PATAGONIA - EL CHALTEN, ARG. TO USHUAIA, ARG.

Lago del Desierto and El Chalten to El Calafate, Argentina
El Calafate, Argentina to Puerto Natales, Chile
Puerto Natales, Chile to Punta Arenas, Chile
Porvenir, Chile to Rio Grande, Argentina
Rio Grande, Argentina to Ushuaia, Chile

Lago del Desierto and El Chalten to El Calafate

Once you get to Lago del Desierto Sud, make sure to get a lot of water from the campground before heading on to El Chalten. You'll be headed into dry country and water is a lot harder to find. The river is a glacier silt laden river. El Chalten is 37 km down a rather rough road. There is a lot of loose rock and sand along the way. However, the road gets even worse as you head to Ruta 40. So enjoy this section. El Chalten has reasonable markets, camping with hot showers, hotels, hostels, gas, and phone. Also, one of the hostels has bike rental. The fellow who runs this hostel has a great workshop out back which he let us use to fix our bent derailleur. He is also a great source of information for the route on to El Calafate and Torres del Paine. Benzina blanca for stoves is available at the Viento Oeste store on the north end of town. Stay away from the expensive, fancy La Supermercado and artesinal store in town center.

Ruta 23 out of El Chalten is a very wide, rough dirt road. It has extremely soft and deep gravel and sand for much of its distance. The road condition seems to get worse the farther you get from El Chalten. The road is maintained, we passed the graders who were doing the work. However, it almost seems that the grading makes the surface all that more soft and difficult. If you are headed east you will likely have a good tail wind which makes the road seem much easier. If you are headed west you will probably find the road to be shear Hell. We found water sources at:

31 km from El Chalten is a creek with clean water
44 km is estancia Margarita. You may be able to camp among the trees across the road if you ask.
56 km is another creek

You will notice on some maps a primitive road leaving Ruta 23 across from Estancia Punta del Lago and rejoining Ruta 40 right at the end of the lake. Despite it's being 9 km shorter, it's not a great road to take. It has very deep, soft sand for the most part. However, there would be good camping at the old abandoned hotel which is just 2 km from ruta 40.

La Leona at the end of Lago Viedma has a hotel with a bar/confiteria where you can get water, pieces of pie, sandwiches, hamburgers, drinks, and a few odds and ends.

Another 5 or so km south is another confiteria/bar where you can get water and some food.

Estancia Irene is occupied and there is a road crew station in front. You can get water.

There are 2 bridges about 16 km apart, the first about 20 km before pavement and the second 5 km before pavement. On the east side of Ruta 40 just north of the first bridge is a nice tree area that makes a great campsite. There are similar trees just south of the second bridge. However, this site isn't nearly as nice for a campsite as the first.

The pavement toward EL Calafate is in great condition. No shoulder, however. To the east the road has a lot of potholes. You may have a tailwind going into El Calafate if you get lucky and there happens to be a front coming through. Otherwise it'll be a strong headwind. El Calafate has everything you need including the largest grocery stores you've seen since Coihaique, Chile. There is a small bike shop, run in someone's garage. It's called Gordilla and is located one block away from the bus terminal on Campo del Desierto 1072. He'll have a few parts if you're desprate. We managed to grab his last descent chain.

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El Calafate to Puerto Natales

You have pavement for the first 95 km to the turn at El Cerrito. It's not flat. After the Rio Bote hotel you have a good, steady climb of around 2000 ft. From there on it's mostly rolling hills. The dirt road is much better than Ruta 40 further north, however there are still sections that are quite bad. Winds for this section generally come from the south or southwest. Carry lots of water.

41.5 km - Hotel Rio Bote. You can camp here for free, although it's not the nicest spot. You can ask for water or filter from the creek.
46 km - Start a long 15 km steady climb.
94 km - Turn at Cerrito. Get water from the road department building. You can camp if necessary, but it's not great.
114 km - Rio Pelque. There's green grass by the creek that is nice for camping. Get water from the police station. Beware of trying to camp on the brown grass. It's very, very sharp.
126 km - Rio Barrancas Blancas - Grassy areas to camp. No water. An occupied estancia a few km further on may have water.
160 km - Tapi Aike - Gas station, road department building, police station, posada. They'll let you camp in a shed behind the road department building. However, it can be very, very noisy at night due to the loud generator they run until late hours and the cats. Sodas and cookies are for sale in the gas station. The posada has rooms and meals, but it's quite expensive.
Eventually the road all the way from La Esperanze to 28 de Noviembre will be paved. You can see where new bridges and some of the grading has been completed. However, don't expect to see the paving done until after Argentina gets its financial house in order. Currently the section of road from Tapi Aike to Cancha Carrera seems to be in better condition than further north. It is not getting much maintenance due to the money shortage. So the condition may deteriorate over the next few years.
173 km - Hotel. We weren't sure if it was open or not. But you may be able to get water.
204 km - Cancha Carrera: Several km before Cancha Carrera you'll be at the top of a hill in a somewhat woodsy area. This seems like one of the better camping spots we'd seen for quite a while. Turn for Cerro Castillo and Chile. Get water if you need it. The route to Cerro Castillo will be a good downhill on a much better dirt road. So you may not need any water. Check out of Argentina here.
213 km - Cerro Castillo: Restaurants, hosteria, gas station, phone, small store that has expensive items. Bread is only available in the morning. Turn north for Torres del Paine or south for Puerto Natales. Note: to do the circuit ride around Torres del Paine and to visit the valleys where all the best scenery is located takes about 8 days very tough cycling, this coming from a very gung-ho French cyclists. You'll spend all your time cycling and not get to do any hiking. If you want to do some treking in the park you may wish to consider riding directly to Puerto Natales, storing the bikes, renting backpacks, and returning by bus to the park. Mini vans within the park can get you to any trail you want to hike.
The road from Cerro Castillo south currently is an excellent dirt road running through a wide U shaped valley with nice mountain views on both sides. After Ruta 40 in Argentina it almost feels like pavement. In 2002, 17 km north of Puerto Natales was being paved. We understand that in 2003 the entire route from Cerro Castillo to Puerto Natales is due to be paved and then all the way to the Parque Torres del Paine in 2004. During these years expect the construction to be very muddy in rain.
235 km - South Ruta 20 toward Puerto Natales. Hotel Tres Pasos and Restaurant. Nice looking place and supposedly not too expensive.
247 km - Small town on right has restaurant and hospedaje. We camped in front of the little church and no one bothered us.
273 km - Puerto Natales: All services including bike shop. The bike shop normally has reasonable parts, such as Shimano or Sram. When we arrived he was completely out of good chains. So you take your chances.

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Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas

This road is paved and is in good condition. There are only dirt shoulders, but traffic is fairly light so riding the main thoroughfare isn't a problem. There are only low rolling hills and almost no protection from the howling winds. Look for these little off-white buildings with light blue roofs along the side of the road. These are bus stops and make great refuges from the winds. The one located at the entrance to Estancia Laguna Blanca seems to be becoming a log for passing byciclists, km 134 from Puerto Natales. Stop to look at the notes on the wall inside.

32 km - Hotel.
64 km - Hotel Rio Rubens. Also has restaurant and camping. Good campsites by the river as well
101 km - Morro Chico. Water at the carabineros station. Picnic table by river but no shelter from the wind.
111 km - Estancia/hosteria off road a bit. 140 km - Rest area with picnic tables and trees for shelter. Good campsite
147 km - Villa Tehuelche. 2 almacens, 1 cafeteria.
195 km - Gas station with clean toilets, water, sodas for sale
227 km - Free campsite with wind shelters
246 km - Punta Arenas. All services including 2 bike shops with good quality parts.

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Porvenir to Rio Grande

Porvenir has restaurants, hotels, small almacens, gas, and phone
Within the first 30 km you will pass a couple of good streams for getting water. Beyond this, surface water is quite scarce. However, there are quite a few estancias within easy reach of the road.
80 km - Abandoned hotel Bahia Inutil, only trees remain but it could make a good campsite
139 km - San Sebastian, Chile, hosteira, restaurant, camping
154 km - San Sebastian, Argentina, Gas, minimarket, ACA hotel
235 km - Rio Grande, All services including bike shop. Camping available at Club Nautico. Follow signs or the truck if they come out to meet you.

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Rio Grande to Ushuaia

There is a short cut leaving Rio Grande that saves you about 10 km of riding toward the west, into the wind. If you are staying at Club Nautico you simply continue along the road in front of the camping. You'll turn left on the old Ruta 3 that goes over the old bridge. At the end of the bridge, turn right. Take this dirt road straight, straight, straight. You will need to lift your bikes over a chest high gate, open or maybe lift over a second gate within about 1/2 km, and 7 or so km later lift your bike over a second chest high gate. Immediately you then turn left on the new paved Ruta 3. Directly across from this third gate is the police station. If you're headed in from the south you'd need to turn right directly across from this police station. This is private land. However, they don't seem to bother the occasional biker passing by.

The next 50 km or so of paved road is headed toward the southeast. Typically the winds blow very strongly from the northwest or directly from the west. So you'll likely have a good tailwind component. At about the 50 km mark you start getting into short trees and more hills. These help break the winds a bit which is good as the road starts heading more south. Really tall trees start at about 90 km and the winds drop significantly. Once over Garabaldi pass winds are no longer a major concern.

30 km - Punta Maria, Restaurant, open?
44, 53 km - Two campings owned by John Goodel, open summer only
102 km - End pavement. You have about 60 km dirt road. The first 35 to 40 km are rather rough, not loose just bumpy. There'll be a lot of traffic, in particular trucks, and a lot of dust. It's not one of your more enjoyable sections of dirt road. As you approach Garabaldi pass the road seems to improve becoming less bumpy and dusty. Pavement begins again soon after Garabaldi pass. I would imagine that as soon as Argentina's financial situation improves this last section of dirt will likely get paved. Note that signs giving distances to Ushuaia prior to Garabaldi pass are about 10 km short After the pass they are correct.

104 km - Tolhuin, small almacens, gas, lodging, camping in summer. There are campings along lago Fagnano up to 20 km beyond Tolhuin, however they're only open in summer.
113 km - Hotel Kaiken, restaurant. Look for good campsites across and uphill from the hotel
147 km - Lago Verde, restaurant. Tolkeyen buses stop there during their tour of the lakes so it stays open much of the year.
171 km - Begin pavement
179 km - Great campsite by river
189 km - Hosteria, camping, restaurant
220 km - Ushuaia, all services

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Acknowledgements

	We'd like to thank my father, Charles Johnson, whose diligent mail forwarding and other logistical support make this journey far easier than it could be otherwise.
	Wendy Strutin Riedy for archiving the newsletters on her WWW site, http://outthereliving.com

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