacular robbery in 1905. Journey's end finds them in Ushuaia—unofficial capital of Tierra del Fuego, southernmost town in the world—where deep green beech forests cloak the steep sides of fog-drenched inlets and channels.

In few places in the world can the traveler bridge the gap between past and present so effortlessly as in Patagonia. The land exudes a magnetic emptiness that calls forth a commensurate feeling for a newer, fresher, more hopeful world. Tim Hauf captures the spirit of this remarkable place in over 130 photographs that run the gamut from stunning vistas to intimate details. Conger Beasley provides an illuminating text that describes the fascinating history of this remote world, as well as its remarkable flora and fauna.