This full day, 260 km (160 mi.) loop tour North of Bariloche goes from Steppe in the East to rain forest in the West and from the Nahuel Huapi to the Traful Lakes.
Starting from Bariloche on Highway 237 Nothwards, the road skirts the Eastern end of the Nahuel Huapi Lake on the left with the terminal moraines that are the lake's damm on the right. These fourteen thousand-year-old moraines are the evidence of the last great glaciation. It has been the work of some thirty glaciations in the past four million years that have carved out all the lakes in the region.
The road crosses a bridge over the Limay River, the only drainage of the lake. It irrigates the Rio Negro Valley, the main apple producing area of Argentina, and joins the Atlantic Ocean six hundred miles away.
Continuing Nothward in a broad glacial valley once filled by the lake, the road tops a terminal moraine and contours the amphitheatre, a broad pit cut out by a double curve of the Limay.
The road now continues along a fluvial valley, with sparse vegetation and eroded rocks of fascinating shapes which give this area the name of Valle Encantado (Enchanted Valley).
At the junction of the Limay and Traful rivers, called Confluencia, the tour continues to the left following this latter river upstream, a great area for Fly-fishing. Along this leg of the road there are two remarkable changes in the flora, from the tussock of the Steppe to sparse broadleaved Radal a tree of the Protea order, to small leaved evergreen beaches starting at the edge of Traful Lake.
The first view, almost of the full length of this lake, can be seen from the look out point, perched on a sheer rock cliff two hundred feet above it.
A mile and a half further along is Vila Traful, a quiet village set in the forest, where a stop for lunch will be made.
After lunch the road continues Westwards to the end of the lake and into the rainforest, then over a low 3000 ft. pass to join the seven Lakes road. Along the sides of this road, interesting banks of volcanic ash and volcanic cinder of different colors and textures will be observed. These have been produced by eruptions from volcanoes in Chile.
Heading South the road joins the highway from Bariloche to Osorno in Chile, passing through the Cruce of Villa La Angostura, (the Crossroad). Angostura means a neck or detroit, in this case of Quetrihue Peninsula, where the famous grove of Arrayan trees is.
After a stop here or a little further on at Bahia Manzano for coffee or refreshments, the tour continues Eastwards bordering the Nahuel Huapi to return to Bariloche.
The change in the flora from rainforest to steppe in a relatively short distance again becomes quite evident; the yearly rainfall at Angostura is about one hundred inches and only thirty eight at Bariloche.
