Rivers and graders

24th Jan, Wild camp Rio Baker to Cochrane (28.5M)

Breakfast with a view

A leisurely rise enjoying coffee and porridge in idyllic surrounds. Then it was onwards and southwards. After 30mins of riding we reached a signed parking area and small trail which we walked down to the confluence of the rivers Baker and Neff. Two big rivers forming quite a dramatic confluence. The river Baker before the confluence  is a vivid turquoise blue with small, but very powerful falls  just before the confluence, the river Neff is a milky glacial river and after the joining you can really see where the waters  meet and mix.

Again on the map it looked like the road south from the confluence just followed the river Baker to near Cochrane, but in reality the road doesn’t  stay that close to the river and we spent the day climbing and descending rough gravelly roads. Gareth even resorted to employing a grader to level the roads in front of him on one ascent. Very helpful, but far to slow on the descents!

Mileage-wise not a big day on paper, but I was knackered on arriving in Cochrane. The sun was very intense all day and we hadn’t really carried enough water expecting to be riding  closer to the rivers than we actually were. An ice-cold coke and a sit down in the shade sorted me out and we were son ready to hunt out some accomadation and stock up on supplies for the coming few days.

We found camping in the garden of a hospedaje, which was the only camping in town. It was OK, cheaper than a hostel and had showers with hot water, but became very crowded and noisy. For  the second time since leaving Coyhaique we promised ourselves not to camp in hospedaje gardens again! We treated ourselves to a meal out, partly to get clear of the campsite for a while and also to get some good and varied food into our systems.  Both of us had a beer and a large piece of steak and veg, a nice change from pasta or rice. Delicious!