Click on the image to enlarge

Chalten Crossing (Feb 14 -15)
Ferry dates, times and prices included for other bikers

Our days in El Chalten were wonderful. We drank mate every morning with a sister and brother from La Plata. It was a nice chance to practice speaking Spanish. The tranquility of the place was what we needed before setting out for a notoriously difficult crossing back into Chile. Most importantly we were able to eat around the clock. We decided to cut back into Chile to avoid Ruta 40 which is windy, waterless and very monotonous. We had seen enough of these conditions in Tierra del Fuego. Chile's Carretera Austral is touted as one of the world's most beautiful roads and is steep but mercifully windless. There were loads of bikers coming south and all raved about the amazing scenery and abundant water. The crossing, we were told, was a bit technical with a bike, but worth the 1600kms through Chile.

From El Chalten to Lago Desierto was 37km on rough gravel roads, and it gave us a beautiful view of the back of Fitzroy. The road was very washboardy at times and Iain broke his front rack hammering through the bumps. He fixed the bracket and started to take it easier through the really bumpy sections. We arrived before lunch and checked the boat schedule. Boats don't run on Sundays and Mondays. We had known this but chose to get in a day early to avoid missing the Tuesday boat. (Boats leave at 10:30 am, 1:30 pm and 4:30. 30 dollars for bike and person, 10 dollars if you ship the bike and walk around the lake). We needed to make the early Tuesday boat in order to give ourselves time to push our bikes on a horse trail and get to the second ferry crossing on Lago O'Higgins which only leaves on Wednesdays and Saturdays (11:30 am on a Glacier excursion, and then it comes back to pick up passengers at 5:30 pm to Villa O'Higgins. 17.50 Chilean Pesos. NOTE: Frontier is closed from April 30 to Nov 1).

We camped the night of the 14th and in the morning loaded the bikes on the boat. Tim, our English friend, was taking the ferry and offered to watch our stuff. We gratefully accepted and headed around Lago del Desierto on foot. (BIKER NOTE: it is nearly impossible to take a loaded bike around the lake. You will have to run trips, hauling half your stuff and then going back for the rest. Not recommended. It is very steep in part and we met people who told us they took two days to do it. Walking- 12km, 3.5 hrs). The path around the lake was nice, but we were thinking about the next part, pushing the bikes for 7km on horse trails to make Chilean customs.

Tim was waiting for us on the other side with our bikes and all the gear. It was a happy sight to see that everything had made it safe and sound. Lunch, through Argentine customs and then we started for Lago O'Higgins. There are horses available for rent to haul panniers and bags seven kilometers up the valley to cover the worst part of the trail. The owner of the horses seemed to want to overcharge us, and we declined his offer. We had heard that the 27 km path to Lago O´Higgins could be broken into three sections. Starting at the Argentine customs, there are two kilometers of extremely steep, narrow footpath, followed by five kilometers of slightly better trail, and then 20 kilometers of logging-road style trail that can be pedaled.

The first two kilometers were terrible. The horses had worn down the trail so much that our front panniers scraped on the edges and we were forced to lift and haul. Sometimes frustration drove us to pick up the entire loaded bike and grunt five meters ahead. Everyone rearranged their bike setup to accommodate the terrain as best they could. It was good, old fashioned elbow grease that lifted the bikes those first few kilometers. After that the path improved so that we could push comfortably and even joy ride in some short flat sections. At the frontier we were able to ride. Overjoyed that we could actually get on and pedal, we coasted through the woods and up to a river… without a bridge. The sun was setting but we really wanted to get across the river before dark. So we shuttled the gear in three trips back and forth across the freezing cold glacier runoff. It was a surreal moment where we were laughing at the whole thing, thinking it was fun and painful at the same time.

The night of the 15th we camped by the side of the road, cooked a hot meal and went to bed. The next day we arrived early to Lago O'Higgins, dried the gear and bought bread from a nice old lady. To our delight she had raspberries and cherry trees covering her front patio. The boat across the lake was new and in its first season running. The old boat had been run by a Chilean who supposedly hated tourist, so we got lucky with our timing. At 5:30 we boarded and by 8:30pm we arrived at the port and rode 8km into town. The logistics of the crossing were over. Onward to the Carretera!