Saturday we left Puerto Natales to drive fifty miles north to go wild camping. Thank you iOverlander.
And the wind built up to greet us, foaming the waters of the lake and shaking GANNET2 like a continuous small earthquake. But the view towards the back of Torres Del Paine:
We left the campground in Puerto Natales shortly after nine on Saturday morning.
We had no idea what to expect as we drove through town down to the waterfront on our way north.
We passed a few campers who clearly had spent the night on the waterfront. We enjoyed hot showers and an electrical hookup to recharge our batteries after running them down on the ferry. We had had the fridge on as we traveled so the house batteries were low when we arrived here.
And then we left the town behind and took Route 9 north. Our destination was fifty miles away on cement pavement for 41 miles and on gravel for nine.
I’m not fond of driving on cement slab roads but these seams were very smooth and we rolled along at 45 mph.
Our cell phone signal faded as we passed the airport and civilization fell away behind us. The signal came back for a few minutes when we passed a small village because the infrastructure in Chile is first rate and no one is left behind here.
“End of the World Road,” the sign is labeled and it felt that way.
This as you will see is not the only cyclist we met. There are refuges for bicycles along these highways, places to get out of the weather and set out a sleeping bag in a secure roadside shed. I find that quite civilized though I prefer my van.
Then we turned off the main highway and got on Y-180 a gravel branch road which took us out into the true wilderness.
These are vicuña, a camelid of the llama family known for their ability to run fast. They also stare rather unnervingly.
This is Patagonia.
They pulled over for us and passed us after we parked.
There were two other vans in the spot marked in iOverlander but we contented ourselves pulling off the road in a flat spot of our own and walking the beach.
The others left after a while, a few local cars swept through at high speed and the cyclists were long gone. We put up Starlink and our solar panels were cranking strongly in the austral sun.
I took some precautions against the wind:
The back doors we left open for a while as we were parked nose into the wind.
An afternoon by the lake. Quite splendid.
