The road on the Chilean side becomes the Ruta X-83. From here the drive follows the Río Chacabuco downstream through the Valle Chacabuco, the broad east-west corridor that forms the heart of Parque Nacional Patagonia. The valley has an origin story worth knowing. In 1994, Douglas and Kristine Tompkins were travelling the region when they camped on the banks of the Río Chacabuco and, according to Kristine, imagined that such an extraordinary place should be protected forever. A decade later their foundation acquired what had been one of the largest sheep and cattle ranches in Chile — the former Estancia Valle Chacabuco, established by British explorer Lucas Bridges in 1908 — and began one of the largest grassland restoration projects on record: removing 25,000 livestock, dismantling hundreds of kilometres of fencing, and reseeding native coirón grasses across soils that had been grazed to exhaustion. In 2018 the land was donated to the Chilean state and merged with the existing Jeinimeni and Tamango reserves to create Parque Nacional Patagonia. Guanacos are now a constant presence in the valley, and puma sightings are not unusual for patient observers. The road eventually meets the Carretera Austral (Ruta 7), and from there it is a short run north to Cochrane.
Arrival: Cochrane
Cochrane is the largest town on the Carretera Austral south of Coyhaique, and the southernmost settlement of any size along the highway — a practical fact that gives it an outsized importance for travellers moving in either direction. It was founded in 1954 under the name Pueblo Nuevo, with no paved road connection to the rest of Chile until 1988, when the Carretera Austral finally reached it. The town's current name honours Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald — the British naval officer who served as the first admiral of the Chilean Navy and played a significant role in Chilean independence.
The town sits in a relatively sheltered valley on the edge of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field, which keeps its climate drier and milder than much of the surrounding region. The Río Baker — the largest river in Chile by volume, born where the glacial waters of Lago General Carrera meet Lago Bertrand to the north — passes close by, and the snowy mass of Cerro San Lorenzo (3,706 m / 12,159 ft), the highest peak in Santa Cruz province, is visible on clear days to the east.
The Plaza de Armas anchors a compact centre where most services fall within a few minutes' walk: supermarkets, restaurants, a laundry, and a tourist office with trail information for the nearby Reserva Nacional Tamango and the Parque Nacional Patagonia sector to the north. The reserve is one of the few places in Chile with a significant population of huemul, the endangered South Andean deer on Chile's national coat of arms. Campsites can be found in and immediately around town, some along the banks of the Río Cochrane, and at least one well-regarded pub serves craft beer — modest comforts, well earned after a long day on gravel.