This is the first summer in years that I don’t have some sort of multi-day bike tour planned, as I’ve embarked on the adventure of raising a wild and beautiful baby girl. But the other day I received an email from a friend, who runs an adventure travel company up in Bella Coola (www.wildearth-adventures.com), BC, looking for photos that illustrate the area and can be used on his site.

I immediately thought back to the day, a few years back, when I loaded up the bike and B.O.B. trailer and began the 5-day bike tour from Pemberton, BC, (just north of Whistler) to Bella Coola. It was an amazing bike tour, one that started with a long climb up Duffey Lake Road (an awesome place to access backcountry ski tours BTW) over Cayoosh Pass (in the Lillooet Range) before dropping into the high desert town of Lillooet. From Lilloet it’s pretty much straight north to Williams Lake, after-which you head west again towards Bella Coola. While the entire ride is relatively devoid of traffic, this last section, on HWY 20, from Williams Lake to Bella Coola is pretty much desolate…a true bike touring paradise.

If you ever have the chance to visit this area – on two wheels or four – I highly recommend it. It’s truly a magical place.

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This photo was taken during a short two-day bike tour from Sisters to Oakridge, Oregon, via the McKenzie Pass—Santiam Pass Scenic Byway. Closed in the winter, this road is a true delight to pedal…as long as you start early to avoid heat and summer traffic.

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 5 years since I embarked on, and survived (barely) my little bike adventure down in Patagonia, Chile. The route, a whole lot of kilometers from El Chalten, Argentina, to Puerto Montt, Chile, would eventually take me just under a month to complete (with 2 rest days.) It was to be an epic adventure.

(If you want to skip the story and just see the bike tour photos, click here)

From the moment I made those first pedal strokes leaving El Chalten, a small outpost located in the shadow of Mt Fitz Roy, I knew I was in for a challenge.

Leaving El Chalten, Argentina for somewhere further north

Below are some photos illustrating what I perceived, once I was done, to be one of the best bike tours in the world (I of course haven’t bike all over the world, not even a small percentage of it, but…that’s what I read on the internet.) I wouldn’t be at all surprised if in many many years, this route, named the Camino Austral, Carretera Austral, La Ruta Austral, is paved over. I encountered numerous sections that were indeed being prepped for pavement, which was actually brutal because golfball-sized rocks were scattered all over the road, making for, I can now admit, hell on wheels.

I encountered every type of weather imaginable, from the infamous Patagonia winds to searing temps. Truthfully I didn’t encounter all that much rain, relatively speaking. Matter of fact, I would later overhear many claiming it to be one of the warmest Februaries on record. I wasn’t complaining…

Unfortunately at the time, I wasn’t into adventure travel photography as much as I am now. All photos were taken with a Canon point and shoot. For my bike, I pieced together a beat up Specialized Stumpjumper mountain bike frame that didn’t fit me very well. Attached, was my trusty B.O.B trailer which, thankfully, was my closest friend and never let me down. (I did almost break Him on my second day bushwhacking from El Chalten, but we won’t bring that up.) Not sure how much weight I had in the trailer, but it never felt light, even on my last days near Puerto Montt. The road north was a constant, relentless up and down dirt road (with mind-altering sections of pavement) that meandered through remote homesteads and rural outposts.

When I reached Coyhaique, about halfway, I was elated. Why? Because I made it halfway. I started to put in some big days as the weather was beautiful. Thankfully this weather held as I rode through Parque National Queulat, a stunning kaleidoscope of deep, dense evergreen forest, massive nalcas plants, hanging glaciers and nearly zero visitors.

Parque National Queulat

In Chaiten, I ran into a problem though. It was end of the February, which meant their summer (and apparent ‘tourist’ season) was coming to an end (umm…how about over.) Nearly all campgrounds, parks, etc. were closed. This was great for me as the roads were nearly empty…of everything…people, cars…Unfortunately, upon arriving in Chaiten, I found out the ferry that was supposed to shuttle me across one of the many inlets south of Puerto Montt, was shut down for the season. Ooo…bad. I was bummed, because although I spent three days riding south from Puerto Montt upon my original arrival many many weeks ago, this meant I couldn’t ride all the way north to Puerto Montt. What’s a poor, starving cyclist to do? I was forced to hop an overnight barge back to Puerto Montt. In the end this turned out to be ok. After a day cleaning up in PTO Montt (which at this point almost felt like ‘home’) I enjoyed another 4-5 days cycling around the island of Chiloe, visiting the only place in the world where Humboldt and Magellanic penguins coexist and camping on the beach.

Cycling the Camino Austral was extremely challenging. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. I would much prefer to bring a partner though. It’s get quite lonely in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Patagonia.

View the entire Camino Austral Slide Show.

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