My fight against gravel started again after my long stay in Puerto Rio Tranquilo. At the beginning my legs felt a bit stiff, and I received news that the camping site I wanted to stay in Puerto Bertrand won’t open until next week. Generally, people camp in the beach of Puerto Bertrand, but I didn’t want to do that alone, so I planned a detour half way to Puerto Guadal to see if I can find something there.

To Puerto Guadal

The roads were a mix of good and bad gravel up until the Rio Leon (leon is how they call pumas in this region), where the road was similar to the one after Cerro Castillo. Nevertheless, the road continued next to the Carrera lake, going up and down. My first big stop was at the General Carrera bridge, where I had something to eat and walked around the hanging bridge. This is where the Carrera lake joins the Bertrand lake, and many people stop for a picture.

Soon after passing the bridge the clouds started to build up, but the rain never came to lower the amount of dust I was getting from cars. Several lodges dot the road close to intersection where I took the detour to Puerto Guadal, 10 km away. During the climb to cross the hills I saw a condor pretty close flying and landing on the steep mountain side next to the road. The climb was neither difficult nor the highest one of the day, but it felt like if because of the sun that came out of the clouds. I arrived to Puerto Guadal before 15:00 so as usual all the stores were closed and the streets empty. I got to the coast to look back at the town, and decided to continue to Puerto Bertrand since it was too early. On my way back kids were playing in the main square and some school kids were walking along the road with their teacher for so what it looked like an expedition, giving a bit of life to this town.

To Puerto Bertrand

Undoing the climb was easier from this side, but soon after descending to the intersection with the Carretera Austral another climb started. At this point I started to see the clouds building up again, with dark ones towards Rio Tranquilo. The road to Puerto Bertrand was probably the worst gravel of the day, very jumpy with big rocks coming out of the floor, something that I would only see again towards the end of my trip. This made the last descent into Puerto Bertrand very uncomfortable, and my hands and arms were really tired at the end, more than my legs.

Puerto Bertrand is a small town, smaller than Rio Tranquilo and Puerto Guadal. With most of the people staying at fishing huts along the river, sleeping options were quite limited. As soon as I arrived I entered a cafe, where I got a slice of cake and coffee. There they told me about the hostel next door, and giving that there was a chance of rain, I decided to stay there. The lady in the hostel was very accommodating, and the room was nice. A couple also arrived to the hostel with a camper van, who I will see them again along my trip.

Without many things to do around, I walked around and tried to follow a hiking trail marked on the maps, but it was closed with a fence. I bought a souvenir and went to the second cafe in town for some food and ice cream. There people were talking about the stormy weather news coming from Rio Traquilo, it seemed that I left at the correct time. Although they said the bad weather may arrive here during the night, it didn’t happen.

The rest of the day was spent on the lake shore where I took pictures of the caiquen birds and the lake as the sun was setting over the mountains on the other shore.

Maps:

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