Bozo On A Bike

The Seven Lakes Road for me started in a beautiful little city called San Martin de los Andes in the Neuquén providence of Argentina. On its own, San Martin is a must stop if in the area. It reminds me of an older Truckee, California before all the big money moved in. San Martin still has big brand name shops but with a few plazas set in the center, multiple food choices up and down the streets, and a very homey energy to it that all over power the destination shopping and tourism. Not to mention the town itself and its surroundings are beautiful. La Ruta de los Siete Lagos begins in, or ends at, San Martin de los Andes. The 7 Lakes Road is a wonderful mix of lakes, 7 of them, alpine mountains, micro rainforests, snow capped peaks, and a perfectly twisty two lane road running through it. The trip through the 7 lakes and be done in a few hours simply riding through or weeks using the campgrounds and cabanas scattered along the route. Zach and I chose to camp at Lago Faulkner simply cause he did the research and found out it fished the best of all the lakes. Still being early in the season we go what was a beautiful lakeside campground all to ourselves and for free. The camp host are there but they are not officially open and have non of the facilities like water and bathrooms running. For this reason we got to stay for free. (Been very common with government run campgrounds here in Argentina). Even if I had to pay it would be money well spent to stay at such a great beautiful campground with a great location on the route.

As said earlier, this is a must ride if you find yourself on a motorcycle in this part of Argentina. Even if you are Chile in the Pucon/Puerto Montt area, you should incorporate this into you itinerary. This route is well worth it. It is tarmac that is in great shape, full of twisties, ups, downs, long lefts, long rights, and is plum full of views and beautiful scenery. You could do the whole thing in a day, hell you could then turn around once you got out and head back through. A little hidden jem tucked in the well known and traveled route is the less talked about, Villa Traful. You turn off the main rout just outside of Villa Anogastura and head due south on dirt. It’s is good dirt and boy is it worth it. I plan to head in and camp in Villa Traful when I head back north and retrace some tread. The Lake is beautiful and the bottom half is called the “Enchanted Valley” and it is wonderful. It is worth the time and or gas to ride this part of the route.