Hey fine folks of r/bikepacking, I rode the Carretera Austral as a part of a 7 week Patagonia tour from mid february to mid march 2024. There’s already plenty of ressources in the webs so I don’t write all that much, but feel free to ask questions, since most blogs are pre-covid.
Here’s some notes:
– Highlights: The crazy light in the evenings, turquoise water, plenty of dolphins, vast amounts of green, old gnarly forests
– As of 2024, most of the road, probably more than 90%, is fenced of, mostly with barbed wire fence. While that makes sense from the locals perspective, I found it a bit hard to enjoy the nature when one’s always riding in a tunnel of bared wire. Exceptions are the national parks and the last strech from Cochrane to Villa O’Higgins. A lot of the places that are not private property and fenced off are marked in iOverlander and partially heavily frequented by cars, motos, and cyclists.
– Resupplies are really easy. There almost always water within reach, and you’ll pass a shop almost every day (except on the last stretch from Cochrane to VOH, where you need food for 3-4 days)
– Gas cartridges in Puerto Montt (Easy Hardware Store, ~3,5$ for 230g), Puyuhuapi (small store, would not count on that), Coyhaique (Sodimac Hardware Store), Cerro Castillo (Nordic Patagonia Camping), El Chalten (~8$ for 230g)
– Windguru Pro was a reliable weather forecast and the 3,5€ were a good investment
– Gravel still begins right after Cerro Castillo, with a few longer gravel stretches before, especially in the national parks. The gravel sections from Cerro Castillo to Cochrane are days of nasty washboard and loose stones, despite the nice looks on photos. I heard of many broken racks. Wide tires and low tire pressure do help a lot. It gets much better after Cochrane.
– One of the nicest stretches was a detour: Right after the first ferry I turned right to follow the coastal route (Ruta W609), which turned out to be plenty of small, colourful villages full of shipyards for traditional wooden ships, while dolphins were doing their dolphin things in the water and all that stuff. Highly recommend!
– Starting in mid feb, most Chileans were already on the way back, so the road was comparatively quiet beginning end of feb.
– There’s two ferry companies for the border crossing from Villa O’Higgins at the moment: Ruedas and Amigo Patagon. In theory they have a schedule, but it all depends on the weather. If you plan on doing that crossing, write them well ahead on Whatsapp. I catched to only good weather window for probably 7-8 days and the boats were packed to the last seat. Plan some buffer days for this stretch, as you may need to wait a couple of days in Villa O Higgins, do the crossing, get the second boat, which was not going every day contrary to other blogs, and go down to El Chalten. In perfect conditions this is doable in one day, but it might as well take a week.
– The “hike a bike” section after the border crossing to argentina is not as wild. I’d say 85-90% is rideable, rooty singletrack and the sections where on has to push are not that difficult.
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Hey fine folks of r/bikepacking, I rode the Carretera Austral as a part of a 7 week Patagonia tour from mid february to mid march 2024. There’s already plenty of ressources in the webs so I don’t write all that much, but feel free to ask questions, since most blogs are pre-covid.
Here’s some notes:
– Highlights: The crazy light in the evenings, turquoise water, plenty of dolphins, vast amounts of green, old gnarly forests
– As of 2024, most of the road, probably more than 90%, is fenced of, mostly with barbed wire fence. While that makes sense from the locals perspective, I found it a bit hard to enjoy the nature when one’s always riding in a tunnel of bared wire. Exceptions are the national parks and the last strech from Cochrane to Villa O’Higgins. A lot of the places that are not private property and fenced off are marked in iOverlander and partially heavily frequented by cars, motos, and cyclists.
– Resupplies are really easy. There almost always water within reach, and you’ll pass a shop almost every day (except on the last stretch from Cochrane to VOH, where you need food for 3-4 days)
– Gas cartridges in Puerto Montt (Easy Hardware Store, ~3,5$ for 230g), Puyuhuapi (small store, would not count on that), Coyhaique (Sodimac Hardware Store), Cerro Castillo (Nordic Patagonia Camping), El Chalten (~8$ for 230g)
– Windguru Pro was a reliable weather forecast and the 3,5€ were a good investment
– Gravel still begins right after Cerro Castillo, with a few longer gravel stretches before, especially in the national parks. The gravel sections from Cerro Castillo to Cochrane are days of nasty washboard and loose stones, despite the nice looks on photos. I heard of many broken racks. Wide tires and low tire pressure do help a lot. It gets much better after Cochrane.
– One of the nicest stretches was a detour: Right after the first ferry I turned right to follow the coastal route (Ruta W609), which turned out to be plenty of small, colourful villages full of shipyards for traditional wooden ships, while dolphins were doing their dolphin things in the water and all that stuff. Highly recommend!
– Starting in mid feb, most Chileans were already on the way back, so the road was comparatively quiet beginning end of feb.
– There’s two ferry companies for the border crossing from Villa O’Higgins at the moment: Ruedas and Amigo Patagon. In theory they have a schedule, but it all depends on the weather. If you plan on doing that crossing, write them well ahead on Whatsapp. I catched to only good weather window for probably 7-8 days and the boats were packed to the last seat. Plan some buffer days for this stretch, as you may need to wait a couple of days in Villa O Higgins, do the crossing, get the second boat, which was not going every day contrary to other blogs, and go down to El Chalten. In perfect conditions this is doable in one day, but it might as well take a week.
– The “hike a bike” section after the border crossing to argentina is not as wild. I’d say 85-90% is rideable, rooty singletrack and the sections where on has to push are not that difficult.