Carretera Austral Day #10 Lago Cofré to Puerto Rio Tranquilo
January 5, 2020
Lago Cofré to Puerto Rio Tranquilo 58.36 km
Ride Time: 5:45
Pedal Time: 4:15
Tour Total Pedaled 784.36km
I woke up several times during the night, probably because it was raining. I wasn’t on a level surface. I was pitched to my right, and towards my feet. My tent was erected right besides the highway in a gravel turn off. We didn’t bother to hide behind bushes. There were no bushes and it was raining. Cars were honking at us last night. It kind of freaked me out how close I was to the road. I had to urinate but, because of the rain, held it till morning. 
Packing up when it’s raining is the worst. No matter what, you’re gonna be wet. It’s a matter of trying to minimize how wet the gear gets. I have a new system of keeping my rack pack on my back porch. It’s a dry bag and I put all my clothes inside of it before I go to sleep. I set my shoes on top. I had anticipated a rainy start so I packed my rain pants and down vest in the rack pack. Aside from my handlebar bag and toiletry stuff sack, everything else remained inside my panniers strapped to my bike. I was able to exit the tent this morning with my sleeping bag and mattress packed dry in the rack pack.
Exiting my tent, all of my things were dry except for the tent, which was soaked. I folded it up and attempted to wring water from it, but it was no use. I strapped it to the outside of my rack pack. Scott always takes forever so I went into the woods to wait. My feet got soggy as I edited yesterday’s report sitting on a mossy log.
We started at 9:15am, our earliest - probably because we didn’t make breakfast. Starting a day of cycling in the rain is no fun. We began with an uphill.
One has to look for the positives in these situations. The gravel road was filled with brown puddles that made it easy to spot the holes and ruts from a distance. That said, at one point a northbound Copec truck splashed brown water all over me.
My dictation software wasn’t working, and it’s hard to type on a smart phone when you’re bouncing up and down on a gravel road in the rain. I wasn’t able to take good notes this morning.
We stopped to fill up our water bottles at a rushing stream. There was a brief moment of sun, and I removed my rain pants and down vest.

We were starving and passed an upscale hot springs resort. It advertised WiFi and food so we stopped. No one seemed to be there, and we didn’t detect a WiFi network. We kept pedaling.
We encountered a construction zone with a flag woman, who made us wait. I used the opportunity to dig some honey roasted nuts from my rear pannier. We advanced, and then hit a 500 meter section of freshly combed wet dirt, sand, and fine gravel. Our tires sunk into the loose mix, and it was nearly impossible to ride across. The only option was to try to follow the narrow tire track from the motor vehicle that had just proceeded us. It was ridiculous, so I unclipped my phone to take a photo. It was so difficult that Scott walked his bike through. I credit my unicycle skills for giving me the balance to pedal the distance with only three foot downs. For me, the fastest most efficient way to get across was to ride it. Again- it was ridiculous. I made it across and was proud of my accomplishment. Then I realized phone was no longer clipped to my handlebars. Every fearful consequence flashed though my mind. I had to go back. I remember having taking a photo at the beginning of the stretch. A giant earth moving machine had just combed the northbound lane and was circling around to comb where I had just ridden. The race was on. Long story short, I found my phone right before it was plowed under the dirt. I had to pedal the difficult stretch three times. My heart was racing.
We were disappointed not to find anything at the highway split at Bahia Murta. We were both starving. A couple kilometers down the road we encountered Residential Patagonia, which seemed like a deserted hostel. A nice gentleman, who was sitting in his pick up truck, told us, “Si, Hai comida”. It was an empty bed and breakfast. The nice woman suggested spaghetti so we went with it. We asked about WiFi. It took some doing, but we were able to connect. I devoured the spaghetti with chunks of meat, warm rolls with butter, salad, and two Cristals. I felt reenergized.
I had removed my shoes and shoe covers to enter Residential Patagonia. My feet, socks, and shoes were soaking wet and cold. My shoe covers were tattered, with moss and burrs stuck to the front openings. When I left, I strapped the shoe covers to my rear rack pack in hopes that my shoes would dry out in the breeze. It had stopped raining.
We met a female southbound fully loaded cyclist who was traveling with a male companion who was hitch hiking. I thought straight women preferred men with stamina. Just saying.
The milky turquoise river that I had been following from up in the mountains turned into a bay as I approached Lago General Carrera.
I realized at one point that my shoe covers had fallen off, which was disappointing. I hate loosing equipment. They were tattered and they didn’t keep my feet dry, but they did help keep my toes warm. This could be a problem the further south I go.
I was delighted to get a section of herring bone pattern brick pavement at km776. The reason was because of the ridiculous steep grade, perhaps the steepest hill yet. I had to switchback the road and pray that my chain wouldn’t snap.
We arrived in Puerto Rio Tranquilo at 3pm. We knew that we wanted to tour the marble caves, and a boat was leaving at 3:30. We had just enough time to run to the market, where Scott wanted to purchase a gallon of ice cream. He recounts a story from the TransAm when the TransGang split a gallon of ice cream. Scott and I devoured it, and we were reenergized.
We shared a boat with an Italian couple who were motorcycling from Santiago to Punta Arenas. There was also a German couple. We crossed the choppy bay to the huge marble bluffs. Caves had been cut where the rock met the turquoise lake. The amazing geological feature resembled columns and arches, and reminded me of Moorish architecture.
The boat captain spotted three condors high up on the bluffs. He claimed that their wing spans were three meters across, and that they were small ones.
We were a day behind in our itinerary and our gear was completely soggy. We opted for a cabaña and another reset. If only hotel operators knew how cyclists transformed the rooms to dry out equipment. I set up my sent on top of my bed. My footprint was clipped to the curtain rod. All of our things were strewn everywhere to dry. We did laundry and I fastened a drying line out on the back porch.
We walked to the hamburger place that we had spotted earlier. Scott got a lamb burger. I was excited to find beer on tap, but they resembled soda and weren’t to my liking. The place had a friendly staff and decent WiFi. I was able to upload several days worth of photos and posts.
The phone service is poor in the south. I was told that there is better service with Entel, and I have Moviestar. I filled up my SIM card and purchased additional extra SIM cards in Coyhaique. I probably won’t use much of what I purchased. In addition the WiFi is spotty.
We went to the store and bought provisions for the next couple of days. I also got a few cans of Cristal. We went back to the cabaña where I cleaned my bike and chain, and edited reports. I went to bed at 11pm.
Lago Cofré to Puerto Rio Tranquilo 58.36 km
Ride Time: 5:45
Pedal Time: 4:15
Tour Total Pedaled 784.36km
I woke up several times during the night, probably because it was raining. I wasn’t on a level surface. I was pitched to my right, and towards my feet. My tent was erected right besides the highway in a gravel turn off. We didn’t bother to hide behind bushes. There were no bushes and it was raining. Cars were honking at us last night. It kind of freaked me out how close I was to the road. I had to urinate but, because of the rain, held it till morning. 
Packing up when it’s raining is the worst. No matter what, you’re gonna be wet. It’s a matter of trying to minimize how wet the gear gets. I have a new system of keeping my rack pack on my back porch. It’s a dry bag and I put all my clothes inside of it before I go to sleep. I set my shoes on top. I had anticipated a rainy start so I packed my rain pants and down vest in the rack pack. Aside from my handlebar bag and toiletry stuff sack, everything else remained inside my panniers strapped to my bike. I was able to exit the tent this morning with my sleeping bag and mattress packed dry in the rack pack.
Exiting my tent, all of my things were dry except for the tent, which was soaked. I folded it up and attempted to wring water from it, but it was no use. I strapped it to the outside of my rack pack. Scott always takes forever so I went into the woods to wait. My feet got soggy as I edited yesterday’s report sitting on a mossy log.
We started at 9:15am, our earliest - probably because we didn’t make breakfast. Starting a day of cycling in the rain is no fun. We began with an uphill.
One has to look for the positives in these situations. The gravel road was filled with brown puddles that made it easy to spot the holes and ruts from a distance. That said, at one point a northbound Copec truck splashed brown water all over me.
My dictation software wasn’t working, and it’s hard to type on a smart phone when you’re bouncing up and down on a gravel road in the rain. I wasn’t able to take good notes this morning.
We stopped to fill up our water bottles at a rushing stream. There was a brief moment of sun, and I removed my rain pants and down vest.

We were starving and passed an upscale hot springs resort. It advertised WiFi and food so we stopped. No one seemed to be there, and we didn’t detect a WiFi network. We kept pedaling.
We encountered a construction zone with a flag woman, who made us wait. I used the opportunity to dig some honey roasted nuts from my rear pannier. We advanced, and then hit a 500 meter section of freshly combed wet dirt, sand, and fine gravel. Our tires sunk into the loose mix, and it was nearly impossible to ride across. The only option was to try to follow the narrow tire track from the motor vehicle that had just proceeded us. It was ridiculous, so I unclipped my phone to take a photo. It was so difficult that Scott walked his bike through. I credit my unicycle skills for giving me the balance to pedal the distance with only three foot downs. For me, the fastest most efficient way to get across was to ride it. Again- it was ridiculous. I made it across and was proud of my accomplishment. Then I realized phone was no longer clipped to my handlebars. Every fearful consequence flashed though my mind. I had to go back. I remember having taking a photo at the beginning of the stretch. A giant earth moving machine had just combed the northbound lane and was circling around to comb where I had just ridden. The race was on. Long story short, I found my phone right before it was plowed under the dirt. I had to pedal the difficult stretch three times. My heart was racing.
We were disappointed not to find anything at the highway split at Bahia Murta. We were both starving. A couple kilometers down the road we encountered Residential Patagonia, which seemed like a deserted hostel. A nice gentleman, who was sitting in his pick up truck, told us, “Si, Hai comida”. It was an empty bed and breakfast. The nice woman suggested spaghetti so we went with it. We asked about WiFi. It took some doing, but we were able to connect. I devoured the spaghetti with chunks of meat, warm rolls with butter, salad, and two Cristals. I felt reenergized.
I had removed my shoes and shoe covers to enter Residential Patagonia. My feet, socks, and shoes were soaking wet and cold. My shoe covers were tattered, with moss and burrs stuck to the front openings. When I left, I strapped the shoe covers to my rear rack pack in hopes that my shoes would dry out in the breeze. It had stopped raining.
We met a female southbound fully loaded cyclist who was traveling with a male companion who was hitch hiking. I thought straight women preferred men with stamina. Just saying.
The milky turquoise river that I had been following from up in the mountains turned into a bay as I approached Lago General Carrera.
I realized at one point that my shoe covers had fallen off, which was disappointing. I hate loosing equipment. They were tattered and they didn’t keep my feet dry, but they did help keep my toes warm. This could be a problem the further south I go.
I was delighted to get a section of herring bone pattern brick pavement at km776. The reason was because of the ridiculous steep grade, perhaps the steepest hill yet. I had to switchback the road and pray that my chain wouldn’t snap.
We arrived in Puerto Rio Tranquilo at 3pm. We knew that we wanted to tour the marble caves, and a boat was leaving at 3:30. We had just enough time to run to the market, where Scott wanted to purchase a gallon of ice cream. He recounts a story from the TransAm when the TransGang split a gallon of ice cream. Scott and I devoured it, and we were reenergized.
We shared a boat with an Italian couple who were motorcycling from Santiago to Punta Arenas. There was also a German couple. We crossed the choppy bay to the huge marble bluffs. Caves had been cut where the rock met the turquoise lake. The amazing geological feature resembled columns and arches, and reminded me of Moorish architecture.
The boat captain spotted three condors high up on the bluffs. He claimed that their wing spans were three meters across, and that they were small ones.
We were a day behind in our itinerary and our gear was completely soggy. We opted for a cabaña and another reset. If only hotel operators knew how cyclists transformed the rooms to dry out equipment. I set up my sent on top of my bed. My footprint was clipped to the curtain rod. All of our things were strewn everywhere to dry. We did laundry and I fastened a drying line out on the back porch.
We walked to the hamburger place that we had spotted earlier. Scott got a lamb burger. I was excited to find beer on tap, but they resembled soda and weren’t to my liking. The place had a friendly staff and decent WiFi. I was able to upload several days worth of photos and posts.
The phone service is poor in the south. I was told that there is better service with Entel, and I have Moviestar. I filled up my SIM card and purchased additional extra SIM cards in Coyhaique. I probably won’t use much of what I purchased. In addition the WiFi is spotty.
We went to the store and bought provisions for the next couple of days. I also got a few cans of Cristal. We went back to the cabaña where I cleaned my bike and chain, and edited reports. I went to bed at 11pm.
Comments
Post a Comment