Day 1,637

Rainforest

So this was it, finally, after twice having to pause our journey in South America, we had reached the start of this epic road, and nothing we hoped was going to stop us now. For those that don't know, the Carretera Austral, or Southern Highway, runs on Ruta 7 for approximately 770 miles from Puerto Montt to Villa O’Higgins, where the road literally ends. Except perhaps not for some hardy cyclists, but more of that later. The route takes us through the vastness of rural Patagonia, where approximately only 100,000 people live. Back in 1976 the then government, under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, decided to construct a road. The work was undertaken by the Chilean Army using thousands of conscripts, working for their engineering corp. It was no easy undertaking, the road needed to cut through thick forests, with fjords, glaciers, steep mountain sides, and channels all adding to the technical difficulties. Throw in the weather and difficulties of access by sea and air and you soon realise this was no normal project. For several decades the majority of access was from Argentina. By 1988 traffic had started flowing, by 1996 it had reached Puerto Yungay, then the final 62 miles to Villa O’Higgins was completed in 2000. When I say completed, the surface is a mix of paved and gravel. Plus there are 4 ferry crossings, all under an hour apart from the ferry from Hornopirén which takes about 3.5 hours. We will be making our way through several national parks, filled with rain forests, lakes, glaciers, rare trees, volcanos, some still active, plus many rare birds and animals make this area home. 

So as we cycled along the first few miles from Puerto Montt it was a wee bit of an anticlimax,  the road was busy and the views were underwhelming. It all changed after the first ferry crossing at La Arena and we made our way through Hornopirén National Park. It is 186 square miles of rugged mountains and unspoilt Valdivian rain forest. The weather, heavy rain and mist, was unfortunately pretty much hiding the views of Hornopirén and Yate Volcanos but it couldn't take away the lushness of the rainforest. Thick vegetation lined the roadside and covered the mountainside, it was simply breath-taking.  

The journey on the Hornopirén ferry was stunning with the steep sided cliffs disappearing below the water. We had a short cycle ride before taking our third ferry in 2 days for the short journey to Caleta Gonzalo and our entrance to Pumalín Park. This park started back in 1991 when Doug and Kris Tomkins, owners of North Face outdoor clothing company, made it their mission to protect this wilderness and return acres of often abandoned farm land to its original state. From their initial purchase of 42,000 acres the park now covers just short of a million acres, making it the largest donation of land in the world. In 2005 the then President,  Ricardo Lagos, declared the area a nature sanctuary, which gives it added protection from any future development. 

The weather can be somewhat unpredictable but for us, not so. No, the CA has decided to give us a two week window of very heavy rain and chilly temperatures. This has made our first few days somewhat challenging. The season doesn't officially start until the 15 December so the majority of campsites remain closed and wild camping isn't allowed in the National Parks. We wimped out the night before the Hornopirén ferry and booked a warm room above a restaurant. As we settled down for the night we spotted two clearly very wet cyclists riding along to set up camp on the beach. This was Bella and Bastion, decades younger than us and just days not years into their adventure, so still full of that spirit that makes camping out in such horrendous conditions seem like fun. Before settling down together in Bastion’s tiny one man tent, Bastion cleaned up by going for a swim. Seriously tough, but he was rewarded by seeing dolphins swimming nearby, so not so crazy after all.  

We didn’t actually meet them until the ferry ride to Caleta Gonzola, where we all warmed up in the restaurant there. We redeemed ourselves in the toughness stakes by setting off in heavy rain to cycle up 1,000 feet on a dirt road. We decided it would warm us up properly, and then we'd camp at the only open site, where fortunately there was a shelter to put up our tent for the night. Tom braved the short hike to the nearby lake whilst I had my second coffee. The following morning we set off to ride the 25 miles to the nearest town, Chaitén. We booked into the first hotel we could find, 2 nights, it was going to take that long to dry us and our clothes out. Then headed out for a meal. Bella and Bastion soon joined us, and as we all warmed up we chatted about our adventures so far and our future plans. We all agreed on one thing, less rain please! They've set off today, we're catching up on the blog and planning the upcoming days, we need to know exactly where we can find shelter each night. Rain rain, go away please!