November 26, 2025
Cochrane to Overlander recomended wildcamp
The usual morning routine since arriving in Cochrane; breakfast in campsite kitchen, journal writing, followed by quick packup of camp in order to set off together with Yared and Quentin. Before leaving, the campsite owner takes a group photo of the three of us with our bikes.
We set off up a steep ramp of a street, turn left onto the concrete bypass and continue to the end of the urban area where a big sign read Fin De Pavemento. However, since the sign was erected, the roadbuilders had laid a rough strip of tarmac onwards.
There is barely any traffic and I think does the large volume of traffic hitherto to the north stop in Cochrane. I said to the others if the tarmac ended and the way on was gravel, there would suddenly come car after car in quick succession stirring up a near constant haze of dust. The warming sunshine began to be blocked out by cloud and a brisk cool breeze picked up from the south and soon there are spots of rain. The tarmac, as expected gave out to gravel and shortly comes as predicted the first of many cars ; a truck; a group of motor bikes. It was business as usual; stirring up the dust.
Quentin already had his rainjacket on and shortly I stop to put on mine. The rain was a constant spittle which looked like it might intensify into a shower, but it never would. Although, to the south dark cloud was well down the mounrainsides. Later, we met two Chilean motorcycle tourists that had stayed a night in the campingsite in Cochrane, a father and son, both called Gabriel. Gabriel senior with a chest-length pointed grey beard from the bottom of the fullface helmet. They said having come from the south that they had heavy rain earlier on.
We stopped for lunch in a wide layby created when building the road. Quentin sat on the ground and picnicked, while I did the same but sat against the Kona as a back rest. Yared stood the whole time eating.
In the afternoon it brightened up. We were joined briefly by two Spanish touring cyclists, closer to seventy than to sixty as one of them said. One of them talked like a machinegun, competing with the regular crunch of bike tyres on gravel.
We had been told about a campsite at 70 kilometres by the campsite owner in Cochrane. However, Yared found a free campsite on the App Overlander, only a few kilometres ahead, so we agreed to check it out. We were then gradually descending with Yared leading by a hundred metres and I in the middle when I spot a really good wildcampsite in by a river to the left of the road. A little on Yared stops and is looking at his phone. He had only gone and missed the Overlander campsite-the one I spotted. So we head back. I find a large mature tree to lay out the bivouac underneath, while the others pitch identical MSR tents on the abundant level sward. Yared the brave man went into the cold glazier river for a quick splash wash while I made do with a face washing. And I then set up the solar-charger which charged the phone to 100 percent in the closing sunny hours of the day.
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