Bariloche to the end of the road and back: a month across Patagonia

In April 2013, a friend and I left Bariloche with backpacks and a vague plan: get to Ushuaia, the town at the bottom of Argentina, and come back a different way. We took one long bus at the start, 27 hours to Río Gallegos, and hitchhiked most of the rest. A month later we were home, after a loop through Argentine and Chilean Patagonia that I'd now plan very differently for anyone else.

South to Tierra del Fuego

From Río Gallegos, rides took us across the Strait of Magellan by ferry and down to Ushuaia, often called the end of the world. In Tierra del Fuego National Park we hiked Cerro Guanaco and found the sign at Bahía Lapataia where Argentina's Ruta 3 ends: Buenos Aires 3,079 kilometers one way, Alaska 17,848 the other.

Torres del Paine, Calafate and Chaltén

Back north through Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, we spent nine days walking the full circuit in Torres del Paine, about 130 kilometers, with rain, sun, snow and 50 mph wind along the way. Near El Calafate we sat for hours watching the Perito Moreno glacier calve, listening to blocks of ice the size of houses crash into the lake. El Chaltén, under Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, became one of my favorite towns in South America. Laguna de los Tres was the best view of the trip.

The jagged blue and white ice face of the Perito Moreno glacier up close — The Perito Moreno glacier, near El Calafate.

Up the Carretera Austral

We crossed back into Chile at Chile Chico and went north on the Carretera Austral, one of the most beautiful roads I've ever been on. One ride was in a Belgian family's motorhome. Another was in the back of an ambulance, whose crew drove us to La Junta while we sat on the stretchers. A fly fishing guide in Coyhaique invited us home for an asado. From Futaleufú we crossed back into Argentina at Esquel and rode the last stretch home to Bariloche.

Emily and a friend laughing inside the back of an ambulance on the Carretera Austral — Our ride to La Junta: the back of an ambulance.

A white expedition truck motorhome parked on a gravel road in Patagonia — The Belgian family's motorhome that picked us up outside Coyhaique.

How I'd plan it now

I wouldn't recommend hitchhiking this route to anyone, and I don't plan trips that way. The same loop works beautifully with a few short flights and private drivers:

Fly into Ushuaia for Tierra del Fuego and the Beagle Channel.
Fly to El Calafate for Perito Moreno, then drive to El Chaltén for a few days of hiking.
Cross to Chile for Torres del Paine, where the lodges inside and near the park put the towers right outside your window.
Finish on the Carretera Austral with a private driver, or in the Lake District around Bariloche.

Patagonia is huge and the distances are real, so time is the thing to plan around. Two weeks is a good minimum. If you'd like help building the route, I've done most of it the hard way and would love to plan you the comfortable one.