Parque Nacional El Leoncito

RN 149 (Uspallata to Barreal) – Parque Nacional El Leoncito


A short detour from the main road to the observatories at the little-visited PN El Leoncito.

Supplies can be bought in Uspallata or Barreal, but not in the national park. It is free to enter the national park and there is a nice, free, campsite near the guardaparque huts with excellent views of the Uspallata valley and Mercedario and Ansilta ranges beyond. Water can be obtained from the guardaparques, and day and night visits are possible to the observatories in the park.

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Details
Distance – 12kms Turn R (east) off RN149 at the signposted junction (1,900m) 92kms north of Uspallata, 21kms south of Barreal. Climb 12kms on a good ripio surface to the guardaparque huts and campsite (2,260m).
Time taken and amount climbed 1 hour: RN149 jn to guardaparque huts (400m climb).
Traffic A few vehicles.
When we cycled Early May 2010.
Difficulty 1
How much we had to push on this route Not at all

Nearby routes:        Calingasta to Iglesia                 Cordon del Plata

One Response to “Parque Nacional El Leoncito”

  1. Cass 05/07/2014 at 13:13 # Reply

    Just a small update. Just under half the ripio detour has now been paved.

    In the winter (June 2014) there’s a daily star gazing night at the national observatory at 7.30pm, for 50 pesos. Highly recommended. We saw the moon, jupiter, saturn, mars and more!

    The national observatory (the closer of the two) is a couple of kms from the campsite (or a 25min hike) so allow time to get there.

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