Day 1 – El Chalten to Lago del Desierto (north)
We had spoken to many people and read several bogs about the next stretch of our journey from El Chalten to Villa O’Higgins. Some had loved it, some called it hell but everone agreed that it was unforgettable..it did not disappoint!
In summary, the route between the small Argentinian town of El Chalten and the smaller Chilean village of Villa O’Higgins travelling from South to North involves a 37km cycle on dirt track, an hour long boat journey on Lago del Desierto, a 6km slog uphill along a single horse track, a 15km downhill ride on very undulating dirt track (of which the last 5km are very steep down), a 3 hour boat journey north on Lago O’Higgins and an 8km cycle on the most southerly strech of the dirt road Carretera Austral, to Villa O’Higgins…However that doesn’t even start to tell the story!
We set off from El Chalten at around 8.30am. We were a winging things a little as the only bank in town had no money and we had little Argentinian and Chilean cash for the boat trips, hoping that at least one of them would take a card. The 37km cycle to the ferry at the South of Lago del Desierto was really enjoyable. Initially the headwind made slow going but around 15km in, we turned a corner in the valley and were sheltered by stunning woods, sprinkled with beautiful mountain views and the occasional waterfall to our west and stunning rapidly running river to our east. This made for a good second half of the ride, interrupted only by the odd photo stop, a couple of wild oxen who decided it was their road not ours and the clouds of dust kicked up by passing motorists on their way to or from the lake.
Jon’s walk/jog along the lake took in some of the most breathtaking views possible. The weather was kind and the path, whilst not obvious in some parts, was in reasonable condition, with a number of river crossings and varying terrain, sometimes climbing well above the lake below and other times coming out along the lake shore.
Meanwhile, Vanessa watched locals come and go, lay in the sun and wrote a few blogs, catching up with a few days missed. 2 hours into waiting another two bike riders arrived. Marie and Miguel from Belgium. They had already pre-booked there tickets for both boat rides in El Chalten (should have done this ourselves, but what you don’t know, you can’t do). We had around 1hr left before the boat arrived. It started up at 4.30pm on the dot. Luckily for Vanessa, Miguel and Marie were readily available to help out with lifting the bikes and panniers onto the front of the boat. We sat at the front, next to a flamboyant Argentinian man, who was very keen on chatting to us and had a huge amount of luggage. He was going to a secluded little refuge hut and camping with his family. His family had started walking and would be meeting him there. The views of the lake, mountains and Mt Fitzroy were just absolutely unbelievable. We stood outside snapping some photos and taking in the scenery.
Once unloaded from the boat the 2 of us, plus Marie and Miguel found a couple of sweet spots to pitch our tents next to the lake, near to the Argentinian border patrol hut and ate our respective dinners. We talked to a very informative Scottish couple who were also camping and were heading south with bikes They described in some detail the task that faced us the following day and gave us some very useful tips..not least was that we should remove bike pedals for the 6km push uphill (we are all very grateful for this advice), that we should set our panniers high on the bikes (using backpacks if necessary), that we should expect several river crossings and to get our feet wet, and a recommendation to team up if possible.
Marie and Miguel had agreed to be our travel buddies for the following day. Before we went to bed we remembered that we had to get our passports stamped before leaving Argentina and made a dash to the border hut. Fortunately the duty officer was happy to extend opening hours a few minutes past 9pm for us, which meant we wouldn’t have to hang around to get stamped in the morning.
Day 2 – Lago del Desierto (north) to Villa O’Higgins
The 4 of set off early morning, relieved that the predicted rain had held off, as this would only have made a tough day even tougher. Each of us had removed pedals, with Jon, Vanessa and Miguel placing front panniers in backpacks and Marie placing hers in an additional bag mounted on top of rear panniers/rack. Almost immediately we got a sample of what the day held in store. The dirt track was no more than a bike width wide, and had been worn into a U shape due to constant foot traffic over many years. To push the bike you either had to stand immediately adjacent to it or walk to the side of the path approx 50cm above the level of the bike.
Marie’s rear mounted extra bag caused us a few problems as it was knocked loose on a few occasions, each time needing to be adjusted re-secured with bungies. Eventually we reached a crossing where it was universally decided that there was little point in trying to keep our feet dry as the far side of the river towards the path was entirely bogged. We all waded in the river with bikes getting a good soaking and struggled to push them through the bog without losing our footware.
We reached the Chilean border patrol at 1.30pm. It had taken us 5 hours. We were tired but very pleased with ourselves, as we met a couple shortly afterwards who advised they had taken 9 and half hours the previous day. A few hundred meters on we reached the ferry crossing. With 3 hours to wait until it left, we all ate lunch and decided to wash our bikes, panniers and legs in the lake. We need not have bothered with the bikes they got a soaking whilst on the boat anyway!
When the boat arrived, we all handed over our passports and boarded. The 2 of us were very happy when the boat set off as we knew for sure that we would get to Villa O’Higgins, even though we hadnt yet paid, and we were relieved to find out during the 3 hour journey that they took credit cards (but needed to be near to Villa O’Higgins for the machine to work), otherwise we would have been without cash for several days as we knew Villa O’Higgins had no banks. The boat journey was relatively uneventful. We were all tired so rested and napped, at one stage we all rushed up on deck to catch a stunning rainbow but retreated back below when the breeze hit us.
The boat arrived at 8.30pm, as we disembarked it was starting to get dark and raining slightly…the 2 of us had not cycled in the dark yet as we had previously been further south with long summer days but we quickly realised that we would be pushed to reach Villa O’Higgins before darkness and the rain really hit us.
