Day 10, Jan 7th, 65 kms today, 555 kms total I left Puhuhuapi about noon on a wet, gloomy day, rode along the inlet past the Ventisquero park Id visited yesterday, and got to the road closure much sooner than expected at about 2:30 pm. I had over 2 hrs to cool my heels till the road opened again at 5. Cleaned my chain, tightened the bolts on the bike, ate most of my snacks... They were blasting the mountain to widen the road and every now and then there would be an earth shaking blast and a plume of smoke from up the road. Setting off again, I rode through another 10kms or so of roadwork and shorter roadblocks - the scale of the project is impressive. I think the plan is to pave this whole stretch in the next few years. At about 40 kms out of Puyuhuapi the big climb Id been warned about started - the road zig zags straight up the side of a mountain to get over a high pass. I was in a good rhythm - staying a gear or two above the granny gear for the most part. I just kept pedaling - the s-bend corners were the steepest, so Id stand on the pedals for those, then sit back down for the straight runs. I overtook a couple of cargo-mule cyclists on the way up. They must have had a ridiculously low granny gear as I caught up and went past them pretty quickly even though they were pedaling at a faster cadence than me. I didnt stop to chat, I was in the groove. Once I got to the crest the vegetation stopped and it suddenly felt as though I was in the high mountains cycling rocky roads around the snowy peaks. It was a confluence of mountains at the top, and the road snaked its was around the peaks, staying quite flat for 5 kms or so before the descent. It was now late afternoon, and with no direct sun anywhere it got very cold and gray, and the drizzling rain didnt let up. My hands were freezing as I descended. Lots of fresh loose dirt on the road which hadnt yet been packed down which made it tricky to go at any speed. It was getting dark, and I really needed to find a place to camp. There had been no place to pitch a tent anywhere on the road since the start of the big climb. I went past the entrance to the enchanted forest halfway down - it was a trail head for the 2km walk to a place I had been told was spectacular. There was a no camping sign at the trailhead, and it was too late and I was too cold to do the hike. It did look amazing, with another hanging glacier visible from the road. I finally got to the point where the road breaks off to Puerto Cisnes, and it was almost dark. I saw on the map that a little further on the road gets to the level of the river, and thought there may be a place to camp there. There wasnt, but on the way Id seen a little detour on to a cliff edge where I think the road used to go, it was about 100 meters of unused road around a big boulder. It was pretty much pitch dark, so I got the headlamp out to pitch the tent. The only place to do it was right smack in the middle of the old roadway. I had a devil of a time with the tent stakes as the surface was hard packed, so eventually after much stuffing about had to use rocks to hold the tent down. Had some dinner, then collapsed into the tent, not very organized with my things, but I had the mat, the sleeping bag and for now that was all I needed,
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 22:27:26 +0000
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