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A beautiful view over Lago Argentino on the way to the glacier

A shot of us in front of the glacier, still 10 km away

Glacier Perito Moreno - frontal view

Iain checking out the 3 km wide northern face of the glacier

Bike maintenance at our campsite on the way out of the park and back to Calafate

El Calafate to Pedito Moreno Glaciar (Feb 3-Feb 5)

The afternoon of the third we headed out of El Calafate with enough light left to climb the big hill out of town. We both remarked how great we felt. Even with the wind slightly in our faces we seemed to plow through the uphill (I attribute that to the five pastries we both ate earlier that morning). The road approached the lake and followed it around, slowly curving toward the south west. As the light faded we arrived at an Estancia and asked to camp. We pulled our usual routine, first asking for water and then making friends, drinking some mate, and having a small bite of lamb.

The next morning we awoke around five. The sun was just coming when we rode out of the gravel road and onto pavement. The park was only forty kilometres away but we were soon on gravel and the terrain became hilly. Whenever we found newly paved sections we took advantage (especially because cars were not yet allowed on the new roads). Any smooth riding surface is a welcomed change. The final push into the park was just that…a push. The steepness had us both walking our bikes. A South African man, who was also biking, remarked to us that some of the rides down here are really tough, but that you are never disappointed at the end. That has rung true for us. The hard times are really hard, but the good moments are equally intense. The scene at the top was beautiful. The glacier was huge and like with all immense objects, we could not catch it all in one glance. We kept on having to switch perspectives, look again, but could never see it all at once. Massive chunks fell regularly exposing new, deeply blue, cracks.

We sat all afternoon, staring, drinking mate and enjoying the fact that we had arrived at such a place on our bikes. With a little light left we started the trip back to El Calafate. Dan broke a chain on the way out and Iain punctured a tire so we found a nice campsite by the edge of a lake and slept. In the morning we repaired the bikes and with the wind at our backs we sailed back to town for a hot shower.