Photos

This picture shows a view of the Andes Range from the main entrance road to Parque Nacional El Leoncito (The Little Lion National Park) looking towards the west. The shiny stretch of land at the feet of the mountains is El Barreal del Leoncito, a dry plain measuring fourteen kilometers of length and five of width where a lake dried out in prehistoric times. The lake bed is so plain and clean that, coupled with San Juan's wind, may be the best landyatching track in the world. I actually drove my car at 80km/h on it. El Leoncito National Park is located in the southwest of San Juan province, in the Calingasta Department, 34km south of Barreal town. El Leoncito National Park is an excellent place for observating stars, due to its atmospheric qualities. There are two astronomical observatories within the Park boundaries. To get there, you can either drive south from Barreal (San Juan route 412) or from Uspallata (Mendoza route 39), passing next to where some columns of General San Martin's Andes Army started its crossing of the Andes Range into Chile to engage the Spaniards and liberate that country in the early 1800s. Unfortunatelly, the road is in awful conditions and I would not recommend it unless you drive a 4WD SUV/truck or a rental car, of course.