I feel myself slipping into a riding funk so I opt to stay in Coyhaique for a couple days and enjoy the solitude of the cabin. The Austral slices through a remote Chilean Patagonia and the back drop of fiords and glaciers are something I want to savor. Some people blast through Patagonia just to say they’ve done it, I don’t want it to end.
After hearing the southern road around Lago General Carrera is worth riding I check the ferry schedule for Puerto Ibanez to learn the ferries are booked for the next week. The same day I’m told by a number of folks the western route around the lake through Cerro Castillo National Park is the more scenic route. One door is closed and another is opened.
The ride to Cochrane for me is the best scenery yet of the Austral. The road cuts through the Cerro Castillo separating the drainage basins of the Aysen and Ibanez rivers and leads me through lush forests of lenga trees set among jagged peaks and snow caps. It is cold but dry and I arrive in Cochrane recharged.
