The road winds on through the river valley to the north and after another 20 miles or so you reach the Valle Encantado, an unmissable spectacle of strange, brooding rock formations. (One is known as ‘The Sentinel of the Valley’, another ‘The Finger of God’.) Just a few miles further on lies the crossroads known as ‘Confluencia’, where two rivers meet and there is a rest stop. Here, a graveled road heads off to the west and climbs into the hills through some stunning scenery eventually to emerge high above the eastern end of Lago Traful.
There are many. many unusual and eye-catching rock formations on the hills above the valley of the Rio Limay not far northeast of San Carlos de Bariloche. Some are visually quite stunning. The most impressive is the astounding Valle Encantado, an 'enchanted valley' that boasts El Dedo de Dios (the Finger of God) and El Centinela del Valle (the Sentinel of the Valley), among dozens of amazing formations
Possibly one of the most beautiful mountain lakes in the world, Lago Traful is overlooked by a high promontory called El Mirador del Traful, from which a cliff falls hundreds of feet vertically to Lago Traful below. This lake, formed by glaciers in the ice age, is extremely deep ― hundreds and perhaps even thousands of metres ― and one obtains a jaw-dropping view of the entire lake and its surrounding mountains from the outcrop, where a special observation point has been built.
High above the southeast end of Lago Traful stands a sheer rock outcrop called El Mirador del Traful, from which a cliff falls hundreds of feet vertically to Lago Traful below. This lake, formed by glaciers in the ice age, is extremely deep ― hundreds and perhaps even thousands of metres ― and it is stunningly beautiful when viewed from the outcrop, where a special observation point has been built
From El Mirador del Traful, the gravel road winds down to the lake, where the little village of Villa Traful provides a welcome spot for a meal bought in the local restaurant or a picnic of bread, sausage and cheese purchased from the adjacent food store. The road winds on west through pine forests (becoming very rough as it does so) until it joins Route 234.
This road, which forms the locally famous ‘Seven Lakes Drive’ from Bariloche to the town of San Martín de los Andes about 100 miles north, runs west from Route 237 along the northern shore of Lago Nahuel Huapi to Villa Angostura and then swings north to pass another six lakes on its way to San Martín de los Andes. Lago Traful isn’t counted as one of them, because the lake isn’t visible from Route 234, but it does lie just to the southeast of the road.
The ‘Circuito Grande’ route goes south and east to Villa Angostura after joining Route 234. When the author drove on the road, it was still graveled, but Route 234 is paved for part of its way (including all of the stretch east from Villa Angostura to Route 237) and the presence of road-construction crews along the stretch from Lago Traful to Villa Angostura indicated that paving of this part of the road might not be far off. The ‘Circuito Grande’ ends when, driving along Route 234, one arrives back at the junction with Route 237 for the 20-mile trip back west to Bariloche.
By Chris Kjelgaard
This is one of a series of features on Argentina’s Lake District that www.AirlinesAndDestinations.com is publishing in August 2009.
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