29.8 mi / 9.1 mph / 1790 ft. climbing
Home: Camping Los Ñires

Three of the four highest passes on the Carretera Austral barely brush 2000 feet above sea level, so today’s climb up to 3650 feet is by far the highest point of the route. We had done most of the work yesterday, lifting ourselves from 1000 ft. to the 3200 ft. initial pass where our campground sat. But a 600 foot descent to start the day ensured that we would still have a 1000-foot climb in today’s ride (not to mention a steep 650-footer to end the day). Gee, thanks.

So it was at least nice that the super-warm morning (52°F, a possible summer high temperature in this region) kept us from getting chilled like we normally would suffer from an immediate pre-sunrise downhill with no chance to warm up our muscles. On the other hand, it was less-nice for our food, which we had kept inside/near our tent on the recommendation of the campground hosts to protect it from rodents. I had to lay all of our “cold” food out on the picnic table to let the pre-dawn air cool it as best as it could before packing it together again.

Yesterday we reached the easternmost point of the mainly north-south Carretera Austral, and now would be veering back west, away from the dry cliffs and buttes around Coyhaique and returning to a more-alpine environment. But that meant today would be filled with a rare and magical hybrid of the two environments, where the mountains grew tall enough to form snow-capped peaks, but maintained the blocky eroded shapes more associated with desert landscapes. “Cerro Castillo” (Castle Hill) is the name of the most-dramatic mountain, but we passed dozens of rock formations that could easily be imagined into castles, towers, and fortresses.

The small town of Villa Cerro Castillo is the only real supply point in our four-day stretch from Coyhaique, so we were glad that a food truck was open upon our pre-11am arrival so that we could eat a big lunch and save what we were carrying for the day(s) ahead. We also re-stocked at the small-but-sufficient grocery store. We could have found a place to stay too, but that would have left too much riding for the next two days, and with the weather continuing fine, it was better to push further to our second planned campground.

Our route had turned straight westward before lunch, but it was early enough that the winds hadn’t yet risen. Afterward it was a different story, but even with the gusty headwinds, we were still baking in the sun as we climbed back out of the valley. Rett again frequently found herself panting (perhaps an attempt of her body to cool what sweat could not?), so I ferried her bike up some of the steeper sections a couple of times to make sure she didn’t overheat. She at least said she realized why the hills of yesterday and today were so hard: because awesome stuff requires hard work.

Camping Los Ñires has an entirely different background than last night’s National Park-style campground: it’s just a working farm run by an older couple who have nonetheless set up camping amenities equal or superior to those at Laguna Chinguay. For CLP11,000 (~US$11) per person, we could take either an open grass site, or one of the nice three-sided shelters. Surprisingly there was a couple who had arrived before us (last night five other cyclists arrived around 7pm, insane to us but apparently “normal” to everyone else here), and even more-surprisingly, they hadn’t taken either of the shelters, so we were happy to grab one for protection from the continuing strong winds blasting down the valley. There were hot showers, Starlink internet, and an indoor common-room with a wood-burning stove, though these days access to the latter is only allowed upon paying an extra fee. With the clear and warm weather, it wasn’t worth it tonight.

It turned out that the woman from the other couple (from the Netherlands) had gotten sick with stomach issues, so they had done a really short day (and maybe arrived and set up before the winds had started, or maybe just wanted to be close to the bathrooms, and actually the buildings and trees near them seemed to provide decent protection anyway). Again around 7pm another couple on bikes turned up (and didn’t take the other shelter; a couple in a truck finally set up there after we went to sleep), but we had seen no cycling southbounders on the road, while several had passed us going north (after zero northbounders the day before). Just a bit of randomness in path-crossing on this incredibly-popular cycling route.