Day 3 - leaving Hornopiren - High Maintenance - 6 Week Carretera Austral - 2024

Day 3 - leaving Hornopiren

Night In Hornopiren was good. Great sleep in the cabana and there were so many to pick from. The country here is pretty poor so not the fanciest lodging. Even when I motorcycle across the country, clean bed , warm shower and a place you will wake up with both kidneys intact. Again roosters waking us up at the crack of dawn David made a great omelette eggs, peppers and onions! The ferry left at 10 and we had to be there for 9, lots of time to have a cappuccino and chat with the 4 young people from Barcelona that we met the night before.

The view from the dock was awesome, snow capped mountains and seals swimming in the water. There is lots to do there could have easily stayed and enjoyed the day.

The ferry is a 4 hour ride then you drive or, in our case cycle another 8km to the next ferry before you get to caleta conzalo. The ride to the second ferry was great the bus for the hikers take the bike bags for you. It was so nice riding my bike for the first time without bags.

There you enter the national park and decide how far to ride. From there to Chaiten it’s about 70 km there are 2 camping spots in between, one at 18km or on at 33km. Once you enter the park no cell service , stores etc so a big tip, have all the water you need and anything fully charged.

We said goodbye to our friends from Barcelona all very young so probably stopped at the second campsite or went even further, youth gotta love it

Now the fun begins , the gravel road leaving the park just kept getting worse, 12km of loose gravel that grabbed your front wheel and sometimes made you stop. Potholes, washouts even going downhill was sketchy. I never dropped the bike came close a few times though.

I’ll admit it was not fun ! We had to walk the bikes up a few hills since it almost impossible to get started in the lose gravel on a steep pitch if you had to stop for oncoming traffic. Oncoming or even cars that pass you, you are left with a cloud of dust.

Of course those nasty bugs the size of June bugs swarm around your head waiting for you to slow down so they can land and take a piece out of you. I ended up putting my rain jacket on ! It was sunny and warm however the bastards can bite through a riding shirt.

After the 12km we finally hit hard packed gravel, what a welcome surprise.

At the 18 mark we turned a.corner and found Lago Camping Nego. What a welcome surprise ! We set up camp made some great spaghetti with the left over onions and peppers, a meal fit for 2 kings. Second time setting up my tent was so much easier. Falling asleep to the sounds of birds and river flowing was very pleasant.

No cell service so obviously sent a day late

View from the dock such a serene setting

Map on the ferry, the only way to point B is the ferry going through the fiords.

View from the deck. Reminded me of Gillian’s island just a 3 hour tour.

Sitting on the side of the road, red faced because of I’m hot and sunburned. I did warn you about sunscreen. I didn’t listen to logic from David. At this t stopped taking pictures too many bugs when you stopped.

Saying goodbye to our new friends. They were riding further than we were

Provincial park entrance. Little did we know how bad the roads were going to be.

Tips

Don’t get pedals like the below ones ! If you catch them on your leg walking a bike up a hill loaded with bags .. they catch you on the back of the leg.

Another tip, plan this part of the trip with care the ferry crossings should sync up with your cycling route.

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