Adventure Circuits at La Barrosa

La Barrosa Mountain Range is one of the so many elevations visible from the center of the City of Balcarce. Not satisfied with just beholding, the most intrepid travelers choose to discover and enjoy it by mountain bike or just on foot. Thus, deeper contact with nature is possible and, with a little effort, really incredible panoramic sights, which would be impossible to see otherwise, can be enjoyed.

We toured La Barrosa Mountain Range -which reaches a height of 334 meters- in the company of Gustavo, our guide, who gave us all the necessary directions and advice as regards footwear, hydration, the kind of steps we should take when going up climbing and the various gear combinations we had to use in order to dominate the mountain bikes.


Hiking and Rock Climbing Without Ropes

The challenge was to reach the summit of La Barrosa Mountain Range. With short steps, we set out on an ascending hiking tour which began to present hardships after approximately fifteen minutes.

As we advanced, we started to incorporate simple climbing techniques without using ropes. It is essential that beginners pay careful attention to the guide, watch steps and the exact holes where they should put their feet searching to block them. Experts, instead, can suggest other routes, but may find stronger difficulties.

According to our guide, the idea of these ascensions is to advance along unmarked trails, exploring new paths at every step. So we did, and the tour became more and more interesting. In some stretches, the soil would be muddy. It was there where we understood why that mountain range is called La Barrosa (the muddy place).

Another interesting piece of information presented by Gustavo is that La Barrosa belongs to the most ancient mountain systems on the planet. That meant that we were climbing over archaic stones.

As we went along, the surrounding sceneries became more attractive and vegetation scarcer. After one hour, we hit the summit: we had complied with our aim and watched the mountain range, the Juan Manuel Fangio car track and the city of Balcarce with total clarity right at our feet.

It was time to go back and, following a different path, we went down La Barrosa. We traveled this new trail amid the pasture in order to avoid smooth slippery rocks and thorny bushes. In the company of dusk, we crossed some thin water courses coming down from the top.

Once more, we got to the starting point with the feeling that the tour had totally been worth the effort.


I Want to Ride My Bicycle

Another alternative offered by La Barrosa is to go on a mountain bike ride. The mountain presents trails of various degree of difficulty and Gustavo chose to follow the paths according to the training level of the cyclists that made up our group.

The five-kilometer ride began in the plains, from where we could make out La Chata and La Larga Mountain Ranges and, as we rode along, we started to come across some ups and downs that made our itinerary more exciting.

Slowly, the scenery changed and, suddenly, we were pedalling along narrow trails covered with gorse and bunchgrass until we finally entered an eucalyptus forest that would hardly let the sunshine in.

As we reached a good panoramic point, we had a rest in order to recover our energy and return along a steep path that released all our adrenaline.