Beautiful view in the morning: the Lago del Desierto in the foreground with the Fitz Roy behind in a very clear weather. The goal of the day is to travel the twenty-two kilometers between Lago del Desierto and Lago O'Higgins with the border six kilometers from the first. These first six kilometers are well known among cyclists for being complicated. A couple met in El Chalten told us that they spent four hours there. Icing on the cake, for us it's a climb.
So here we are on this small trail that which is at the beginning very deep and sometimes too narrow for our front panniers. Therefore we have to push and lift the bike front with a foot on each side of the trail. On the way up, we have a beautiful view of the Fitz Roy, which starts to have its head in the clouds.
The next obstacles, one kilometer and one hour later, consists of a succession of streams and bridges, all connected by trails full of roots. The largest of the rivers doesn't have a bridge, we have to carry our bikes across the river. After a flip-flop rescue in the grip of a greedy mud, we get back on the track.
The next step is to cross a stream followed by a mud field. We put branches in the mud to walk on them without sinking.
Some roots and tree trunks later, here we are at the edge of the Argentine trail: it took us also four hours!
In Chile, the trail becomes large enough for a car. It's a pleasure to get back on his bike. We arrive to the lake on a track at the edge of a ravine, not very reassuring, especially as it descends to sheer.
The boat pilot that will take us to Villa O'Higgins informs us that we'll leave at seven o'clock, and not nine as agreed, because of bad weather for navigation.
