October 30, Day 24: La Junta to Chaitén
I've got three full days until the day I need to leave Chaitén to catch the ferry, so I have a bit of flexibility. It's 144km to Chaitén so I can ride there today, and then have two rest days there. Komoot estimates 9.5h so it would be a long day. Or I can stop along the way and have two light days and a single day off in Chaitén.
The road to Chaitén is mostly low-key ups and downs ... except. In the middle is a big mountain with a 400m climb, and the way up is mostly a nasty 10% gradient.
So the question is, where should I stay the night? There's a few possibilities.
The first option is Villa Santa Lucía, a tiny village at the junction between the Ruta 7 and the 235. It's just before the big climb starts and about halfway along, so it's a natural place to stop.
The next is Hosteria La Cumbre, which is a bit further along. Turns out it's quite high up in the mountains - in fact it's just before the peak. Very tempting if the climb is too much work...
There's another option after that, in Puerto Cárdenas. This is a group of houses, I don't think it can be called a village. On Google Maps there's six accommodation options, and five of them flyfishing lodges with prices in US dollars like $750 per night or $8000 per week. There's also "Hospedaje Lulu" which looks like a normal guest house but given the neighbourhood I worry that if I look American or use the word "fishing" another zero would go on the end of the price. It's 2.5 hours from here to Chaitén so stopping here means today a bit of light exercise tomorrow.
Or I could just ride all the way to Chaitén which is a relatively large village, and hopefully is a nicer place to chill.
I'm not sure what the right choice is. So I'm going to ride the route and see how I feel and how these options look as I go.
From left to right: suspension bridge on the way out of town, auspicious! Crossing the bridge - no time to stop, a truck was approaching. More scenery. Another horse grazing on the roadside. Rural bus stop.
I stayed in an upmarket place last night and they had a good upmarket breakfast this morning. In addition to the eggs and bread+cheese+ham they have cereal! I ate so much they had to refill it.
La Junta had some nice cakes but the bakeries weren't open; I picked up two sandwiches from the service station "Copec". I've done this a few times: this chain of service stations are reliable and well run and the sandwiches are all I need for a midday snack so I keep going there. Bakeries have all sorts of exciting things but often don't have anything that works for lunch, sadly.
The weather forecast predicted light 8km/h winds, and maybe even a small tailwind! Too bad it's been utterly wrong so many times I don't really trust the wind forecast at all any more. Best philosphy is to expect a headwind. And be happy if it isn't too bad.
The route has a lot of ups and downs, which don't add up to anything; it would be so much easier if it was flat. And sometimes the climbs are unreasonably steep, I'm sure these got up to 10% a few times - I was in a low gear and still had to stand up.
Cross an orange suspension bridge - more fun than the usual bridges! There's a lot of snowcapped mountains around, and this is one of the last few days, so I'm taking photos. On reflection there's not a lot of variety in those photos... there's not a lot of options for taking a picture of a distant mountain.
About 1330 I pass through Villa Santa Lucía. It looks small and sleepy, and like previous towns maybe most places are still in hibernation. I'm feeling good so I keep going.
There's a roadworks in progress, looks like they're resurfacing the whole climb. I'm waved through by a lady who gave me a lot of information in Spanish as I passed, but I understood very little. Most of this climb is a 10% gradient which is heavy going. Traffic is restricted to one lane during the work, and I'm not sure if it's safe for me to go onto the unfinished tar. I do so while a wave of cars and trucks comes past the other way, then move into their lane and follow the edge of the road. The construction finishes but one lane is still closed by roadcones - the asphalt surface is old and looks OK so I use that lane, the cars can have the other. Did I mention the 10% gradient? I have to stand up on the pedals to make progress, and a bit of snaking makes things easier too, so I'm happy to have a lane to myself so I don't need to worry about cars.
The closed-off lane runs a long way up, it ends when the road surface switches to ... gravel! Wasn't expecting that. But it's only short and not steep so I can live with it. A bit more climbing - I must be near the top. No, I'd forgotten about Hosteria La Cumbre; until it appears there's going to be more climbing.
From left to right: the closed-off lane during the climb, much appreciated. Gravel: not too bad but not appreciated. The downhill. Back on the flat road. Approaching Puerto Cárdenas, looks like regular rockfalls.
In due course it show up; I'm not tempted. It's about 1430, I'm on track to get to Chaitén at 1830, and there's a monster downhill in front of me.
The downhill is a bit too steep, I need to stay on the brakes. On downhills the view is better: I can see the mountains around, instead of focussing on the road ahead and the one mountain being climbed. So I stop for pictures from time to time. There's signs it is a difficult road: signs of an avalanche; although the road is cleared of rocks the barrier has been crushed off the road and there's still a huge pile of uncleared rocks. In another place there's a section of a huge log beside the road; on the other a few meters of safety barrier is missing: looks like a huge tree fell across the road and squashed everything?
Lots more downhill, and a headwind develops. But it's not strong and the road is flat so it's not too much trouble. Near Puerto Cárdenas is another harsh but short climb, then the turnoff to the village appears: tempting? Not so much, I'm on schedule to arrive a bit after 1830, and that one Hospedaje seems a bit chancy to me.
From left to right: another suspension bridge. More distant mountains. Watch out for cyclists - especially when we’re hungry. One of many abandoned buses along the way. Not-so distant mountains; only a few kilometers to Chaitén from here.
I'm losing pace, because I'm stopping so often for photos. And when only a few kilometers away, I got so hungry so I couldn't wait for dinner and had to stop for a snack. So I'm a bit late when I get into Chaitén.
But I'll be here for two rest days; hope that was the right choice!
