Cochrane is the town you remember because it is the last proper one. South of here the Carretera Austral thins out into a road with more rivers than villages, and the whole way down to Villa O'Higgins it will be mostly gravel, with only a few small settlements. Cochrane has around three thousand people, a tidy square, a handful of hospedajes and shops, and one of the last reliable fuel pumps in the region, so this is where you fill up and eat something properly before continuing.
The town sits on the shore of Lago Cochrane, called Lago Pueyrredón on the Argentine side, a big blue lake that straddles the border. Nearby is the Río Baker, which carries more water than any other river in Chile, a startlingly pale turquoise as it leaves the lake, and the confluence with the Neff river is a good stop on the way south. The area was only colonised properly in the twentieth century, with the town founded in the 1950s, and the road that connects it to the world was built by Chile's army, who pushed the Carretera Austral through some of the most remote forest and fjord country on earth. That is why it has so many ferries, gaps and bits of gravel: it was built where no road had any reason to go.
The riding is gravel in places and sealed in others, with strong wind a constant companion on the open stretches, and sudden rain at any time of year. The surface changes with the weather, so ride with a margin, especially on loose, rolling ripio. Beyond Cochrane the scenery tightens into steep valleys, then opens into pampas-like plateaus with condors overhead. The area is also known for the huemul, the shy, endangered Andean deer that appears on the national coat of arms, and there is a reserve nearby protecting a few of them. You may see guanacos at dusk, and with luck a puma track in the mud.
The best months are December to March, when days are long and the roads dry, but even then the weather can swing from sun to sleet in an hour. Carry water, a spare tube and cash, since card machines can fail. A lamb asado is the typical meal, and mate flows constantly. Expect the stars at night to be unlike anything you are used to.