Carretera Austral - The Simpson river valley

On the last ride with the car with my friend down from his house, we visited a hidden waterfall down the river passing through the properties. Getting there was a bit tough, due the terrain and that the path was not marked, but only a short walk. Once back in the intersection with route 7, we said goodbye while some cyclists were passing by. The day was beautiful, sunny but not hot, and after riding for a while I passed the cyclists who where stopping at the top of a hill. I will see some of them at the end of my trip, but in the meantime I am on my own. Since the road was mostly descending towards Aysen, it took me no time to arrive to the intersection with the road connecting to Coyhaique.

Waterfalls and the Simpson river

The road to Coyhaique enters a valley, with steep hills to the left, resulting in a couple of waterfalls along the way, and the Simpson river to the right. After a few kms, I arrived to a restaurant that my friends recommended but it was closed on Mondays, once again due to the season. Many people warned my about this road, because many people travel between Aysen and Coyhaique, including big oil trucks and buses. So whenever I felt a truck was behind me, I moved to the side of the road. Either way, this wasn’t very frequent and the road was in good shape and dry.

The first waterfall along this road was Cascada La Virgen. When I arrived a couple of cars were there, and it was very close to the road. On the other hand the second waterfall, Cascada Velo de la Novia, was a bit further and had to walk some 5 minutes, but more lonely. Both were impressive and let me stop for food a drinks. In between, the Conaf (park rangers) center was closed because, like any museum, they don’t open on Mondays.

So far the road has been surrounded by trees, without many views of the Simpson river, but as I get close to Coyhaique the forest starts to disappear.

Windy welcome to Coyhaique

With the Simpson river on my right, I start to see the climb waiting for me in order to cross to Coyhaique. Although not difficult, the climb seemed longer than it really is. The views of the valley I just crossed were amazing, however it was difficult to stop for pictures because there wasn’t much space to stop and some trucks were going up every now and then. Near the top, in Alto Baguales, I tried to find a nice spot but couldn’t find any. At this point the wind started to appear, and so the wind turbines, making it colder than in the valley below.

After a quick stop at the Marchant lookout for some pictures of Coyhaique, the road descended into town. The descent was fast, with the wind pushing sometimes. Once in town, the first task was to look for a camping. The one my friend recommended was unfortunately close, maybe because of the season or maybe because I arrived before 15:00. So I headed to the town main square where a guy managing a touring station gave some recommendations of camping sites and about the road further south. The second alternative was open, but they were one week away from opening the camping, as they were just refurbishing it when I arrived. However, they offer me a room for the price of a shared room (another advantage of the almost high season), so I stayed there, in the Aldea Patagonia.

After a wash and a change of clothes, I walked around Coyhaique. There were many people in the city center, many students just coming out of schools. I stopped for ice-cream before buying a gas canister, that at the end of my trip never used and had to give it away, and consulting about bike boxes in a cycling store. At this point I wasn’t sure how the trip was going to end, whether I was going to continue south by ferry or come back by bus/cycling and leave from the main airport located near Coyhaique. Since it was before Christmas, they told me I was more lucky to find a box, as they stock more bikes. It turned out that I didn’t come back to Coyhaique, but it was good to know.

Since I got food for a few days in Aysen, I didn’t need to visit any supermarket. So the rest of they I spent it walking around and buying something for dinner and breakfast next day. There are a few things that can be visited around Coyhaique, but I didn’t want to stay in a relatively large city. My plan for the next day was to ride the almost 100 km to Villa Cerro Castillo, banking on the rest days at my friend’s house and a good night sleep.

Maps:

More pictures: