Zishaan Hayath Ride: Patagonia

Route Map

Sixteen days down the spine of two countries to the last town on earth. The Carretera Austral first – Pinochet's road through the cold rainforest, fjords on one side, hanging glaciers on the other – then over an empty gravel border onto Ruta 40, where the steppe takes the trees away and gives back Fitz Roy. Glaciers the size of cities, towers of granite, guanacos for traffic, and at the bottom of it all the Beagle Channel and a sign that says the road has ended. One way, north to south, wind on the right cheek the whole time.

Day	Route	Distance	Highlights	Night stay
01	Bariloche → El Bolsón → Esquel	290 km 5.5 h	Ruta 40's opening leg under the lake-district Andes	Esquel
02	Esquel → Trevelin → Futaleufú → La Junta	230 km 6 h	Into Chile beside the absurd turquoise of the Futaleufú	La Junta
03	La Junta → Puyuhuapi → Queulat → Coyhaique	230 km 6 h	The hanging glacier at Queulat, fjordside riding	Coyhaique
04	Coyhaique → Cerro Castillo → Puerto Río Tranquilo	220 km 5.5 h	Cerro Castillo's basalt spires, the marble caves by boat	Puerto Río Tranquilo
05	Puerto Río Tranquilo → the Baker confluence → Cochrane	165 km 4.5 h	The bluest river in Chile meeting the Nef under the ice caps	Cochrane
06	Cochrane → Patagonia NP → Paso Roballos → Bajo Caracoles	250 km 7 h	Gravel over an empty border, guanacos for traffic	Bajo Caracoles
07	Bajo Caracoles → Cueva de las Manos → Gobernador Gregores	330 km 7 h	Nine-thousand-year-old handprints above the Río Pinturas	Gobernador Gregores
08	Gobernador Gregores → Tres Lagos → El Chaltén	340 km 6.5 h	Ruta 40's loneliest leg, Fitz Roy filling the horizon	El Chaltén
09	El Chaltén	–	Off the bike: Laguna de los Tres under Fitz Roy	El Chaltén
10	El Chaltén → El Calafate	215 km 4 h	Lago Viedma and the paved run south	El Calafate
11	Perito Moreno glacier and back	160 km 4 h	Sixty metres of ice calving into Lago Argentino	El Calafate
12	El Calafate → Cerro Castillo → Puerto Natales	360 km 6.5 h	Back into Chile across the open pampa	Puerto Natales
13	The Torres del Paine loop	250 km 7 h	The towers, Lago Pehoé, condors on the thermals	Puerto Natales
14	Puerto Natales → Punta Arenas	250 km 4 h	The Strait of Magellan at the end of the mainland	Punta Arenas
15	Punta Arenas → Primera Angostura ferry → Río Grande	370 km 8 h	Across the Strait into Tierra del Fuego	Río Grande
16	Río Grande → Tolhuin → Ushuaia	230 km 4.5 h	Over Paso Garibaldi, and the end of every road	Ushuaia

Notes

This one cannot be a loop – nothing this size can. Rent in Bariloche and drop in Ushuaia; the drop fee is real money and worth every peso against riding 3000 km back up the same wind. The alternative is a fly-and-ride tour outfit that positions the bikes.

The Carretera Austral runs another 200 km past Cochrane to Villa O'Higgins, and it is a dead end – beyond it lie a boat across the lake and a hiking trail, and motorcycles do not pass to El Chaltén. That is why this route exits at Paso Roballos instead. Ride the spur if the extra 400 km of cul-de-sac appeals; the plan spends those days on glaciers.

Four border crossings, and a rental bike needs the notarised cross-border authorisation from the rental house – arrange it when booking, not at the frontier. Carry range for 350 km: between Bajo Caracoles and Gobernador Gregores there is nothing, and Bajo Caracoles itself is a hamlet with one pump that is sometimes dry.

The wind is the real co-rider. Santa Cruz afternoons blow at sixty sideways and gust harder; start at dawn, be done by three, and give the throttle hand a rest when it lets you. November to March only – the rest of the year is closed passes and horizontal sleet.