And our trail family grows to 5

Wow, so much has happened since our last post! Chile is proving to be a wonderful and gracious place and the trail magic seems to be nonstop.

We departed the beach of Santa Barbara heading to Lago Yelcho to camp for the night. En route, a young lady heading northbound yells out to Angus as they pass - she recognizes the used bike he is riding was her old bike she sold some time ago to an outfitter. We all stop and laugh at the incredibly small possibility of this encounter!

We pass in to Chaiten, a nice touristic village along the sound for provisions and lunch. The local volcano (seen in the photos below) last erupted in 2008 and destroyed the town, causing its relocation to where we are now.

We roll and make it to the lake lodge and luckily secure the last campsite of the night. We are all in strong need of a hot shower and good rest.

Angus meets a young German lady at the bathhouse who is traveling with an American guy. We chat a little with them in the morning and learn they are heading in our direction roughly to the same town. We all leave separately but hope to see each other later.

We end up catching them later in the day after they stop for lunch and collectively agree to go to the same campground. Lara, the German lady, has recently finished her PhD in biotechnology and is bikepacking for three months before going back to defend her thesis. Andrew, an American she met on an earlier ferry, is from the San Juan islands in Washington and is down riding for two months.

We immediately bond at the campground and decide to travel together as we have similar speeds and daily distance goals.

We make our way to Puyuhuapi and rent an Airbnb where we hit a supermercado to cook a feast and stroll the town. We meet several other bikepackers including another German couple doing an 11 month tour where they started in Bogota Columbia last July. We will see them each day as we progress.

Tomorrow, the quest for the elusive Hanging Glacier in Queulat Park!