We continued as a group of three after Kevin had left Coyhaique before us, as he has only two weeks of holiday, and Ariel got a flight back to Santiago. First stop was at the CONAF camping sixty kilometers south of Coyhaique.
One more pass and we entered the valley of the rio Ibañez. Flo on the descent to the pueblo of Cerro Castillo, while the mountain with the same name is seen on the right, half hidden by clouds.
Just along the main road when you enter the village, our first stop was this nice café which consisted of two old buses joined together. The menu consists mostly of burgers, which are huge, and they made quite an effort for the vegetarian version, which turned out to be the most delicious looking on our table.
After checking out different campsites with either no person present or a lack of shade, we booked ourselves into the one closest to and with the best view of Cerro Castillo. The next day we started the trek.
At the beginning most of the path was leading through forest. The horseflies kept us company, especially once out in the open, which luckily ended more or less at the point where the guided tours left their horses because it was getting too steep and slippery. The views were nice throughout the trek…
the weather superb, as surprisingly during most of our time on the carretera, and there are great views of the mountain with its lagoon at the end of the trek.
A great place to have a picnic with galletas and frutas.
A perfect day trip, not too taxing even after some days on the bike. For me this was as well an endpoint. This was as far as i would be following the carretera to the south. The next day i said my goodbyes to Florian and Samuel, who would continue together to Villa O’Higgings and the end of the carretera austral whereas i would retrace my steps a bit and then continue to Puerto Ibañez from where the ferry over the Lago Carrera towards Chile Chico leaves.