Rad roads, secret hide-out camp spots

The vistas just don't stop and we keep finding fierce camping spots.
Even the bikes had a band style photo shoot on a strange bamboo
graveyard.
The Tarmac, smooth and twisty, satisfying my soul. The gravel gnarly,
remote, and lined with carcasses of old cars abandoned.

Parts needed = Epic hike

As my fork seals blew oil all over my engine and legs, Josh's chain
began to give up the ghost. In waiting for parts being shipped across
Chile, we set out for a hike we were bummed to miss. Creating the most
amazing mountain pass of the trip so far, we didn't have the gusto,
food, or health necessary to take the hike through the Bosque
Encantado (Enchanted Forest) to a glacial lagoon (tarn). We ripped
back through the smooth and curvy roads over a hundred miles.
It couldn't have been a better decision, the weather was perfect and
the trail could not have been more aptly named. It was a wonderland,
beyond imagination of mossy overhanging woodland playground. Stacked
with streams every 100 feet until we started to climb.
There was the first glimpse of the glacier hanging over a cliff and we
made our way over the rocks and waterways to the top. I'll ne'er
forget the brilliant colors of that tarn, and to thinks that this is
only a tiny taste of what is to come. We made camp next to a remote
river, built a fire on a sandbar, and soaked in the pleasures of
sleeping on the road with sand beneath our bums and snow capped cliffs
above our heads. Not bad.
Now, the parts are on hand and we're gearing up to head south. Scroll
down to see Josh's pics of the hike and enchanted forest!

Pics from yesterday

Went on a little day excursion yesterday. Hiked a self proclaimed Enchanted Forest, which led us to a crazy glacier. Enjoy a few pics if that and our great campsite we found by a river last night...

Slowly Moving South

While Mike and I were laid out flat with sickness, Josh took advantage
the low ceilings in our modest abode of recuperation to slam milk by
the liter. Fortunately we were able to find respite in both our health
and weather enough to trek out and visit our first few glaciers here
in Patagonia.
Last night we asked permission to sleep on a farm run as a community
by a badass farmer. This guy had built up quite the compound renting
out space to road construction workers and other temp workers in this
remote area. I wish I could've taken his picture; his hat, eyebrows
and total style were really something to behold.
This update courtesy of the free wifi at the local nazi history museum
here in Puyuhuapi, Chile. What a beautiful town! Stunning beauty had
been everywhere. We promise to stop and take more photos.

Ferries and Fjords and Green

Apologies for the absence. We've been without signal and busy getting wet and seeing the greenest place on earth as far as I'm concerned.
We left puerto Montt and went south on the Caratera Austral (ruta 7) to la arena where we jumped on our first ferry. We ended up spending two nights near Hualaihue, a very small fishing town on the coast. The first night we camped on the shore as the locals recommended. We awoke to rain, enough that we decided to wait for it to lift before we broke camp. It never did. Some ladies from the town tracked us town and told us they were expecting a lightning storm and they invited us to stay inside of what was basically town hall, with bikes inside too. Really kind of them, and we accepted. We left the next morning to head for our next ferry ride thought the fjords, a two part ride that would total around 5 hours. It's brought us by Hornopiren NP and into Pumalin NP. The views were incredible. Took lots of pics and used Mikes binoculars with surprising success as a zoom lens for my iPhone. We camped in Pumalin NP, which is a great story, basically the founder of North Face bought up all the land and donated it to Chile as a free NP. I have never seen so many waterfalls. Moss and ferns and greenery everywhere. A real rainforest with constant cloud cover and mist keeping everything green and the water flowing. Took and amazing hike to a cascading waterfall that has been a highlight of the trip in my opinion.
We have been in the hard luck town of Chaiten for the past two days drying out our gear and bikes at a hostel. This town was destroyed by a sudden volcano eruption in May 2008. The eruption process is technically still happening as we can see the volcano right outside town still billowing out greyness into the sky from just about anywhere you walk in town. They restored power and water in 2011 after 3 years of vacancy and people have started to move back. It's really crazy to see the destruction both in town and in the forests around the town.
We've had time to do some repairs on the bikes/equipment here. My ignition hasn't worked in 4 days till now, lots of push starts and hill parking. We all have gear that is leaking and repaired that as well. It looks as if the rain is going to be the price of admission for all the green here in Chile. We plan to depart this morning and stay in or close to a thermal hot spring by this volcano.

Enjoy some pics from the past week and notice the smoking volcano in the background of the town pics!

Tonight's campsite

Found a great spot. Really surprised to have signal out here with the new Chilean SIM cards we got in Puerto Montt today so I figured I'd share a few pics. Right on the rainy shore of Lago Llanquihue. Waterfalls cascading down the mountains in the distance, clouds draping over the tops of these peaks keeping us from seeing their full grandeur. Amazing.
Mike made us some tea before we needed to scramble to the tents to get away from this rain.

Chile!

Yesterday afternoon we made it across the border to Chile. It's absolutely crazy how much the terrain changes by crossing over the top of the Andes. So much greener and wetter and rainy. Huge ferns lining the roadside on our way down from the tops. We rode to Osorno were we hit a bank to change into some Chilean Pesos. It was there that Sean realized he didn't have his bank card, and had left it somewhere in Villa la Angostura Argentina. He turned around to go back to sort it out as it is his method of funding the remainder of the trip. We've rode south and are currently in Puerto Montt collecting information about the ferries we will need to get the bikes through the non rideable portions of the fjords south of here (see stop and go road on east shore of the gulf pic). Tonight we will head south east into the sparsely populated parts of this place to find a place to make camp. Waiting for the rain to lift now, so I figured an update was in order.