Our alarm dinged us awake at 5am. I had to tiptoe past two tents (and near a third) to exit the outbuilding we were all sheltered in, but given the near-continuous snoring from the guy closest to us, it seemed that at least he didn’t mind. In order to give some respect to the late-risers, Read more…

We had been counting on the food truck/restaurant at Lago Vargas for yesterday’s lunch and dinner, but assumed that we would need to carry our own breakfast with us because, #1, food trucks don’t usually serve breakfast, and #2, even if they did, they wouldn’t be serving at the super-early time we like to leave. Read more…

A 37°F temperature when we woke up, following yesterday’s cool air, meant that we now had a trend. But with no wind, and the two “rooms” (delineated by large rocks) at our wild campsite, it was still a comfortable and easy morning. Then why did we get rolling 30 minutes later than Rett planned to? Read more…

With Rett’s pedals now no longer “buzzing” from her worn-out bottom bracket, my freehub still spinning fine after I overhauled it in Coyhaique, a few new zippers pasted over the broken ones on our tent, and another stretch of clear weather, we were ready to tackle our final 5-day riding phase of the Carretera Austral. Read more…

The roar of the churning Baker River was the only sound we heard all night. Even in the colorless pre-dawn light, it still glowed with an unusual brightness. We were up early as usual, but not as early as we would have been if our day-of-the-week timing hadn’t been as lucky. The Carretera Austral is Read more…

The alarm went off at 5:45am, and I crawled out of the tent to witness the barely-lightening sky on a perfect windless morning, with ripples from the lake quietly lapping on the rocks. Our hidden spot was just as peaceful as I’d hoped. With the water right there, it was easy to collect some and Read more…