Headed to the Carratera Austral on the Ruta 40 & 41

We had to have an extra days rest in Natales after our big hike and the other guys had a day to see the glacier at Perito Moreno, which we had already seen and so we were a day behind them. Time to catch up. We had a 280 km drive to El Calafate, with a bypass on the ruta 40 between the 5 and the 7, which is a 115 km gravel road.

We headed out of town towards the border crossing at Rio Turbio. This was an easy 2. We handed our import papers to the agent and he just said thanks. We were done so fast we said “is there not anything else?” He laughed and jokingly said no “ get out!” Then there is a 3 km drive to the next control. Here we had a 10 minute entry to Argentina.

We stopped for cheap gas in town of Rio Turbo and then headed to the turn off to the Ruta 40 (where the gravel started) to add our sticker to the collection. It was nice to arrive to find a room booked for us and a great restaurant picked out by Trevor ad Orvar.

We headed out of Calafate in very heavy winds on the pavement to Tres Lagos in 163 km.

The worst part of the day actually was the desvio or detour into the town with high winds and very deep gravel. The gas station in past the town so there was no need to do the detour!!!

All we had heard from people in the last week or so is how horrible the road is north of Tres Lagos. Heading up the Ruta 40 with some trepidation the first 20 km were shit with deeper gravel, but it was pretty good for the most part after that. All the nay sayers failed to mention the paved sections in the south part and that the last 180 is paved. We managed to sneak onto a few of the blocked off paved sections.

Trevor did have a miracle today. A huge gust of wing hit him and pushed him into the deep gravel. He ended up in the ditch, but with the gas on when BOTH of the wheels came off the ground and he did a 180 and landed it facing backwards down the road looking at Dan! Wow we had some wind on the gravel today. We did stop to hear the tale on a sheltered corner, but as you can hear the wind is raging. I turned down the background noise by 75% too!

We stopped at 430 in Gobenor Gregorer pretty tired from the wind and dreading the last stretch and considering staying for the night. We met this couple from Denmark and Colombia who were riding to Ushuaia on this heavily loaded 250. We were happy to hear from them that there was pavement for the last 180 km to the “town” of Baja Caracoles, where there was gas and actually not a bad hotel.

Celebrating my concurring of the dreaded Ruta 40 with some bubbles! It’s amazing what you can buy in a tiny place like this.

We had been advised by Roberto and Matteo to go to Chile on the Ruta 41 as it was more scenic than the routes farther north, but that the road is a challenge. Luckily we had a great day for it, since we were advised not to go if it had been raining.

The first 10 km were crappy deepish gravel, but after that it got better.

We stopped on the road waiting for the other two. It turns out Trevor had his brake lever come loose, but luckily none of the parts were lost. While Orvar was waiting to help him his bike was blown over and he had to unload.

Just then I said I hope this “ great scenery” starts soon. Well just 1 km further it was spectacular.

There were some easy parts and some challenging bits for all of us on the 91 km to the border and some annoying washboard too.

We had some nice views on our way to Paso Roballos.

The panorama just before the Argentina border was stunning.

Driving up to the border there was a locked gate, a security guard, and a border official. It was an easy process and since there were no computers he entered everything by hand in big ledgers.

Now just a short 10 km to the Chile crossing.

This was a more substantial operation, but again everything was done old style by hand here and using carbon copies.

Then there was another sometimes easy and sometimes-challenging 70 km on the 41 to meet the ruta 7.

We drove along the river and had a few water crossings.

Dan for some fun headed off into a field to chase some Vicuna/Guanaco.

The 7 is a good gravel road along several lakes here to the village of Puerto Tranquillo for a total of 253 km off off road. We were super happy to find a cabin with a kitchen and 2 bedrooms for 20$ each, since we were all just too bagged to camp. A hotel room here in this tiny place is 95$ and the camping is a tent on a weed patch.