Dirt Roads and Icy Blue Waters

From the lakeside town of Rio Tranquilo we continued south on the Carretera Austral heading towards Patagonia National Park.  The distance to cover was not overly far, but because of the gravel road and the sheer number of beautiful views, it took us a long time to get there.  An explanation might be helpful of what is involved for us to take a ‘quick picture’ and why it is so tiring and time-consuming…

1)  Pulling over – this can be quite difficult because we need a relatively flat spot for the kickstand to work properly

2)  Getting off the bike and going behind the bike to unlatch the top box where our camera is stored.

3)  Taking off my motorcycle gloves (sometimes) so that I can operate the small, fiddly camera controls.

4)  Moving to the location where a good picture can be taken in our full motorcycle outfit…including our clunky motorcycle boots (great for protecting your feet and ankles, not as good for walking).

5)  Actually taking the picture!  Finally!!!

6)  Doing all of the above in reverse.

Don’t get me wrong, I love pictures and I love photography, but it is much more involved when travelling on motorcycles with our setup. 

As we left town we drove around General Carrera Lake with its turquoise waters.  Beautiful even on an overcast day!  Our only side trip was a hike down to a confluence of two rivers.  The contrast between the glacial river (gray-colored) and the gorgeous blue river is apparent in the photo.  The confluence is also right next to a wide waterfall and rapids section on the Baker River.  At the confluence we encountered a pair of cyclists that we had met previously at a campground about a week ago.  This happened quite often as we traveled the Carretera Austral since it is the only road in the region.  Also, because we normally stay at least two nights when we camp, our timeline is more at the pace of cyclists than most motorcyclists..

When we arrived at Patagonia National Park the first thing we noticed were the guanacos.  They were everywhere!  They look similar to llamas and alpacas, but unlike those animals, they are wild (not domesticated).  They can weigh as much as 200 pounds, grow to four feet tall (measured to their back), and run up to 40 miles per hour!  When we arrived to check in for a campsite there was a large herd near the visitors center. Two male guanacos put on quite a show for us as they vied for herd dominance for about twenty minutes (see photos).  Later we even had other guanacos grazing in our campground.  It was awesome!

The weather during our six days at the park was fantastic!  We did get a small amount of rain, but it produced a gorgeous rainbow, so well worth it.  Our campsite was surrounded by magnificent and massive mountain ranges.  If you recall from an earlier post, I talked about Douglas Tompkins and his huge contribution to the Argentinian and Chilean parks.  Well, after he passed away, he was buried here, in a small graveyard, inside the national park.  I nearly joined him when I decided to do a thirteen-mile hike called the High Lakes Trail with 5,000 feet of vertical gain.  The views were beautiful, but all that up and down was brutal.  Because Sharon was still recovering from her sprained ankle, this hike was not an option for her…so lucky.  However, she did two other hikes, one that was eight miles long but not very steep and still great.

From this park we backtracked quite a bit to head towards the border town of Chile Chico.  The views continued to be stunning and we actually stopped at the most picturesque spot we had seen on this road thus far and had lunch (and took about 200 photos:).  The last 15 miles of road before Chile Chico had very deep, loose gravel and on one particularly steep downhill curve I dumped my bike at low speed.  No harm to me or the bike, but getting the bike upright against the angle of the ‘road’ was a real challenge!  All good things must come to an end and we eventually arrived at the town and the tarmac.  After nearly 500 miles of gravel roads; at times great, other times just plain awful, we were TOTALLY ready for some pavement.

Chris & Sharon