January 30 – February 3 2019
What happened…
A few days of more shitty gravel roads and loads of summer traffic. Hot, hot, hot.
Amanda writes:
After our couple of days in Bariloche to do some chores and map out our next section we headed toward Chile. The traffic was a bit annoying but I suppose it is the middle of summer and that’s what happens. The beautiful views really helped to ease the car pain although it was a bit shocking when one of them past us on the right hand side on the shoulder at the same time a truck was passing us on the left. We figure that the semi-truck must have started to move to the left to pass us and the car was tailgating the truck and move to the right to see around him only to be surprised we were there. I think we were pretty lucky to not get nailed by the impatient driver.
We rolled into El Bolson which was a surprisingly hopping little hippie town. There was a nice market and the town was clean and hopping with people. It really was an unexpected surprise.
El Bolson had a fun hippie vibe to it including an artisans market.
As we pulled out of town we came across two Japanese walkers. We chatted with them and they left Alaska 3 years ago and were headed for the same place as us. Absolutely amazing! We also met Gabriel an Italian hitchhiker who seemed pretty cool.
They started walking from Alaska 3 years ago and expect to reach the end of the earth in April.
On February 1st we camped near the entrance of the National park on Lago Rivadavia. On this day I felt like we climbed all day. We did however enjoy a great spot for lunch with a nice beer. It was a monument to where Butch Cassidy lived after he fled the USA.
A funky little cafe where Butch Cassidy lived.
Our first impressions of the park are nice. We got up before 0700 to try and avoid 700 peso park fee and were successful. We Rode for 10k and then had breakfast. Sleep last night required ear plugs because of a generator nearby which was a bit unexpected.
Our fantastic camping spot just inside the park gates.
The road was shit gravel which we now call ripio like the locals and this lasted almost the entire day. On a good note it was amongst trees so we had some shade. We could also see an occasional glance at the lake. The road was super busy with weekend traffic. It was dusty and hot! 35+ degrees.
The endless dirty gravel roads and constant traffic resulted in very dirty legs.
We had hoped to make Trevelin but just couldn’t keep going. We stopped at a paid camp ground and just tried to stay still in the shade. We drank 1 large Gatorade and 2 sugary drinks. Not the best diet but we needed something. The campground was nice although it had loads of mosquitos at night.
Waking up the next day and dreading leaving the tent for another day of 35+ degrees.
After our recovery from the hot day we enjoyed a lovely paved road into Trevelin. We got groceries and headed for Chile. Again it was frustratingly slow after the store with shit ripio. I had hoped to make Chile but Andrew convinced me otherwise. It’s great that he did because the campground was amazing and it was Super Bowl so we settled in by the river had some beers and watched the game. It was a great end to a day of 38 degrees although I shouldn’t complain because at least we had a tailwind.
Super Bowl Sunday!
Andrew writes:So we’ve been using this APP on our phones called iOverlander, which has been great. In some ways, I can’t believe that it took us this long to start using it, since we’ve had friends recommend it before. It gives us loads of crowd-sourced information on places to sleep, eat, where to find free WiFi, etc..About Nant y Falls campsite on the border between Argentina and Chile it says, “This is the best campsite in all of Argentina!” and I’d have to agree. The layout was beautiful, the showers and bathrooms smelled like a sauna because they were new, and heated with a wood stove. The setting is in a working vineyard which was pretty neat. The onsite store had an honour system, so anything you ate/drank you just wrote down on a piece of paper for later. I’m actually writing this post having toured the rest of Argentina and I do agree with the iOverlander comments, it really was the best campground in the whole country.
Does this mean we were in the disease zone before?
The aerial view of our ride:
Today’s Flickr Photographs
[flickr_tags user_id=”17145280@N00″ tags=”013019,013119,020119,020219,020319″]Cycling Stats
January 30, 2019
Start Point: Bariloche, Argentina
Destination: Wild camp near El Foyel River, Argentina
93.56 km trip, 14.94 km/h average speed, 49.75 km/h maximum speed, 6:16 time on the bike
January 31, 2019
Start Point: Wild camp near El Foyel River, Argentina
Destination: Epuyen, Argentina
80.35 km trip, 16.84 km/h average speed, 53.74 km/h maximum speed, 4:46 time on the bike
February 1, 2019
Start Point: Epuyen, Argentina
Destination: Camping Puesto Canero, Argentina
62.71 km trip, 11.57 km/h average speed, 52.83 km/h maximum speed, 5:25 time on the bike
February 2, 2019
Start Point: Camping Puesto Canero, Argentina
Destination: Camping Los Maitenes, Argentina
51.23 km trip, 10.14 km/h average speed, 41.74 km/h maximum speed, 5:03 time on the bike
February 3, 2019
Start Point: Camping Los Maitenes, Argentina
Destination: Viñas Nant y Fall camp, Argentina
50.05 km trip, 14.46 km/h average speed, 53.16 km/h maximum speed, 3:28 time on the bike
Route Description:
January 30, 2019 The road was paved the entire day with undulating hills and lots of traffic.
January 31, 2019 Paved road again all day again undulating hills with lots of traffic.
February 1, 2019 Today seemed like we climbed all day. There was traffic out of town until we turned off Ruta 40. Then you have less traffic and gravel.
February 2, 2019 Gravel almost the entire day and undulating hills amongst trees. Occasional glance at lake. Super busy with weekend traffic.
February 3, 2019 Nice paved road into Trevelin to start the day. Just a few km out of the town the road turns to shit ripio.
Accommodations:
January 30, 2019 We wild camped.
January 31, 2019 We stayed at a hotel for 700 pesos for the night.
February 1, 2019 We camped at the free camping just before the toll booth of the park. Nice spot with marked sites.
February 2, 2019 Stayed at paid camp ground at end of lake. There is a free campground right beside it.
February 3, 2019 Stayed at Viñas Nant y Fall camp about 20k from Chile border which was awesome. Great camping spot by river with good WiFi and great clean facilities.