Chile - Carretera Austral

R40 is bleak and windy in the southern half of Argentina. I think that central section you refer to is paved, or nearly all paved, by now, last time I checked there was an unpaved gap somewhere around Malargue, but Argentinean ripio is most rather better than Chilean. But you may well prefer cycling through that wilderness, slow changing as the view might be, than through Chile's boring agriculture. Crossing the mountains from Mendoza to Santiago is a great ride. Argentina east of the Andes starts to get much more interesting from Mendoza northwards - so long as you keep W and avoid the main road where you can - so head N from Uspallata keeping as close as possible to the Andes, all the way to Bolivia, its a great ride, if you have time for it.

Be aware that on these desert rides water can be infrequent and you may have to be ready to carry a lot, sometimes even to camp overnight without a water source. There are also bits like that south of P. Natales.

Hi,

Yes, you meet people every day. A lot actually...
Camping in the wild is very safe, you can drink water straight from the streams.
Some parts of the road are in bad condition, but doable. A bit dusty and rocky in parts.
I'd recommend bringing your own bike, probable of better quality.

It's a pretty route, just enjoy!
Here are some photos and a short blog on our ride on the Carretera Austral: http://www.bicycle-junkies.com/destinations/south-america/chile/66-cycling-the-carretera-austral

you can drink water straight from the streams.

Actually you need to be careful about this, he says, having made a mistake once and suffered for it. You need to be sure that there is not agriculture upstream from where you are. Watercourses in flat land are best avoided, as there is probably agriculture upstream in such cases. Also hantavirus can get into the water from wild animal droppings, and to kill this off the water needs to have been bubbling downhill in the sunshine for 20 minutes. So streams coming down through shady wooded hillsides are more of a risk than streams with sun exposure. Also don't drink lake-water, it can have giardia.

you can drink water straight from the streams.

Actually you need to be careful about this, he says, having made a mistake once and suffered for it. You need to be sure that there is not agriculture upstream from where you are. Watercourses in flat land are best avoided, as there is probably agriculture upstream in such cases. Also hantavirus can get into the water from wild animal droppings, and to kill this off the water needs to have been bubbling downhill in the sunshine for 20 minutes. So streams coming down through shady wooded hillsides are more of a risk than streams with sun exposure. Also don't drink lake-water, it can have giardia.

I agree! We usually filter our water, but on the CA we took some right out of the streams. Maybe we have been lucky. ;)

Thank you for the information and thanks for the link to your blog! Great encouragement!

Thanks for the clarification! I'll probably filter in general. I've been unlucky with drinking unfiltered water and don't want to repeat that nasty experience any time soon!

Thank you for the information and thanks for the link to your blog! Great encouragement!
You are welcome! ;)

I'll probably filter in general.

Boiling is a much more reliable method, and in practice many people find it more convenient. There are excellent filters these days, that aren't too much labour to use, but you often see cyclists with a small pump filter, which is exceedingly boring and time-consuming to use: I had one and soon couldn't be bothered. You can boil up a few litres at night while you read a book or write your diary, and leave it to cool for tomorrow. You'll need to have the ability to carry several litres of water in any case for when you are riding through more arid areas, if you are doing longer versions of the ride - a few drink bottles you saved on the way do the trick, though you might like, as I do, an Ortlieb water bag as they are light and pack up small. Iodine tablets, for occasional use, are also convenient, and if you put a small amount of fruit juice/cordial in your water after you've let the iodine do its work, it takes the iodine taste away.

I agree! We usually filter our water, but on the CA we took some right out of the streams. Maybe we have been lucky. ;)

I also frequently drank water from streams without purifying, I just needed a bit more discrimination over it. In more northerly areas, there can be agriculture, in the sense of stock-keeping, quite high in the mountains, so you need to be fairly careful about what might be upstream from where you are - I've seen cows at 1000m in the Lake District, so that far north you need to be very careful. My mistake occurred much further to the south, when I was camping at a farm, on the shores of Lago Carrera, and it was evident that the farm's water supply was straight from the stream, and they drank it untreated - as is common for example in the Scottish highlands, so it didn't worry me. But I made the mistake of taking water at a location where stock access to it. I should have walked upstream to get uncontaminated water.

Giardia can occur as far south as Torres del Paine at least. So lake water should always be treated.

Has anyone ridden their bike from the very northern boarder of Chile (Arica) down to P.Montt? What are the roads like in the very north. Are there any small towns or places to sleep/eat along the way and most importantly, is there water at regular intervals? What's the best time to do this ride?

Thank you very much!

Denise

Many people have done that. There is of course a main paved road all the way from Arica to Puerto Montt, the problem is that it is often too busy for pleasant cycling. In some cases there is a quieter alternative, like for example from Iquique southwards along the coast. In other cases there are very adventurous alternatives, like riding along bad dirt roads at 4000m in the Andes - plenty of people have done that too, but requires a considerable degree more self-reliance and physical self-will.

There are not towns and water-sources at sufficient intervals that you can have a bed and water every night. You have to wild camp and carry water, even on the main road, but considerably more on the wilder alternatives.

Decent maps of Chile are available for download online. I gave a link to someone a few months ago, either here or on the CTC forum, I haven't time to search it down again. If the map doesn't show anything, you can be sure nothing is there. More worrying is that sometimes it shows something, and it is no more than an isolated abandoned building. But you can buy the 3 volume detailed road guide by Codelco which gives you a very detailed description of what you will encounter along the roads, though clearly in Spanish.

Apart from the very high Andean ways, which are special, on the whole I think it is more scenic to cycle mainly in Argentina between Arica and the Lake District. Many of the most scenic cycling roads in Chile are border crossings. Most of Chile's great wonders are of more interest to walkers, until to get S of P Montt.