Carretera Austral

As I write, it is just past noon Chile time and we are on a ferry enroute from Chaiten to Isla Grande de Chiloe which will take us as far south as we will travel this trip when we land in about 4 hours at Quellon. When we disembark we will go to the southern most point of the Ruta 5 which I believe is also the southern most point on the pan-American highway.

We left Puerto Montt on the 26th with the plan to travel part of the Carretera Austral (Ruta 7) which is a highway south through Patagonia that extends about 1200 km. Much of the early part of this route involves ferry crossings ranging from 45 minutes to 4 hours. Since neither Alex or I are particularly skilled at, nor enjoy, riding gravel we chose to follow about 15% of the route and then head west by ferry.  As it turns out we may have travelled some of the worst gravel sections but by surviving unscathed (physically) we have demonstrated some newly cultivated and/or honed riding skills.  

Ruta 7 is cut through the middle of rainforest in some of the spectacularly rugged  terrain for which Chile is famous. We rode through dense forest where the route was like a tunnel, along the bottom of vertical cliffs with waterfalls cascading downward on one side and lakes or the sea on the other, around mountains and through valleys. Where roads were not feasible or there were channels to cross, Chile has developed a series of ferries to create a "multi-modal" route. This area is geologically active as they say so most spots seem to have a volcano nearby. Our first night on this route was at Hornopiren below the volcano of the same name. We could not find a hotel here on the internet so our guidebook suggested Hostal Austral which sounded quaint and affordable. Quaint may be a euphemism in this case, but the supper and breakfast were superb, the beds were tolerable and we were pleased at the final bill. The supper was simple which was locally farmed salmon baked with tomato and some sausage accompanied by potatoes and salad.

Chile has actively promoted fish farming in this region and although there have been some hiccups, there is a thriving industry of several different species of salmon. The farms are clearly visible from satellite and seem to be providing a fairly good business base to the region. Hornopiren has a fish hatchery for example.

The 27th started from Hornopiren with a 4 hour ferry ride down the channel which is essentially fjord-like with mountains plunging to the sea on both sides, heavily forested with the exception of a narrow strip at water's edge. There are occasional houses perched on the mountain sides, some small pastures or gardens but mostly heavy forest. Stunning. 

After the first ferry there is a 10 km road to the next ferry. On this leg the motorbikes and bicycles (4 on the trip) left the ferry last and headed off to catch the next ferry scheduled for about 30 minutes and 60 minutes later. Fairly easy on a powered vehicle but a concerted effort is required by the cyclists as the road is rough, climbs and falls often and is gravel or dirt. In this case all 4 cyclists made the second ferry (which we were waiting for), with seconds to spare  This 45 minute crossing took us to a 60 km or so stretch of road to our hotel for the night at Chaiten. 

This was very tolerable gravel with the final stretch broadening out into a gravel airstrip with gates on both ends to exclude vehicles when airplanes were landing. After the "aerodrome" we rode pavement the remaining 10 km which was pleasant and relaxing to ride. We found our hotel "mi casa" which was delightful. Chaiten was mostly buried in ash in a 2008 eruption of  a volcano (Volcan Chaiten?) and has been recovering with great determination since.We would loved to spend a couple days there but our ferry only runs once a week.