After returning home a number of people commented that they were expecting some sort of closure on the blog. Would we do it again? What was are favorite part? What would we do differently?
Well yes we would do it again if that answers the related question would we recommend it. Will we do it again soon? - probably not. Bike touring is a great way to see foreign countries and we will probably go to places we haven't been before returning to Patagonia. Laurie will finally have significant blocks of time off after many years of only having a week or two off where she had to make up the time when she got back. I am not making that up.
But how about some information you can use if you are debating making a trip down there. If we did it again we would wait for them to pave more of the Carretera Austral which they are in the process of doing. That doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend riding it in its present state but you need to be prepared for the rough gravel both mentally, physically and with the right gear. The scenery makes it worth it even now. If they ever get the whole thing paved it would be hard to imagine a more scenic route of that length. As stated elsewhere in this blog I would not recommend planning on covering a hundred kilometers a day or more like you might on good asphalt without a lot of big climbs. If you are trying to figure how much you could cover for your allotted vacation time I would say where the roads are gravel to subtract about forty percent of however much you usually cover on asphalt. Long distances on gravel roads is very fatiguing even if you have the legs for that. This would not be a good trip for someone on a real tight schedule. I guess i am directing this advice mostly to those who think they could knock off the Carretera in two weeks if they put in long days. That maybe something you could brag about back home but it would not be enjoyable.
When we bring up that we did a bike tour in Patagonia the first thing most people ask is 'Was it real windy?'. The windiest part is the southern portion of Patagonia that most people think of when they hear that name, like Torres del Paine and Mount Fitz Roy. This is only a small part of Patagonia and the Carretera Austral however. Generally where it is the windiest is where cold mountain air, especially off the big ice fields, blows east down some west to east valley or big lake out onto the pampas on the Argentinian side. Just like everywhere else lots of trees cut the wind down significantly and Chile has lots more of those than Argentina does in the Patagonia region being on the wet side of the mountains. That is not to say it is not windy on the Carretera. Some places like around Coihaique and the big valley west of Cerro Castilo in Chile come to mind. All and all I would say that the wind is not a big reason not to go. It is definitely not constant. In its current state the un-crushed river cobble surfaces will occupy your mind far more than the wind. The wind is an issue less than ten percent of the time if I were to take a wild guess using my memory. Many of the places that are windy are also incredibly beautiful you have this strange mix of strong conflicting emotions. If you are prepared for cool fall weather and rain then you should be fine. Is that the way the weather is all the time? - no but you need to be ready for that.
Another question someone asked was if acquiring enough food was a problem. On the Carretera Austral in Chile you are never more than a day from a market of some sort or another. Once you cross over into Argentina at O'Higgins there are plenty of places to buy food on the way to Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine. You wont have big 1st world grocery stores except for
the handful of bigger towns but you can definitely get by with the
little markets.The only place where we heard it was real sketchy is north of Viedma Lake (El Chalten) on 40 in Argentina to Esquel, even in a car. That is about a thousand kilometers. Just to give you some idea there are lots of tourists in Bariloche and lots of tourists in El Chalten but the buses all run clear to the Atlantic coast through Rio Gallegos and then up to Comodoro Rivadavia. A very high percentage of tourists take buses in Chile and Argentina and they are not generally afraid of roads that aren't paved the whole way but they go way out of their way to avoid that stretch of 40. We talked to one guy who made it sound like he was lucky to be alive after that drive it was so remote with so few services. But most bike tourists do not do this section anyway as they are over in Chile on the Carretera Austral. Also further north on 40 we heard that getting water was difficult for a couple of days south of Mendoza. A fair amount of cyclists opt for that stretch as it is either that or the Pan American Highway in Chile or the coast of Chile. (we heard the coast was hilly and had a lot of truck traffic) 40 between Esquel and Junin de los Andes is good touring with plenty of places to buy food.
One thing I would recommend is spending the extra money to catch a flight or take a bus you can sleep on, to the southern most point you plan on biking and then heading north. In addition to that I would start in the south at the warmest possible time to be able to enjoy that the most. If you are riding north to south it gets colder, windier and rainier the further you go. Your unconscious mind and your bones will question your judgment.
Personally after having done it once I would avoid some of the more touristy areas and take more side roads off the Carretera Austral. Many of the dirt side roads were actually smoother than the river cobble gravel added to the main road. Having already done it there would be no pressure to stay on the beaten track to accomplish the goal of riding it all. If you haven't been there then of course you will have to go see Torres del Paine and Monte Fitz Roy. They are incredibly beautiful but you will be shocked at the number of tourists. Just plan on getting to know people from around the world as an equally valuable part of your experience there. There are so many places on the Carretera Austral that are almost as scenic but the tourists don't go there. Most international tourists go to only a half a dozen places in Patagonia -------- Puerto Natles/Torres del Paine, El Chalten/ Monte Fitz Roy, El Calafate, Bariloche, Pucon and Futaleufu in Chile. This would be like going to America on a vacation and going to Yellowstone and then flying to Yosemite. There is plenty of great geography between those places. Should you miss Yosemite because it is touristy well no but.........
I did not particularly care for Argentina (again) because of the loud cars and the wind in the Pampas. But the Pampas are actually a small portion of the typical Patagonia bike tour which is mostly in Chile where the wind is not as bad. Cities like Rio Gallegos that we passed through on a bus had some insanely loud cars. What idiots. Bariloche? Imagine swanky Aspen Colorado with lots of 30 year old cars powering up steep hills with no mufflers and belching smoke. The sheep in the Pampas are doing incredibly bad environmental damage and no one seems to care. It is worth it to experience whole sheep being roasted on a spit everywhere you go. Anyone have some wine? We are going to stay up until 3 am every night and party! - the good life!
Columbia? I am missing that place more than I would have thought even with the smokey vehicles and occasional trashy slums. I would go back there with a folding bike and skip the camping gear.
This page will likely be a work in progress for many months.
