camping – Keep Calm and Pedal On

Carretera Austral Day 12: Coyhaique to El Blanco | 22 miles, 1,716 feet elevation | A Shorty

Riding Stats (link to Tom’s Strava)

Accommodations (daily mileage, elevation, etc.)

Route Tracker (track our southbound ride on a Google Map)

Just a short ride today but kind of a hectic one as we left town. We peddled alongside lots of airport traffic. In just a couple weeks or so, we will be in one of those shuttles headed to the airport. But for today, we peddled.

We’ve been told to begin stocking up on food and pesos since the farther south we get, the more remote we’ll be. Food will be harder to come by and cash is king (credit cards not accepted.) We had two things on our to-do list in Coyhaique and we weren’t able to get either done. 😫

Google Maps isn’t as reliable here as in the states. That’s been a bit of a challenge. Google Maps will indicate where a store or restaurant is on the route when there isn’t one.

We found a couple mini marts and made do but couldn’t locate a money spitter. It’s just crazy getting out of a big town and even a greater challenge with inaccurate Google Maps.

We rolled into El Blanco about 3pm, set up our tent and then headed to the only restaurant in town, a very small roadside food stand.

We weren’t at all sure of what we ordered but it was very tasty and the gentleman was happy to chat it up with us in Spanish. He spoke to us like we understood and we kinda did. A little.

Rain is coming in tonight and tomorrow’s a longer ride with the Cuesta Diablo on deck. Sooo…we may delay our start tomorrow.

Click on the link below to view today’s video:

Carretera Austral Day 11: Villa Manihuales to Coyhaique | 46 miles, 4,688 feet elevation | Ripio!

Riding Stats (Link Tom’s Strava)

Accommodations (daily mileage, elevation, etc.)

Route Tracker (track our southbound ride on a Google Map)

New Spanish vocabulary word: ripio

The fire that Jose built in the wood burning heater in the community room was incentive enough to get out of our tent on this chilly 40 degree morning. Today would be our longest ride with the most elevation and on ripio (gravel).

These stoves/heaters are at the heart of every hostel and campground community room and common throughout Patagonian homes as well.

I made breaky in the community room while Tom took down the tent. We said our thanks and goodbyes to Jose and were on our way.

During the ride, again the mountains gave way to vast landscapes. We climbed a good bit getting to our highest elevation thus far on the trip and then bombed down some sweet descents. Tom got some good video on the GoPro today.

The ride got rough near the end. The “nice” ripio turned nasty with thick gravel and traffic increased throwing up a lot of dust and rocks. Not fun but grateful that wasn’t the whole ride.

Coyhaique is a major hub on the Carretera Austral and the capital of Chile’s Aysén Region. Almost every cyclist, hitchhiker, kayaker, and traveler eventually funnels into Coyhaique as it’s the last large city on the Carretera Austral south of Puerto Montt where the Southern Highway began. The further south we ride, the more remote it will be.

Although Coyhaique is surrounded by the most pristine wilderness areas, the city is among the highest in air pollution in Latin America due to the wood burning stoves. As such, the city has both a frontier and an urban feel to it.

It seems like it would be a good place to take a rest day but we are eager to get back on the road and save a zero day in case of bad weather. We’ve learned Patagonia with all her beauty can throw challenging weather at us at any time.

Digs for the night? We went all in at the Patagonia House. It. Was. Spectacular. And in every sense of the word.

One more tidbit. I finished listening to the audiobook entitled “A Wild Idea” by Jonathan Franklin about the life of Doug Tompkins. Spoiler alert… Tompkins did wayyy more than found The North Face.

Click on the image below to view today’s video:

Carretera Austral Day 10: Villa Amengual to Villa Manihuales | 38 miles, 1,978 feet elevation | 500k

Riding Stats (link to Tom’s Strava)

Accommodations (daily mileage, elevation, etc.)

Route Tracker (track our southbound ride on a Google Map)

We’ve now got 500 kilometers behind us on the Carretera Austral, not quite half way but a milestone to be sure! And we’re not rushing through the ride.

Today was a day of changing landscapes. Yes there are still mountains that surround us but they have made way for plush valleys, ample forests and scenic river beds.

One of the best things about today was finding this fabulous campground. Jose was so friendly and accommodating; it was clean and his wife just opened a restaurant next door. Perfecto! Sooo tasty for our Valentine dinner.

There is a simple community room with a wood burning stove and kitchen.

Banos etiquette: we have learned (taking pics of signs posted in the Banos and using the camera app on Google Translate) toilet paper (no matter your bathroom business) should not be placed in toilets. Instead there are covered trash cans in the bathrooms. Also many times it’s BOYTP (bring your own TP). Hence the importance of a TP stash. Jose however has this huge roll of TP available for campers. TP stash preserved!

Lots of pics from today’s riding on the video below and our Doggo of the Day.

Tomorrow we head for Coyhaique one of the largest cities on the Southern Highway for a resupply and an inside stay.

Also, the Balmaceda regional airport is located near Coyhaique. Once we finish our ride in Villa O’Higgins we take a couple bus rides back to the Balmaceda airport and fly to Santiago and then on to Lima. So essentially from here on out, we will see the scenery a second time going the other way from a bus seat.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all!💖

Click on the image below to view today’s video:

Carretera Austral Day 8: La Junta to Queulat National Park | 41 miles, 2,562 feet elevation | Look Who Showed Up Today!

Riding Stats (link to Tom’s Strava)

Accommodations (daily mileage, elevation, etc.)

Route Tracker (track our southbound ride on a Google Map)

Mr. Sunshine!☀️

Not gonna lie, I was happy to get a break from grey skies and rain and feel a little sunshine.

The morning started off a little wonky when I poured yogurt in my coffee because I didn’t read the label carefully. There were curd like thingys floating around in my cup. However the nice lady poured me a new coffee without too much embarrassment. I won’t make that mistake again.😂

Nice ride today with mostly smooth pavement and little traffic. We cycled to and through Puyuhuapi and were surrounded by the Andes mountains or water all day.

Unfortunately tickets were not available today to visit Queulat National Park but we did get a glimpse of the hanging glacier from our campsite.

We met Theo from the Netherlands just after setting up our tent. The emblem on his shirt piqued my interest as I saw a purple panther team mascot on his it. It reminded me of St. Pius X, a school where I taught for seven years. Theo, a retired Geography teacher, is riding northbound on the Carretera Austral and started all the way down in Ushuaia, near Tierra Del Fuego. Theo and his wife have TWO sets of twins. Wow! He gently let us know we have our work cut out for us tomorrow.

Sharing a few pics before we get on the road. As always I’m posting a day later. WiFi and cell service are scarce and when there is WiFi, many times the bandwidth is limited.

It’s all rainbows and unicorns until the switchbacks and rough gravel start. And they start first thing tomorrow morning. 😬

Thanks so much for following along, thanks for your encouragement and most of all your prayers.

Click on the link below to view today’s video:

Carretera Austral Day 5: Chaiten to Lake Yelcho, 33 Miles, 1,112 feet elevation | Tarmac and Tailwinds

Riding Stats (Link to Tom’s Strava)

Accommodations (daily mileage, elevation, etc.)

Route Tracker (track our southbound ride on a Google Map)

We continue to be amused by the laid back doggos that populate southern Chile. This is our Dog of the Day and he was waiting for us as we left our cabana this morning.

After a food resupply in Chaiten and once the rain ended we jumped back on the Carretera Austral about 11am. It was an easy day riding with a tailwind on pavement all day under cloudy skies.

About 12 miles past Chaiten we saw the iconic remains of a WWII-era plane.

It was the fuselage of a Douglas DC-3 military transport aircraft that made an emergency landing (not a crash in combat) in the mid 1970’s. The Chilean owned aircraft experienced a mechanical failure on a flight between Palena and Puerto Montt and the pilot managed to land the plane safely nearby. The plane was damaged beyond repair and was subsequently abandoned.

This site has become something of a roadside attraction and, over the years, the fuselage was even repurposed by a local resident as a small home after being moved a short distance from the original landing location.

So far Patagonia’s landscapes seem severe. The weather is fickle and the skies meditative. It’s also mysterious, yet inviting. Patagonia you have multiple personalities.😂

We’ve planned an even shorter day tomorrow with two inches of rain forecasted, dropping temps and a mountain pass on deck that includes a 10 mile climb. 😉

Click on the image below to view today’s video:

Idaho Hot Springs, Day 10, McCall to Boise, 0 bike miles | Back to Boise

We had to abruptly pull the plug on our Idaho Hot Springs bike tour due to growing wildfires in the Payette and Boise National Forests.🔥

It’s remarkable how quickly things change.

We rolled into McCall on my birthday, decided to take the next day off to resupply, do laundry, etc. and after checking the Watch Duty app and confirming with the Valley County Sheriff Department, decisions were made. We were done.

Our forest road was closed due to wildfire and Highway 55 was much too dangerous to cycle on back to Boise.

Question was… how would we get back to Boise from McCall with bikes.

We brainstormed several ideas and came up with renting a car at the McCall airport and driving with our bikes back to Boise.

We then had to pick up a second rental car in Boise and drive the first rental back north two hours to McCall (or pay $1,000 one way rental fee or take a puddle jumper from McCall to Boise for $2,000).

So we made a total of three trips on Highway 55 along the scenic Payette River while watching all kinds of fire activity up and down the corridor. And btw, the Sheriff Department was correct on the “bike-ability” of Highway 55: no shoulder, too narrow and no line of site along much of the road.

Sorry to end the ride early but more sorry for the loss of property and national forest land. These wildfires are no joke.

Thanks all, for joining us on our ride. We are already planning the next one. 😊

Click on the image below to view more pics vids:

Idaho Hot Springs, Day 9, Buckhorn Campground to McCall, 41 miles, 3,573 feet elevation | Made it to McCall

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Accommodations

Lick Creek Summit stood between us and McCall, Idaho which would be a pretty sweet place to celebrate a 65th birthday, so we knew where we were headed for the night.

Just the weekend before we left for Idaho we had our Cousin Campout and the kiddos surprised me with birthday prezzies and a song they adapted from my favorite musical, Sound of Music. And yes they actually sang it. 😂 That and building our traditional human pyramid kicked off the big birthday celebration.

The kids will give me a hard time but I uploaded their performance to my YouTube channel so I could watch it again and again. It’s very clever I think.

And this year I got to be on top of the pyramid at the Campout. Gotta seize those opportunities while you can. Sheesh I can hardly swing my leg over my bike saddle these days to get on my bicycle.

Ok back to the ride. Same story line. Beautiful scenery and no visible smoke today! It was about a 15 mile climb to the top and then we rolled down into McCall and decided to take a zero the following day to do laundry, resupply, SHOWER, and map out the last four days of riding back to Boise.

Don’t think I will ever forget how I spent my 65th birthday with my love, Tom.

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Idaho Hot Springs, Day 8, Deer Flat Campground to Buckhorn Campground, 59 miles, 3,992 feet elevation | Snag

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Accommodations

Pretty sure we woke up with ashes on our tent fly from the wildfires. Last night was the coldest night yet in the low 40’s but we were absolutely warm and comfty in our sleeping quilts and puffy coats, although I’m pretty sure I heard a gunshot (just one) at 4:20 am.😳

Our destination today was past Warm Lake where there is an active wildfire blazing and growing nearby.

We stopped in Deadwood Outfitters for a cup of coffee and a wildfire update. Wrangler Sean showed us the Watch Duty app (same one as the Forest Ranger mentioned yesterday for fire updates). Apparently the Snag fire grew from 4,000 to 7,000 acres overnight and Warm Lake, the next town down the road was on Evac 1 Alert, meaning get your things ready to evacuate.

We wi-fi called the Valley County Sheriff Office from the Outfitter at Sean’s suggestion to ensure our route wasn’t closed and we were good to go.

Though smoky we continued our climb up and over Warm Lake Summit and stopped in the “Lodge” (and I use that term loosely) 😂 where we ran into Nick and Al whom we have been leapfrogging. They are riding the north Idaho Hot Springs loop and will cut back east on the Lowman Pass to return to Stanley.

A news crew came to take video and report on the Snag fire and lake area near the lodge where we stopped for burgers.

Smoke was getting thicker. 😢

As we left Warm River and cycled north the smoke diminished.

However of all things we ran into wait for it…. a chip and seal crew. Too funny not to capture on video, I included a few clips in the video at the bottom of the post. Ya just never know what you’ll run into on a bike tour.

Made it to Buckhorn Campground which sets us up nicely for spending my birthday in McCall!

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Idaho Hot Springs, Day 7, Stanley to Deer Flat Campground, 51 miles, 2,326 feet elevation | Air

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Accommodations

Today, finally, I think I got my “air” back and got acclimated to higher elevation and boy did it feel good to feel zippy again!

We left Stanley unfortunately without leftover pizza in our bags but instead, leftover Buff Chick Wings which aren’t a bad sub, and had Fir Creek Campground as a tentative stopping place for the day.

Since we hit Fir Creek early about 3pm we decided to push on to Deer Flat Campground.

Again, the scenery dazzles us. Over most every rise and around every corner we stop to admire it.

However, the road surface on the climbs and descents between Stanley and McCall (our next town) is horrendous with a lot of washboarding, deep sand with a few ratchet rocks and ruts to maneuver around. This makes for much slower going on a bike. We crawl up climbs and have to slowly descend down the other side being careful to keep the bikes upright.

About 15 miles in we stopped to chat with National Forest Service (NSF) Ranger Kayla, hoping we could get an update on wildfires as smoke is still visible.

She didn’t have any answers for us on that question but was eager to answer others we had, you know since we are “Googleless” out here. Plus, she’s from Seymour, Indiana and you know midwesterners… we like to help and chat it up.

She’s on Range Duty and part of her job is to ensure fencing and other conditions are ready for open grazing.

She said the area we are in is known as the Stanley Basin and water is abundant. When I mentioned we haven’t seen as much wildlife as we expected, not only here in the Boise National Forest but also in the Sawtooth, she said that animals seem to migrate away when the seasonal people come. In the off season more deer, pronghorn, elk and even wolverine can be seen. There is even a lone wolf that likes to patrol the area.

In the winter, snow is deep and easily covers the fence line and the area is easily accessible by snowmobile. Visualizing winter, it must be a wonderland.

We did see more pronghorn, some deer, pairs of sand hill cranes and Kayla wasn’t wrong about water in the Stanley Basin.

One of these days I’m going to make a list of all the things I would need to learn if I ever solo bike packed. Not only does Tom do his share of “camp chores” he keeps the bikes field serviced, takes the lead on navigation and so many other things that I don’t take for granted. Plus he carries the leftovers on his bike.

Looking forward to more jaw dropping scenery… ratchet road surface… well maybe not so much.😂

Click on the image below to view more pics and vids:

Idaho Hot Springs, Day 6, Smiley Creek to to Stanley, 30 miles, 1,112 elevation | Pizza Worth Peddling For

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Accommodations

Ya just can’t beat waking up in a tent on a clear morning in the mountains.

We’re headed to Stanley today for, from what we’ve heard, pizza worth peddling for.

One of the best parts of bike tours is meeting fellow riders on the road, chatting it up with locals and also hearing from people we may never even have met who have read our blog.

Cycling really does bring people together. We have no idea who they are going to vote for, where they sit in a pew on Sunday (or if they sit at all) or what their fave pizza toppings are. We share a common thread of curiosity and a love and respect for each other and the outdoors.

Such was the case when we met Rhonda, John and Mark at the top of a climb. We could have chatted with them all day and it was they who suggested pizza in Stanley. True to their word, it was amazing. We got their contact info too and will take our bear sprays, extra fuel and bug juice when we get back to Boise.

We said goodbye to Karl and Brian today in Stanley. They finished their bike tour a day early and weren’t going to use their hotel room so they let us use it! So long friends… until next time.

And not only do the comments on social media and the blog encourage us, hearing from new people that have route suggestions, questions or are inspired in some way, touch us in a special way.

We are SO very grateful for ALL of this, even the tough parts, because we know we are lucky to live the gift of life.

Wildfire smoke continues to move with the wind and there are several fires burning up here in Idaho. Yesterday the wind blew in smoke to Stanley. When we rolled in, it was clear and by the time we finished hot wings and a salad for dinner the mountains were obscured by smoke.