My first trek out there was on Feb 20, 2016, so just this pass weekend marked a 5 years since. This past weekend, we did not trek out to Ostrander as it’s closed because of COVID-19. We instead camped on Glacier Point which was incredible as it presents a very unique and majestic view of the Yosemite Valley and Half Dome direct in front of you. You can just feel that you’re standing on shores of a massive glacier, which flowed through here thousands of years ago. But this most recent trip made me realize how easily my memories are storing the details of those trips and it’s becoming more difficult to recall the fun stories and adventures of going out there so I decided to create this artifact of a blog post. My visits to the Ostrander (area) and Glacier Point Road:

1. Feb 20, 2016 → with Tomas, Valas, Sam B (4)
2. April 1, 2017 → with Edmundas B, and Maksim (joining for just a part of the way out) (2)
3. Feb 1, 2019 → with Linas, Romas, Tomas, Maksim (5)
4. Feb 20, 2021 → going to the Glacier Point, not the hut with Linas, Romas, Valas (4)

I want to gather some resources I’ve found helpful to learn about the hut over the years, below:

America’s Best Huts → Ostrander

Alex Hadik’s blog post – has great links too

Sierra Club LA post from 2007

Back to the trip – the idea is to ride to Jackson Hole over the course of 4-5 days.

This is the end of Carretera Austral. Tomorrow I am taking a ferry across Lago O’Higgins to Candelaria Mancilla, passing by some glaciers, and then will hike for a couple of days, crossing into Argentina by foot. Following that, trekking in the Fitz Roy area and then El Chalten. 

Cold here, but I love Patagonia’s massive landscapes, remoteness and ruggedness. My thin 45F (7c) rated sleeping bag is definitely making me tougher – the nights here are about 2-4c. (38F).

Life in Cagalandia

The road to Cagalandia from Puerto Montt to Rahul Marin (by the way the name has a pretty cool story, even though if you speak spanish you know the root of the word is a bit offensive) 

Adios Cagalandia!

I spent 2 weeks there with another volunteer (Bjorn from Holland who is going to stay there for a while to help Thomas build a house) and then a week of solitude, only with some 16 chickens and a beautiful dog Bethoven. Here’s his glamour shot one early morning.

The place is pristine and I don’t have time to upload many pics, but found a great album of one of the volunteers back from 2009 when he took these photos. Frankly not too much has changed there since then. The land is beautiful. I trekked the jungle-like forests trying to reach Lago Escondido 6km up north, but the vegetation there is incredibly thick and moving with machete is the only to move at all. I also used the old canoe to go around the corner and get a glimpse of Volcan Corcovado and a glacier next to it. Unfortunately i didn’t want to risk taking my camera on the canoe, so wasn’t able to picture the moment there. Otherwise spent time completely unplugged, without any connection to the outside world (even radio signal only works if you get higher on the hill or canoe out into the Pitipalena Fjord – luckily i didn’t need to use the radio). No electricity (the hydro dam that Thomas built had a broken generator so couldn’t even charge batteries), which left a lot of time for long evenings near the oven baking bread, drinking tea and reading. Walden Pond was truly of the most perfect choices on my kindle for this place. 

For the past 4 days I’ve been hitchiking south toward Villa O’Higgins, which is the last town on Careterra Austral*. The road ends there but I will continue via ferry and trekking to cross the border into El Chalten, Argentina. It is suppose to be a beautiful trek and a bit of a different way to reach Argentina. I’m excited. Currently i am in the town of Coyhaique so today I will stop by NOLS outpost 15km south of town, get some gear for the upcoming treks in Villa O’Higgins, El Chalten, Torres Del Paine, et al and continue south stopping by in towns of Puerto Tranquilo and Caleta Tortel. The further south you go here the fewer people are here and the fewer opportunities to hitch a ride. Also, it’s a holiday season so i have some competition on the roads with Chilean students and backpackers, but there’s no better way to get to know the people and these places than spending time on long rides with local people. 

My next steps below: 

*Carretera Austral is a 1,240km road (mainly gravel) stretching through the evergreen forests, channels, Patagonian fjords, vast pampas, glaciers, rivers, national parks and reserves of Chilean Patagonia from Puerto Montt to Villa O’Higgins. It would continue south if not for the massive glaciers it hits south of Villa O’Higgins.  

And then border crossing via ferry/trekking into Argentina. 

Other than taking two boats, there will be no access to the civilization and i’m very excited to live in this beautiful area for a few weeks.