12/28-A Little Hike in Borrowed Shoes

One of the things I’m regretting not bringing is another pair of shoes. I have my Berkies, and they’re great for camp, and most everything else off the bike…except hiking. And my bike shoes just aren’t great for hiking a challenging trail. Enter Alex’s Altras! This morning, I asked Alex what size shoe she wears. She said a 40. Oh, that’s too small. But, she suggested I try them on. Lo and behold, they fit! Turns out they are actually a 42!

Woo Hoo! The only sad part is that Alex wasn’t going on the hike, but it was better for Gertie that she not hike. 

Markus and I rode the short distance to Patagonia National Park and Tamango Campground. There are a few trails. We did the shortest one which was a tiny bit over 10km. We had to pay an entrance fee. Because I’m old, I only had to pay half the fee, 5500clp. Markus had to pay 11,000clp. If I was a Chilean National, it would have been free for me. 

With our day passes in hand, we started up the trail. 

While I was waiting to register, I saw this bird, and her babies. 

The trailhead. 

Rio Cochrane, and where we started from. If you look closely, you can see our bikes. 

Good trail going up up up. 



We met a couple from Holland. 

Pretty Lily-looking flower. 

Cochrane. In the center of the photo is where our cabaña is. 

Some pretty high peaks over there. 

And now for some walking through the woods. 

Another pretty flower. 

Pano shot. 

We came upon this trap (and camera). When we got back, we asked the ranger guy what they were trying to trap. He said there were some dogs that didn’t belong in the park. 

No luck so far. 

The camera. 

We continued climbing. After a short bit, the trail flattened out. We came to a spot where they had logged. 

These were non-native fir trees. 

There was this sign. They will plant native species. 

The trail went for a bit on a gravel/dirt road. 

As we were walking along the road, we heard this weird sound. We thought, maybe, it was a bird of some sort. A woman had passed us when we were in the logged section. We could see her ahead of us where the sound was coming from. Then we saw the maker of the sound. It was a fox. But it was weird because it seemed like it was following the woman. 

See the woman on the left? If you zoom in, across from where she is standing, there is the fox. It’s hard to see it. We saw it once more, then it was gone. 

After the flattish part, we started going down. We started to get some good views of Lago Cochrane. 

There were some pretty scary steep downhill parts. I was so grateful for Ale’s shoes!

Woodpecker in the tree. 

It was also quite windy. 



Yep, going down there. 

We came to another trail junction. There was a sign saying the way to “Administration”. That was our way. 

We came down those stairs. 

The color of the Rio Cochrane is spectacular. 


Almost at the end, we walked by the campground. It looked really nice. 

Good size shelters and everything. 

We made it back to the bikes.

The route. 

As we were riding the short distance back to the cabaña, my pedal made a grinding sound, then felt really weird. I looked down, and noticed it had come off the spindle (almost completely). I shoved it back on. Now I have the answer as to how much longer my pedal would last. Turns out…not long. When we got back, I put the new pedal on. I’m going to try to ride with my left foot clipped in, and my right foot on the flat pedal. If it is too awkward, I’ll put the other flat pedal on. 

This is not good!

I’ll have a chance to try it when we ride to dinner later tonight. We’ll see how it goes…