BIKE TO FLY | 9 Days of Bikepacking and Fly Fishing Through Patagonia

[Music] that's it leave it leave it leave it leave it set there's a big fish there's a tank there's a tank miles [Music] so I had no passport no Spanish a bike and I was on the Mexican border this is my calt I can guarantee you that there is nobody else like him on planet Earth I first met miles back in college when we were part of the same fraternity the F Society a lot has changed since then oh yeah and moose has become an absolutely insane cyclist and I mean insane he's doing things and going places that very few of us will ever experience in our lifetime and probably for a good reason Mexican boy bad boy bad boy B boy boy boy my trip is from Dead Horse Alaska oil fields top of Alaska around like 70° North down to usua in Argentina probably on month 19 now I thought it would take 17 to 18 months because I didn't think about I didn't think about anything I didn't think about stopping I didn't think about relaxing I didn't think about cultural aspects for the most part I just like really wanted to ride my bike nice in the fall of 2023 miles contacted Erica and me to see if we'd like to join him on his trip the only requirement is that I had to bring along my fly rod so he decided to meet up when he gets to Patagonia Patagonia is the southernmost region of South America spanning between Argentina and Chile it's defined by Jagged Peaks glaciers numerous bodies of water unique flora and fauna and a downto earth culture my first visit to Patagonia in Argentina was in 2018 and it felt like going back in time to a parallel universe with a resemblance to the Wild West South American Cowboys called Galos still roam the land as if there are no boundaries everything is shared from mate and fette to the meat that is raised in the land that people have been connected to for centuries spending time in Patagonia and Argentina is about slowing down and enjoying the Simple Pleasures of life in addition to the incredible scenery and culture Patagonia is home to outstanding trout fishing however before the 20th century trout did not exist in Patagonia and Argentina in 1904 the first rainbow trout eggs were transported from the United States and and were introduced to freshwater lakes and rivers for recreational fishing brown trout brook trout and salmon eggs were subsequently introduced in Patagonia and fishing for salmonids was born in the Region's cold and nutrient-rich Waters many of these waters are fed by glaciers giving them a beautiful deep blue and turquoise coloration a wide variety of bait fish crustations aquatic insects and terrestrials are available for trout and Native fish to forage upon with all the food that's available for the fish my personal favorite approach is to Simply tie on a big purple chubby now it's time to get ready for our big Journey South to meet up with [Applause] Miles hello hallel nice good time time to go to uh pagonia to Patagonia and get the hell out of a 32° weather or what took off the front tire disassembled my handlebars took off my petals found a box to Works we're going to wrap up all the pieces try and throw it in there with my pioneers and my fly rod every little scratch tells a story I guess I don't care if mine get a little beat up by bottom to ride them but I I just don't like dents at some point there's only so much you can do so we did it bike is in the Box we got all these parts that we need to take down for Miles cuz miles has been struggling with a broken derailer and really messed up tire so we got some extra parts for him in the boxes too huge shout out to wheatens for helping us out and getting us dialed in here it wasn't easy but we figured it out got everything packed and we are ready to leave on our big adventure down to South America appreciate it yeah you guys have fun on your trip will look forward to seeing the videos yeah dud for sure it's going to be good yeah PR a good sign when they fit in the subar room yeah [Music] I guess so success checking our boxes time to go through security get on our plane and start the journey yo bro how's everyone doing we made it this is crazy yeah we're here we're down here yeah we're out here this is like it's funny cuz y all have Sea Falls and this is like the Sea Falls of Argentina look at this to my crib yo buddy good you do hello how you doing good to see you oh it's been a while yeah it has 2 years dude it has been that's crazy you've been biking for 2 years too long only like a year and a half but it feels like 2 years it'll be tear almost it's like yeah we just got to Argentina naturally the first thing we have to get is some delicious fresh made imp pinadas cuz we're freaking hungry and it's go time oh this go pretty hard cheers sal sal before we leave town it's crucial that we get these new parts installed on miles's bike which has taken a major beating in the last 2 years that's the bike that started in Alaska the PS haven't a grease in them since like oh my God like that since Northern California so I just like didn't get new ones this is after how many miles of riding I don't even know it's like probably 25,000 kilm maybe like 20 20 maybe maybe 30,000 km like 2,000 single speed yeah this thing needs a little maintenance as you can see miles has been going and going and going down bad yeah look at this right here oh yeah she uh she's been worked a little bit this is the worst housing why don't you squeeze that front front left brake there yeah it's all the way [Music] in oh God [Music] why I like to bike oh my God I like the movement of biking you know if you told me a year and a half ago or 19 months ago that I'd say something as simple I think kind of balas I like the movement of biking probably slap myself or I wouldn't believe it you know some hamsters need wheels and I'm a hamster for sure some days I think a bike like a lot of people was the first thing I used to get away from home and have a sense of Independence I love the way you can explore an urban space in a rural space an exurban space a Suburban space those environments with bikes and it makes it a lot easier for me to pay attention to little details especially when you get into a routine and also because of the dependence on communities and other people in my opinion stuff's only possible if you have generally an uncoordinated support system strangers who are kind it's helped me become a more assertive person and I've had to become U more mature especially when it comes to asking for help because with biking I've consistently put myself in situations where I've needed some pretty serious help from other people whether it's you know I'm a little bit hurt and I've got to get out of a spot or I'm in a bad weather situation I've got to get out of a spot or I don't know where to camp and I've got to figure out how to bring together a support system which is a general term for just like it could be a llama Farmer in the Andes can I sleep on your property I'm going to buy some cheese I promise influ left see see now oh okay wow see see I know it hasn't been like this since Equador no Colombia it's never been like this it's never been clean it's never been good it's always been bad so it's been single speed for the last little bit for the last like 2,000 km which is not the vibe graas put warm up before we warm up now that miles's bike is fixed up it's time for me and Erica to get our own bike styled in so we can start our trip South god dude gears oh it's going to be you know it's going to be a privilege to use gears again I'm so excited this will fall off like three times that's part of the fun there he is good guys okay listo as per normal with bike packing within the first couple hundred yards is when stuff starts to fall apart and then you realize it and you have to fix it when you think you have system like you think you have a system you think you think you know what you're doing and there's this this deity that governs the road it reminds you that you're a idiot when I get comfortable and I get happy and I have a sense of community and I have friends and all this like beautiful stuff comes together and you know I realize that not very many people get to be 28 29 have just enough money to like make some of the stuff work and just like kind of go see all their friends and hang out and see their friends be good at stuff and see their friends care about their jobs like that was it for some I was like oh I want one more day I want one more day I want one more day so I just kept spending one more day in some so many places which is a lot of fun cuz that would have never been something I ever ass to do I usually just kind of like to go it was really fun for the first point in my adult life to think like oh I really want to stop I know I'll go again but I really want to stop and I really want to enjoy this it's a lot of simple things that I came to realize and enjoy on this trip [Music] we are almost 50 mil in we're all definitely feeling it miles much less so so we are on the lookout for some food and a place to sleep we don't want to overdo it day one hey look you cute he say look at me strutting my stuff in front of the camera such a cute little baby little man you miss Telly I miss Telly but look how cute he is got a little floppy here this is like man versus food [ __ ] dude I mean this is two sandwiches here just a half M are you going to save the other for tomorrow mhm how is it mhm late start today day one we're really beat Erica and I are barely hanging on by a thread here but we're going to eat some food get to camp and get ready for day two [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Applause] where's chucha it's a small fish but I don't care at all any bit of success feels like a huge success right now so couldn't be happier to be out here we're going to break camp and and hit the road once again on the bikes [Music] [Music] [Applause] right now it's the heat of the day sun is high in the sky we're sweating it is hot we just crossed from the Rio province into chibo oh good well we've definitely entered subfest category here Erica and I are dying right now I feel super hot even though like 5 minutes ago we dunked our whole bodies in an ice cold River we went from no biking at all all winter long to getting our asses kicked with a superum who's been biking across the entire North America and South America and Central America so trying to keep up not sure how much longer we can take it [Music] I'm feeling pretty beat currently need more food I'm fine but I would like a large meal at some point yeah but I also don't know how much more uphill I can do today it's like another, 1300 ft maybe a little more at this point in the trip Erica and I were feeling in a little over our heads we were tired and hungry so we decided to look for Camp there's a town a little ways down a dirt road that we decided to go check out as we neared closer we saw crowds of people and heard [Music] music the air was rich with the smells of good food and reggae Vibes somehow we stumbled into a music festival I think we all needed this and it was a much welcomed treat [Music] you know there's one thing we have to take a little picky of what is it it's the world's worst slide you want to see the world's worst slide yeah like a child's slide for playing it's right over there it's the splinters and if you miss the splinters you pick up one of these nails down here oh you got one of these that's been knocked over yeah they don't make them like they used to some old guys somewhere is saying that about this and it's morning time sipping on some coffee we stayed at this little Campground here it's kind of like a it's like a hostel but a camp ground there's kind of like a little restaurant and running water electricity bathrooms they even have a fancy little kitchen set up here and leftover wine and leftover wine it's probably vinegar now but who knows we got probably one more day big day of pedaling ahead and then hopefully we'll be in an area where we can do some fishing and hang out in a National Park public land and do some fun stuff and chill sometime not Bing and having fun uh one of my Canadian friends says that happiness is the enemy of bike touring so keep that in mind [Music] [Music] well it's day number three of biking it's 95° but we're doing it getting away from the main roads getting a little further off the beaten path toward some public land and less traveled roads and it feels like we're getting closer to some good fish [Music] everything's more fun with other people for the most part especially when you've spent a lot of time alone almost everything is more fun with more people the really difficult part for me personally that took a fair amount of you know growth and personal acceptance was Finding ways to make compromises cuz when you do things with other people it's not going to be everything you like until you spend time with those people and you might find out you like a lot of things that other people like that you didn't initially think that You' like and that comes from being a more team oriented person which I think is a really interesting Dr to position because a lot of my bike trip has been alone a lot of it's just been doing whatever the hell I want it turns out when you do whatever the hell you want I stop liking what I'm doing sometimes cuz it's lonely and then I have to reassess what I care about what do I care about sharing experiences with people that I like sharing experiences with new people sometimes it's even fine to share some experience with people you don't like cuz it can help you figure more stuff out either about yourself or other people and you can you know use that to develop your relationships [Music] otherwise it's dead middle summer here in Patagonia it's hot as [ __ ] and we've been biking a pretty long ways I don't know how many kilometers we've gone but it's a freaking lot of kilometers and the heat it's been a lot of Highway time which is direct you know so much about cycling in my opinion is focused on the data and the stats uh it's like you know oh yeah it's so easy to get up this far we went out this far we went up and out this far great I want to see how many like cool fish we can catch go on some cool hikes exploring and enjoying e and e [Music] we got to a New River tomorrow's going to be our first real full day of fishing it's been a real long adventure to get to this point my butt really hurt hurts let's catch some fish camped right next to the river unreal spot everywhere we've been in patag has been unreal so it is finally time to get after it it's so much different than the fishing that we do in the west like this River just it's a totally different vibe the water goes from bank to bank and there's really not a ton of like spots it's just kind of like a consistently flowing river so found a spot with like an island and some features so going to start with some dry flies see what we can do with some dries see if we can get some fish to come up definitely having to send it through the [ __ ] to get to the river that was a send there's no way I was fishing the River from that bank it's hard to believe I'm even here right now fishing this is the views of these Peaks down there are [Music] absurd there we go [Music] oh fish on super spunky fishing is pretty good catching a few little rainbows here and there miles decided to join us got him he's going to slay a big one but honestly regardless of the catching the scenery and the color of the water just everything about this is kind of insane also the access is ridiculous cuz there's horns and Burrs and all sorts of [ __ ] that just wants to get you you got to swim across too and we had to swim across put my phone in the top of my hat she's a deep one [Music] so we biked from our last Camp spot fish for a little bit and tried to get up to this Lake and it is absolutely nuking wind and there's a lot of private land we can't actually get to the lake but we found this really cool little stream Erica is taking a dunk and I'm going to walk up stream and fish it wor out it's actually Wade fishing size and Miles ripped his pants going I have to make like cut off shorts you probably should they're going to be real short just don't let your hang out this isn't a family trip anymore [Applause] [Music] oh yeah there's better fish oh yeah baby oh well that's a wrap for this Zone caught a few fish caught some little rainbows caught one decent rainbow and my first Brown shot of the trip [Music] as we were biking Downstream towards our next destination we noticed some rainbow trout feeding in deep water along the Willows these fish were happy but reaching them with the cast proved nearly impossible we decided to continue on until we could find a gap in the bushes where we could realistically present a fly look at that one right there right there all the way to the bottom you see it yeah I do when I got down to the spot I saw a fish holding deep on the bottom so I tied on a heavy [Music] streamer nice yeah it's a bath sometimes really yeah not even a No [Music] Way new species on the Fly never caught one of these before not sure what it is but it looks like some sort of bass or walleye or mix but at the streamer sight fished it that was super cool oh [Music] [Music] good working with here right now I don't know I think this is some sort of cevich but I have no idea what it is it looks like squid but it could be a tomato eggplant eggplant I thought it was liver no me too and I was not down with that shout out to Erica and miles for setting up camp because I was out fishing we're right next to a river and it's a little bit bigger of a river again really hard to Wade there's a few little zones that I can walk the bank and get some cast in but a lot of it is covered in Willows it' be really nice to have a drift boat here it's definitely tough to do this without a boat or a guide and I have a lot of respect for the guides and people that grew up here and figured it out cu it's pretty hard fishing in Patagonia isn't that easy oh my goodness dude it's a big one denied new fly [Music] I [Music] [Music] miles H them it's a big fish yeah yep oh my goodness holy cow wow it's so strong dude I'm going to land it here okay I'm coming closer oh I need a net so bad all right here we go here we go come on baby [Music] boy oh yeah dude [Music] we're literally 20 ft from our campsite woke up this morning and I saw this fish rising over and over and over so I literally went through my entire fly I tried everything was only eating small bugs I literally like couldn't get it to eat anything and then I got one look on a beetle and I was like ooh okay he wants something a little bit bigger even though he's feeding on smaller flies so I switched from a beetle to a bigger ant and man this fish just came up and inhaled it yeah tight well let's drink some coffee we biked here we bike here yeah just got all you need bite here and a chill way too like we didn't bike here like a crazy amount we biked here a fun amount and then we get to have more fun than we get here and then we have fun after that and then you guys go home and then I stop having fun then it gets bad again pretty mean it's been really fun to see Will and Erica care about fishing care about filming care about filming fishing care about filming biking care about biking bring it all together this might be a bleep moment but it's really cool to see people give a [ __ ] especially people you give a [ __ ] [Music] about I think that's a really fun thing too to see friends be really good at things and really skilled at things especially because at least the way I grew up whether it was the education system and sports there's such an emphasis on competition where you know it can be difficult to be secure and mature and watch people you like or love be really good at things now it's like oh I'm secure in what I like and what I do I probably even could have been secure without doing a big trip like this I definitely know I'm way more secure now and that helps me so much with just like giving a [ __ ] taking time taking a step back giving someone else an opportunity to show that they're good at something most of the time people show they're good at something they're not trying to show they're good at something they are just good at something a lot of people don't need to go through this process to appreciate other people's skills and Gifts things they've worked on things they're proud of and that's part of the that you know it's individual and it's personal this is a real bike Adventure this so pretty so we've been biking along this insanely beautiful River here this is like the mouth of the river so it's still really still it's almost like a lake cuz the Lake's just right there hasn't water hasn't really started moving yet but saw giant fish just cruising this bank here and per usual got rigged up by the time I got rigged up with and tie to fly on fish is gone so we're going to patiently wait and maybe see if this fish comes back but if not we're going to keep going Downstream see if we can find something there's definitely some nice fish in here well we might just want to keep moving and find another fish he's coming back coming Dar as soon as you got closer it's going away it can see you it can totally see you I'm just going to stand out here it's just eating off of these little like lines of food in debris did you see it rise yeah back there look at all the bugs in the water it Rose really slowly too in like a pretty way [Music] [Music] just pull it just go for it just send it dude this fish is gulping right in front of me he's right there it's a big fish oh my goodness I couldn't tell if it in my fly or not got him oh my goodness oh I still got him oh he got me wrapped on something after numerous spooked fish denials and heartbreak we decided to head Downstream and find some moving water Our Hope was that it may be more forgiving towards those silly bikers attempting to present a fly like my third chest wow he's playing hard oh there C [Music] it's [Music] money oh dude not mad I'm disappointed we won the day is that simple not everyone want to fish but we won the day had a good time going to go find Camp plenty of options going drink forette that's one option got some wine too some uh some meat and some sweating in our bags for how long like 5 days yeah yeah we're straight we're set good morning good morning Earth another beautiful night another beautiful morning I'm a morning person as long as the morning only involves coffee and like listening to music if the morning is different than that I the morning different time of day like it was not sliding around in there like this yesterday think this is out in the sun but look at that your hand's not supposed to move in the bag like that this is lunch [Music] [Laughter] [Music] today this trip has been out of this world I don't really know what I was expecting but I think it was a lot more than what I expected in many ways course it's full a lot of work it was also pretty enlightening and another thing that's been really fun that I've realized I really enjoy is team fishing usually one of us takes the camera and one of us has the rod and we'll go fish for fish and then doing it with Miles was really fun and it feels like a group team experience as opposed to fishing on your own when you're just kind of In Your Own Zone and you catch your own fish and you don't really get to enjoy it with others still [Applause] wow that is such a big reveal when I put my glasses on I can see the mountain and they're really pretty there's some snow up there some pointy Peaks some clouds moving by was all just a blur before going to go to La tianda and get some meat for dinner and we're ready to go so we have all day here we're taking a day just to chill we don't need a bike we don't need to do anything it's one of our last days in the trip so we're just going to break out the old fly rod it's always cool when you go to a new stream you don't even know if there's going to be fish in it so we're going to do some weight fishing just try and cover some water with the big dry see what happens there we go [Music] Brown nice fish nice fish [Music] oh it's a [Music] rainbow oh yeah oh so pretty wow that's unreal [Music] oh there he is [Music] oh my first Patagonian brown trout and is in the tiniest little river which is my favorite kind of river it's really challenging to fish the big rivers on foot cuz you really can only fish like one or two holes before it gets too deep so it's cool to be able to find some big fish in a tiny River not big fish but good fish oh we're going to find the big fish we'll find the big [Music] fish right to look at water and to look beyond the water for fish for habitat the things that I wouldn't think about doing just biking by oh that's okay it's a really great way to interact with the environment cuz for the most part I just interact with the environment by biking through it and I also think a really fun thing about slowing down like this is right we think like okay so you're driving a car you're going pretty fast you're just passing a bunch of really interesting things by you're on a plane you're going really fast you're passing everything by so then you got to slow down and walk and then you got to pay P attention when you're walking when you're fishing just like you got to pay attention when you're riding on the road you got to pay attention when you're riding on dirt are you going to hit a big rock are you there a hole I've never brought my bike to another country or bike T this long like for any more than 3 days so bike packing for 9 days was pretty awesome and especially to be in a different culture in such a beautiful place I learned a lot of things I think mostly to take time that's mostly what I've learned from the culture here is that they really take their time they're not really in a rush like we are in the states everything everything worthwhile takes time takes patience that's probably the biggest thing I've learned oh good fish oh nice good fish oh you there's a riser back there behind that tree in the water that's it that's on his tail leave it leave it leave it he looked that's it leave it leave it leave it leave it set there's a big fish there's a tank there's a tank miles keep it keep it pinned keep it pinned that's an actual tank keep it pinned what does Pinn mean there you go that's a tank he's going to run it got it now real in the run like big dude my heart is pounding right now let it run when he needs to but keep them tight reel in when it feels a little loose reel it in okay I'll grab him for you hold just thre your legs okay got he thre your legs it hold hold this Erica hold this oh my God oh my God miles [Music] [Music] [Applause] yeah that was insane dude that was an old fish that's an old fish yeah pretty fish wow that's sweet that's sick that was insane bro yeah I mean it's not really a bike trip it's a trip that I biked on and I'm I think I'm too old for a Coming of Age story I think I found myself before this but like it's about growing up when you become a more secure and mature person your life generally gets better your relationships get better you start liking more things you stop being angry you're going you're going to need to learn to like other people you're going to really need to learn to like yourself CU you're going to spend a lot of time with yourself cuz a lot of people that ride bikes don't necessarily love themselves I do think it's a big Community effort it's just like not nominally a community it's not just like the bike Community or like alternative biking it's not just like a bunch of bikers coming together to just help each other out on a trip like this it's ranchers and it's people in urban environments it's lawyers and it can be evangelicals and it can be marxists and it can be you know it's it's basically whoever you come across and when you ride a bike across the Americas you're going to come across all those people and it's beautiful and it's a lot of fun and sometimes it's kind of freaky and sometimes it's really freaky to reflect upon especially when I stop going and take the time to think about what I've been able to do with the help of a lot of other people who've come down to visit and really enrich The Experience because it is Al it's great to meet new people but there are also a lot of other times when I've not felt like stopping in beautiful places and slowing down just because a trip like this is incredibly lonely and understanding the limit to what I can tolerate with loneliness has been like a really empowering thing but I don't really want to push that limit anymore here you go Big Dog smoke up and I love that I can be with friends in a place like this and slow down and have fun and catch fish and look at glaciers and also see my friends be really good at [Music] things all right so we're cooking over the fire doing some Mado style uh veggies squash we got meat rocking up pretty soon but yeah like the general Vibe of the is uh let's put it simply we got big Browns over there in the water got big mountains up there and uh we got two we got like $1.75 bottle of wine from Mendoza but it's a screaming deal it's funky llama or F llama as we put it and uh it doesn't miss it's never missed this is like bottle probably eight not of the day right there it's about as good as it gets and if you can find better don't let me know cuz I don't really need to understand that drop it in the comments below for drop it in the comments yeah but like I don't even know that so we're here at Camp I'm glad we made it when we did because when we were biking over here we took this road that goes along a lake and of course there's a forest fire going on right where we biked across and and if we had been a day late we might not have made it here and there's all these planes flying over carrying water trying to put out the fire I've never been able to just like chill and watch a forest fire without there being so much smoke around it was just clear it was so close now we're going to piece out so we don't get engulfed by the forest fire I got about 2235 km left which is like 1,400 mil over the next month towards USA my parents will meet me and we'll do a lot of really fun touristic things that I used to think were dumb but are super nice like seeing penguins and again they're not so much fun alone and I think it is important for me to have a conversation or talk about some people call it personal growth I guess I'd call it personal acceptance Conor you end up working on yourself without trying that hard there is no other option God Nike whoever figured out just do it for Nike smart cuz it is in a lot of cases as simple as that [Music] [Music] I'll bike away and not look back okay cuz it's sad in a good way a good way so [ __ ] sad five miles bye this was a great trip thank you so much for coming of course it was really fun well thanks for coming dog bye brother this was awesome thanks for being our tour guide dude showing us around thanks for being my tourist ciao ciao Vos those Vos all right let me know when youall get to a SC we will we'll send you a picture of our bikes and boxes thank you bye miles we love you love you too bye-bye bye he's a free bird he's a free bird going to fly spread his wings reach the end when be [Music] I took two cows and I strapped my bike to the two cows and just kind of walked along side I don't even it took to one would have done it um they're Ox oxen I don't know what the plural of ox is uh anyways that's how I got here I haven't biked at all I've just been taking cows and feeding them I'd never been Mexico before at all so I got a warning about being in Baja from a guy from Tijuana cuz the Baja 1000 was running and the Baja 1000 if anyone doesn't know shares some similar roads with the Baja divide and I was on the course while they were running the Baja 1000 cuz I didn't even think about that I just wanted to leave the states so I was just like basically throwing my bike and jumping off the road pretty often like day three or four of my tour of the Baja divide and like big like $500,000 trophy trucks ripping by that was really cool to see though cuz Motorsport is fun I do like Motorsport and a lot of this bike trip has been learning things through my own experiences despite having heard about them otherwise [Music] [Applause] [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Phelps on the Fly

Views: 249,516

Keywords: fly fishing, patagonia, argentina, south america, bikepacking, bike packing, cycling, biking, camping, fishing, phelps on the fly, phelpsonthefly, dry fly, rainbow trout, brown trout, perca, trout, fish, trans continental, across the americas

Id: A9J6s2kOeok

Length: 62min 21sec (3741 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2024