PUERTO NATALES TO PORTO MONTT, CHILE
SOMETHING IS BROKEN 12 – 20 March 2026. Leaving the park, we made our way back to Puerto Natales. The original plan had been to drive north via Argentina’s Ruta Nacional 40—long, remote, and legendary. But somewhere between the wind, the roads, and the growing sense that something wasn’t right, we knew we didn’t want to risk […]
O TREK: DAY 6 – 8, CHILE
DAY 6: CAMP GREY TO PAINE GRANDE ASCENT: 398m DESCENT: 275m DISTANCE: 11.5 km TIME: 3h 10 March. After yesterday’s effort, we gave ourselves permission to sleep in—finally crawling out of the tent around 8am. Even that felt optimistic. Feet, calves, quads… everything complained. My feet especially, at least for the first five minutes, until […]
O TREK – DAY 4 and 5
DICKSON TO LOS PERROS — Into the Forest ASCENT: 534m DESCENT: 115m DISTANCE: 15km. HOURS: 3:50 It’s always a good feeling waking up to dry weather when you’re living out of a tent. I didn’t want to say it out loud — no need to tempt fate — but here we were on day four… […]
TORRES DEL PAINE NATIONAL PARK, CHILE
I felt it immediately coming over the rise above the Río Serrano Entrance. This was different. More beautiful than expected—dramatically so. After six months in the Andes, living among mountains, we’re not easily surprised by big landscapes anymore. But this… this landed somewhere deeper. I feel it in my chest, it actually took my breath away. […]
PUNTA ARENAS TO PUERTO NATALES – CHILE
February 21 – 1 March. The two-hour crossing into Punta Arenas passed quickly. We arrived with a simple plan: get what we needed and move on. Just a few items to prepare for the O. Two nights, a bit of shopping, then on to Puerto Natales. The duty-free zone in Punta Arenas is a strange and wonderful contradiction—vast, […]
TIERRA DEL FUEGO – CHILE
A REMOTE BORDER CROSSING After saying goodbye to Manuel who had 10 days to ride to Buenos Aires for his flight home to Switzerland, we crossed back into Chile. Rio Bella Vista is a tiny, relaxed border post miles from anywhere. Marked by these neat rusted steel markers I struggled to get a good photo […]
PATAGOINA NATIONAL PARK, CHILE
TWO HIKES, 50KM, THREE DAYS 10-13 January. The drive into the park meandered gently for nearly 20 kilometres before reaching the visitors’ centre. The road wound through open grasslands, following rivers and backed by serrated mountains still holding pockets of late snow. Guanaco roamed and grazed — some lifting their heads as we passed, most […]
CARRETERA AUSTRAL – MARBLE CAVES AND TURQUOISE LAKES, CHILE
DUST, MARBLE AND THE COLOUR OF WATER 7 – 10th January. Leaving Cerro Castillo behind, the carretera carried us onward toward Puerto Río Tranquilo. The landscape opening out into wide valleys and 100km long, exposed stretches of very dusty gravel roads. Traffic was 80% adventure bikers and cyclists, 10% overland vehicles and 10% locals. Brazilian […]
CARRETERA AUSTRAL – HIKING CERRO CASTILLO, CHILE
Hiking Patagonia 6 January. Long, sweeping curves lead us down into the valley leading to the striking Cerro Castillo. We camped together with Sara & Huw in a windy, dusty carpark, everything slowly coated in fine grit each time a vehicle passed — which was far too often. The next morning we set out early-ish, […]
CARRETERA AUSTRAL – Yelcho Lake to Futaleufú, Patagonia Chile
Rivers, Rapids and a Slice of Old Patagonia 26 – 29th December Boxing Day morning Our plan was simple: drive until something beautiful made us stop. We left Chaitén the same way we had arrived — wrapped in rain. Low cloud pressed down over the hills, the volcano fading behind us as the road pulled […]
CARRETERA AUSTRAL – Hornopirén to Chaiten, Chile
By the time we reached the start of the Carretera Austral, the weather had already set the tone — cold, wet, and windy. We camped that night on the roadside in the small town of Hornopirén, queued for the next morning’s ferry alongside others doing the same. Vans and campers with Chilean, Brazilian, and Argentine […]
CHILOÉ ISLAND, CHILE
Ancud 19-21 December. Chiloé lies off Chile’s southern coast, where the mainland begins to unravel into fjords, islands, and open sea. Separated by a narrow channel, it marks a quiet threshold between the more ordered landscapes of the north and the wilder, rain-soaked south. The island sits low and green in the Pacific, shaped by […]