Where do you go when you can’t go any further? After 1,247 km we reach the end of the Carretera Austral at Villa O’ Higgins and find out. 

There must have been some interesting characters in South America in the old days. Take Bernardo O’ Higgins, an illegitimate son of Ambrosio no less. Ambrosio was a Spanish officer of Irish descent who was a governor of Chile and later Viceroy of Peru. 

Bernardo inherited the family hacienda in Chillán on his father’s death in 1801 but was soon drawn into the fight for Chilean independance. After some years in Argentina he returned in 1817 when he and the Argentinian general José de San Martín defeated the Spanish.

Bernardo became supreme director and set Chile on the road to becoming an independent country, although having annoyed both the papal powers and the aristocracy he resigned in 1823 and spent the rest of his life in exile in Peru where he died in 1842.

Today his contribution to the foundation of Chile is more widely credited. His bust is found in town squares, roads and lakes are adorned with his name and in this case, a whole town, Villa O’ Higgins, which ironically is known to the locals as just ‘Villa‘.

Nestled at the head of Lago O’Higgins, the deepest lake in the Americas, Villa is more of a large village than a town. There is a flamboyant central square with wooden arcades but beyond that it is rather a mish mash of cabanas interspersed with informal shacks.

It was founded in 1966 and the Carretera only reached it in 2000 so it is no surprise that it is still a little rough around the edges.

However the drive in on our final stretch of the Carretera was spectacular. From the Caleta Tortel turnoff the road ascends through a tight valley with lush vegetation. It is narrow and twisty and there are signs of old rockfalls.

It is a wild, mossy landscape with black lakes and veiled mountains –  the weather was horrible again! A road sign warned of deer but despite our weeks of ambling in the wilderness we had yet to see one.

Waterfalls fell off sheer rock faces and cascaded down beside the road. There were no houses and the gravel road ran smoothly southwards, with just a bit of paving on one particularly steep hill (which must have delighted the cyclists).

After 20 km we arrived in Puerto Yungay in time to catch the midday boat. There is really nothing to the place: derelict buildings are  predominant, but there is a nice old wooden church. We joined the queue on the road for our 4th ferry of the Carretera – this one had the added advantage of being subsidised and free!

Reviews on iOverlander recommended the empanadas at the kiosk by the dock and warned of the dragon lady – she appeared to be in residence but sadly it was not a day for empanadas. 

The boat swept us up and chugged gently down the Mitchell fjord for 45 minutes to deposit us at Río Bravo which had no infrastructure of any sort. We set off on the 98 km of dirt road to Villa O’Higgins which with all our stops for photos and coffee took 3 hours. The road was good with just the usual random potholes.

The region has spent some money on solidly built attractive wooden roadside miradors and shelters. 60 km from town, we stopped at one to make coffee then enjoyed it just up the road at a viewpoint overlooking a wide and desolate river valley.

About 30 km out we started seeing cows and sheep and fences again whilst the valley became flatter and swampier with water and rushes. Lago Cisnes came into view, the road curving around its southern end.

Finally we trundled into town, quite weary and fed up of the rain. All the cyclists had piled into El Mosco hostel and camping but not wishing to share an overcrowded common room we went across the road to Los Ňires which whilst a little tatty had a dining area with a wood fired stove and a friendly cat. Smarter accomodation is limited: the Rumbo Sur Hotel is probably your best bet.

Early in the season and with bad weather, there were few options in town. The riding tours were not up and running (the Ruta de los Pioneros to Cochrane interested me), nor the glacier option by boat. Other than following a hundred cyclists to the Argentinian border (a journey undertaken by boat and on foot), only walking remained. 

Parque Glacier Mosco

Thus we set off on the El Mosco hike which wends its way through forests of ñire, lenga and coigüe in a knee trembling combination of mud, roots and steps. It ends at the El Mosco glacier after 11 km and returns by the same route.

The trail started just off the smart town square with its wooden pergolas. A friendly ranger signed us out at the park entrance from where sensible people embark on a short circuit of the town’s lookouts. We did climb initially to the Cerro Santiago lookout, from where it was easy to see that the rest of the town was rather lagging behind the square, with a mish mash of largely scruffy housing with the few newer additions standing out. 

So far so good. I had read the notes for the hike and thought it sounded an interesting one with information boards en route – it even boasted of using the French system of marking the trail with parallel lines on the trees to denote the way.

It was only afterwards that I read the small print and realised that the trail had been instigated in 2002, obviously in the flush of optimism following the opening of the Carretera – and that no maintenance whatsoever had been carried out since. 

Once solid bridges and boardwalks had rotted into a soggy mass or sagged alarmingly as one crossed them. I only saw 3 numbers for information points and most of the marker posts had gone. Weaknesses in the French trail marking system were revealed when the marked tree fell down or disappeared in a landslide.

I always enjoy dereliction and I was walking on a derelict path, which was rather a shame as once upon a time a lot of energy had been used in its creation.

Nevertheless, the trail was easy enough to follow, winding up through trees to the Mirador del Valle after 1.9 km which gave us a wonderful view over the mountains around Villa and the wide estuary where  the Rio Mayer entered Lago O’Higgins.

From that point we struck off up the Rio Mosco valley, edging past landslips, walking up and down gulleys, passing a campsite where one lone picnic table lay askew. The last 1½ km were especially hard; due to washout and landslips the trail gained 1.3 km on its original length, most of it a steep climb up and down a gully, paddling through muddy bogs and edging gingerly over log bridges, with the odd tree to be negotiated en route, either under or over depending on size.

When we finally found the Refugio Puesto Rivera, nestled in thick forest after 8 km, it was with some relief. It was a really solid well built wooden hut although the shingles on the roof were in disrepair so it looked a bit forlorn.

Annoyingly it no longer had a fireplace but there was a nice window seat and tables and benches so we curled up quite happily for the rest of the afternoon. Later I walked the 5 minutes to the wild glacial river: it certainly felt a pretty lonely place.

The following day we set off on the 3 km walk to the overlook of the Mosco glacier, but sad to say we never reached it.

The trail led over decaying boardwalks of sunken trees which straddled thick vegetation and boggy undergrowth. These ran out and decanted us beside the Mosco river whose pebbles should have made life easier except that there were numerous fallen trees and driftwood which we had to scramble over or through.

Our patience was wearing thin by the time we reached an unavoidable crossing of the Mosco which was running fast and deep. With no bootees it did not look an inviting proposition, added to which the out-of-date-by-20-years’ trip notes suggested it was going to be a difficult hike anyway, suggesting crawling on hands and knees was required at one rockfall along the river’s edge – we decided to give up, having enjoyed a view of the river at its widest at the head of the valley.

The walk back out to Villa did not seem any easier than the walk in, except that we got the hardest bit out of the way first. We finally stopped at the Valley Lookout to make a coffee and enjoy the view before dropping down to town in a rather wet and muddy state. It had been an interesting walk, one which we had all to ourselves, and I had enjoyed the hut, but some serious trail maintenance needs to be done to make this a feasible walk! 

We drove 3 km south of town on our old friend the Carretera and camped on some grassy river flats just beyond the Rio Mayer bridge. It was a nice spot with lovely views down the lake – O’ Higgins to one side and San Martín on the other, as the border runs down the middle!

We were slightly concerned as this huge river was running strongly only about a foot below the bank, but having ascertained that it was falling with the aid of a stick, we retired rather happier, albeit with the car facing in the right direction for a quick get away should the need arise! 

Fin de Carretera 

The river did not rise to swamp us in the night and indeed had dropped somewhat. After breakfast we drove down to the ferry area at Bahia Bahamondes where the Carretera officially ends.

There is a small ferry landing, a shipping container for the Chilean Armada and no less than 3 ‘fin de Carretera’ signs. Two are outside the Armada container, on a small rise, and are obviously the older versions – I actually quite liked the one with the mountains carved on top. Little moved except a white cat who was cleaning herself after breakfast, having just been ejected from the container.

The shiny new wooden sign stands beside the road at a picnic spot above the port. Not only does it have the ‘fin de Carretera’ on one side with the milage (1,247 km) but the back has zero milage marked, for those starting the Carretera in Villa – in our case it was effectively both as we were just turning around and driving back to Puerto Montt the same way.

So we photographed both sides! And included the faithful little white Nissan – let no one tell you a 4WD is needed for the Carretera! My recommendation is to hire the cheapest, crappiest 2WD possible and it will be more than adequate for the job.

It could be argued that that was not quite the end of the Carretera: a rough gravel track extends another 500 m and ends in a small turning circle at a little hydro electric station.

In the interests of thoroughness we covered the last 4WD section of road on foot. We were allowed no further: we had gone as far south as we could without catching an onward boat. 

The Alta Vista Walk

We backtracked to the Río Mayer bridge and set off on the Alta Vista walk. After our two days bush bashing in the Mosco Valley this was a revelation, with wide open far ranging views over the beautiful country around Villa.

In 45 minutes of steady climbing (150 m) over 2.3 km we arrived at the first lookout, the Mirador Glaciares Mosco y Huemul, which looked across the valley to those glaciers, and the small huddle of Villa. 

Strangely, we appeared to be on the sunny side of the valley, under blue skies and sunshine. To the north and east, there was largely cloud.

In another 1.7 km and 45 minutes of uphill walking (rough camp in the trees on a corner after 40 minutes if you need a stop en route) we arrived at the second lookout Mirador Laguna el Loco where the lake delta spread out before us in a myriad of surreal swirls. 

We headed on to the third Mirador Laguna el Toro, the path being a little rougher on this section. I had great admiration for the horses whose hoofprints we were following as they negotiated sheet rock, log bridges and bog. This mirador gave a view further up Lago Negro which had some untamed, remote looking country behind it, including an intriguing small lake that lay suspended amidst the folds.

We retraced our steps homewards and I only realised later that the 7.8 km trail which ends at the Río Negro between two lakes has a remote campsite refugio there. It can only be reached by foot, horse or boat and looks a wonderfully isolated place to stay. Next time!

We were so late back from our walk that by the time we had had a much needed coffee at the trailhead we decided to cross the road back to our wild camp on the river. 

Later the carabinari cruised past. Having had our paper work scrutinised when we originally entered town, we then seemed to see them everywhere – I’m sure they were keeping an eye on us! Our tent obviously passed muster and they didn’t disturb us. 

Paseo Meyer Valley & Lake Christie

There was one final stop before we finally left Villa: the sticker shop on the corner of Río Mosco and Lago O’ Higgins. The shop has erratic hours but if you want the t-shirt this is the place to buy it, as well as other assorted souvenirs. The stickers are CLP 1000 each and cover Ruta 7, the Carretera and everything in between – no self respecting Big Rig that has got this far would be without one!

Now the only way was north, although there were a couple more detours yet to do. The first was only 10 km away when we took the X-905, a road which only opened in 2003 and which leads 43 km to the Paso Fronterzo Entrada Mayer, a border crossing to Argentina. There is only a rough track on the other side so it is only suitable for those on foot or for cyclists who are too stingy to pay for the ferry from Villa O’Higgins.

This was surprisingly busier than we expected with a couple of basic farms and people cutting wood. We noticed some smart new fencing beside the road which seemed to go on for miles until we eventually found the Las Marguaritas hacienda entrance, with newly planted avenue and somewhat contrived garden beside their entrance gate. The name hung from the crossbar in individually carved letters – they must have had great fun aligning those! The house was annoyingly completely invisible on a peninsula in the lake.

Nearly opposite the entrance is the Antigua Capilla Padre Antonio Ronchi. One of 13 Italian brothers, Ronchi was born in Milan in 1930 and arrived in Patagonia in 1961. This finely built wooden chapel is typical of those he would have preached from. The roof was layered planks – it certainly wasn’t go to blow off – whilst the inside had a warm timber glow; it was beautifully cared for.

Continuing further up the valley we passed some ramshackle farms and came to a pair of bridges over the Río Mayer. The old suspension bridge was superceded by a shiny new metal one so we did a loop walk over the two and climbed the hill behind for a better view where we discovered a group of hares cavorting happily.

The road continued to echo the river, bearing northwards away from the border onto the X-911 to take us to Lago Christie. We passed the splendidly gushing Salto Pérez waterfall and some smaller falls below it before finally dropping down to the lake, a rather dark one hemmed in by high stoney mountains. Despite the apparent isolation there were several tethered boats, denoting houses further afield. 

La Ruta de los Pioneros

This trail starts (or ends) about a kilometre before the Lake Christie landing stage. It was used by the early pioneers and indeed by everyone who needed to access Villa before the road arrived in 2000. There are still a few houses along it today which are accessed by gauchos on horseback.

It stretches 95 km between road ends at Villa and Cochrane and takes about 8-10 days to walk with a high pass of 1,300 m, as well as numerous river crossings – 15 on one count.

We decided to have a quick taster. I noticed on Maps Me that there was a wilderness hut at 3.8 km so as we were already late in the day we thought that might be a good walk with an overnight refuge.

Some horses had been ahead of us which was lucky as we would otherwise have had to consult the ‘phone regularly. There were no markings whatsoever and the trail frequently disappeared over smooth rock and stones where it was difficult to see.

We climbed sharply from the beginning and were soon awarded with a stunning view over Lago Christie. The land was drier than I expected but very rugged, the jumbled hills seemingly hewn from rock with just a few scattered bushes and trees. 

The trail dropped down then arose again, passed through narrow rocky defies, crossed little streams and touched the lake before a final steep climb to a one-tree pass from where we dropped, rather breathless, into a woody hollow where our ‘wilderness hut’ awaited.

However we were to be sorely disappointed; expecting something with at least 4 walls and a roof, all that awaited us was a rudimentary survival shelter of leaning logs. Someone had left some firewood underneath and the floor did actually look reassuringly dry so we made do, feeling it was our nadir like those cyclists on Ruta 40 in Argentina who find themselves sleeping in drainage ditches!

However there was plenty of firewood so we got a roaring blaze going. I attempted to follow a little more of the trail but it disappeared around the lakeside and actually into it where a sheer rock face protruded into the water. Always adverse to getting our feet wet in icy waters, we called a halt to further exploration of the track! 

We enjoyed a surprisingly comfortable night despite the steady rain whose odd drip was kept at bay by the tarpaulin we had spread within the shelter.

The next morning the rain continued as we backtracked along the trail, finding the hoofprints blurred by the water. It was certainly quite a rugged route and one I think I would rather do on horseback! 

Leaving the valley, we headed north on the Carretera again. It is funny in that we had the worse roads when they had just been graded and to our dismay the grader had done about 30 km of our route, leaving big stones in the middle of the road. We shook and rattled out way 68 km north to a spacious wild camp by the Sordo River where the water lulled us to sleep under mossy bog fringed mountains. 

Ruta 7

There is an oft missed distinction between the Carretera Austral and Ruta 7. Both begin in Puerto Montt and both share exactly the same route until 90 km north of Villa. The Carretera Austral to Villa O’Higgins then turns into the X-91, whilst Ruta 7 branches off to the mouth of the Río Pascua, some 57 km to the south west. Confusingly this road still seems to be labelled ‘Carretera Austral’ as well.

Feeling we might as well visit the end of Ruta 7 whilst we were in the area, we turned off 9 km before the Río Bravo ferry. The gravel road was in good order, running between dense forest vegetation and past serene lakes. There even appeared to be some new bridges but after 22 km we came to an abrupt halt at Río Pascua.

According to the maps, the road should have continued for another 40 km to the sea at Bahia Bajo Pascua, but there was no means of crossing the river. It looked as if some sort of raft was in the planning stage but was not yet operational.

We checked out another road on Maps Me that led 1.3 km further south but which had obviously never been finished. Having blasted through sheer rock it ran out of steam at a huge drop above the river – maybe they were once going to build a bridge across. One theory is that they are planning to one day connect the south of Chile by building a road down the western side of the Southern Patagonia Ice Field all the way to Puerto Natales.

We had a lovely view of the milky turquoise river but were defeated! We gave up and drove back to Río Bravo where we caught the 1pm ferry back to Puerto Yungay on the dot of 1 – I think they had seen a little white Nissan at speed and left the ramp down for us until the last minute – our Villa O’Higgins adventures were over!