The extraordinary Carretera austral

In the south of Chile is the Carretera Austral, one of the most legendary routes for the most daring cyclo-travelers. This is my kind of road!

Over a length of about 1240 km - half unpaved - there is an incredible variety of landscapes. Azure blue lakes, lush fjords, several still active volcanoes, glaciers wherever the gaze rests. And as we go north and a milder temperature appear forests of immense pines and others almost tropical.

There are practically more waterfalls here than people.

The story

The 1240 km of the southern carretera.

La road. was built as early as 1976, but particularly in the 1980s under the dictatorial government of General Augusto Pinochet. Back then, the only way to get to all these small, isolated communities was through Argentina. But in a climate of tension with neighboring Argentina, especially after Chile supported the British side during the Falklands War (Falkands), the development of a better road on the Chilean side became more necessary.

Ten thousand soldiers set to work to build dozens of bridges and move millions of tons of rock. Construction continues today. Slower, but making its way south, to gradually replace the gravel with asphalt.

And despite the length of the road, the population served is only around a hundred thousand, nearly half of which are in Coyhaique, the largest city in the region. The density from this region, at barely one inhabitant per square kilometer, is in fact one of the lowest in the world. Only the Svalbard Islands in the Arctic, the Falklands and Greenland have even lower densities.

Some farm buildings.

Arturo and Luzmira, who welcome cyclists to their house along the carretera.

The rain

The place may be sparsely populated, but the rain is certainly present there! In some valleys, as much as 4000 mm of rain fall per year. It is 600 mm annually in London, yet famous for its humid climate!

Around Puerto Yungay, still at the beginning of the Carretera, the rain falls on Freddy and me daily for the whole day. Sometimes we regain hope for a few minutes when a few rays manage to pierce the clouds, but our joys are always short-lived. The rain keeps coming back less than two minutes later. And since it's also quite cold, my rain pants and dish gloves to keep my gloves dry are more useful to me than ever.

Precipitation on the Chacabuco lake.

A look that says a lot about friend Freddy.

However, we managed to advance north on this long gravel road. The climbs are not that difficult (thanks to the 10 soldiers of Pinochet), and there are still several old abandoned huts here where it is possible to take shelter. Then, as the days go by, the rain becomes rarer and it is even possible to start making a fire at the evening bivouacs.

As the clouds clear, the nature in this southern Chile becomes even more majestic. I take off my hood, my shoe covers, a few layers of clothes, and take yet another contemplation break. The mountains are beautiful, with glaciers almost everywhere on the horizon. The lakes are turquoise, the waterfalls and large waterfalls omnipresent and pure.

Descent to Lac Bertrand.

Friend Freddy in the distance.

Animals

Among the few inhabitants of the region are gauchos, these South American farmers. One day I meet a family of them, from grandfather to grandson, all on horses and bringing a herd of cows from one pasture to another. The young heir must be barely 6 years old. He looks tiny on his big horse and they've made little bespoke stirrups for him. He is nevertheless very comfortable in the saddle, and certainly fashionable with his little rain boots on which we find drawings of racing cars! The whole family wears the same beret typical of the region.

Popular route

Despite this difficult and often wavy washboard road, it is however not surprising that many other cyclists have come here like me to enjoy this awe-inspiring nature. I can sometimes cross almost 20 cyclists in a single day. This is exceptionally a lot for the kind of roads I travel. The other travelers are mostly Europeans: English, Germans, French, Dutch. There are also many South Americans, recognizable from afar by their generally different and a little more eclectic equipment. All come to ride for about a month on this long road. At least half of them only do the Carretera during a vacation of a few weeks. And several have even rented bikes on site.

In addition to cyclists, there are also travelers in recreational vehicles. These big trucks envelop us in horrible clouds of dust every time they overtake us at high speed. And since the road is very narrow, this periodically forces us to settle into the even softer rock on the sides. As the view continues to be incredible, however, I often take the opportunity to stop. What automobiles do much less. Some of these tourists are sleeping, suddenly missing the colors of the valleys. Others stop for just a few seconds to take a picture without even getting out of their vehicle ...

The beauty of the bike trip is that every peak of a climb hides a surprise on the other side. Each turn comes so slowly that the landscape is revealed like a gift. And then at a few tens of kilometers per day, we have time to slowly absorb the topography and the change in vegetation.

Difficult road

But the difficulty of the road and the remoteness of the region still prevent an excessive influx of tourists looking for more comfort. With the paving of the road will eventually come more hotels and better campsites. More cyclists too, buses, and vehicles of all kinds like transport trucks, those horrible metal boxes that make so much noise in their path.

Along with the paving will also come the plastic bottles and Red Bull cans filling the ditches. Cigarette butts, and music burying the sound of birds. I hope that moment does not come even though I know it is almost inevitable, here and elsewhere. We are constantly on the lookout for new, exotic places to visit.

But for now, wild camping is still possible. I wash in rivers flowing directly from glaciers, I drink water directly from countless waterfalls, I listen to the sound of birds and I fall asleep every day under a multicolored milky way.

La Carretera austral is still extraordinary.