From our gravel pit camping spot we continued south in overcast and wet conditions on a road that was essentially a single track forest road in OK condition. The road was pretty spectacular though, as it travelled along, mostly, the steep west bank of the Rio Bravo and then the equally steep west bank of the Rio Colorado before crossing a narrow causeway to gain the east bank of the Colorado for the final few km into O'Higgins.

Because of the weather we only got glimpses of the mountains and the occasional ice field peeking over the rim, though even with our limited view the landscape left an impression of vastness and isolation. Just to emphasis the isolation during the day we saw maybe 6 other vehicles and almost that many cyclists.

O'Higgins is not much of a town, with a population of only 500. And it feels remote. The town was established officially in the 1960's and the road did not reach here until 1999 - I found this a hard concept to grasp, that there is an area that was only settled 50 years ago. We spent a couple of hours in the town walking around taking a few photos. It was election day so the police were out guarding the school building - which we assumed was the election hall.

Before turning north we took a very narrow road to Bahia Bahamondez further south on the edge of Lago O'Higgins. The weather improved and produced some sun while we were on this road.

Then, after getting some diesel fuel - the most expensive of the trip at US$6.00 per gallon (gasoline was $6.80) we started to retrace our steps north. It was a little like leaving a scrumptious dinner after only one taste of the first course. This is a spectacular and vast place and we have not even scratched the surface.

About 20 kms north of O'Higgins we stopped and gave an Israeli backpacker couple a ride. They had come into O'Higgins from Argentina and were trying to go north. They had only seen 3 cars on the road in the hours that they had been waiting. They travelled with us for the remainder of the day.