WESTERN CIRCUIT

THE PARQUE NACIONAL SIERRAS DE LAS QUIJADAS JAW MOUNTAINRANGE
The surprised traveller is here confronted with an overpowering landscape that contains impressive stratified stonewalls in red and grey tones. There, you can walk over the structures, aroused through the eons, consisting in cliffs, crags, cornices and terraces. The compound has been denominated "Pequeño Cañón del Colorado" or "Little Colorado Canyon", due to the similarities it shares with the famous North American Canyon, although in a different scale.

Made a National Park in 1991, it hosts representative specimens of native wildlife and also testimonies from the past, by means of the archaeological remains left by the Huarpe Culture. Million years ago this land was the home to pterosaurs and to some species of dinosaurs.

The origins of its name are still confusing. To an acute observer, the shape of these highlands will roughly resemble that of the lower jawbone (quijada) of an animal. Nevertheless, when the name was adopted aerial photographs had not been developed.

On the other hand, near the end of the 19th century, a story tells that the chariots daring to travel from Buenos Aires to San Juan were usually assaulted by outcasts, who used to consume the lower jaw. That explains why, when offering rewards for the capture of these thieves; they were entitled as "Gauchos de las Quijadas" or "Lower Jawbone Gauchos".

The Park has an extension of 150 thousand has. The Cerro Portillo Mountain, with its 1200 m.a.s.l. stands as the highest point in the area. On the western side there are several isolated water lagoons, some of them permanent, although the great majority are temporary, with shallow waters, whose extensions vary through the years according to the flow of the Desagüadero River. This complex is called the Guanacache Lagoons, where waggling canes (juncos) grow, giving shelter to hundreds of water birds.

Towards the end of the trip, a titanic amphitheatre carved throughout the centuries amazes the traveller: the "Potrero de la Aguada". Above this riverbed you can spott the most spectacular cliffs, gorges and cornices stained by scattered bushes and trees like the chañares or quebrachos.

It can be in every season, although the prevailing temperatures during summer add a special difficulty to the trip. In these highlands rains occur very seldom, with an annual rate of 300 mm, during spring and summer but then usually in torrential amounts.

It is also important to recall that neither in the Park, nor in the access route, there is any kind of facilities for the traveller. It is, therefore, very advisable to carry supplies and drinking water. There is a free area for camping, supplied with two latrines and a little shop. The Park is also equipped with barbecue grills; tables and lots of tree shadowed spots. There are some spots with still pools of drinkable water. The Park has forest guards called Guardaparques Forestales and permanent guides to accompany you in the different excursions offered.

Flora y fauna - Vegetation and Animal wildlife.

The Park shows two different ecological areas: The Chaco or flatlands and the Monte or mountains, and between them lays an extended transitional range. The former zone is characterized by shrubberies of retortuño, atamisque and pichana, while the latter holds dry forests with caduceus leaves.

The vegetation in itself is scarce throughout the Park being its main characters are the jarilla, the zampales and several species of bushes, cacti, and quebrachos blancos, among others.

And as incredible as it seems, in this semi-arid environment, battered by high temperatures, some isolated plants endure, like the purslane and two species of cacti that partially expose their roots to the sun, due to the effects of erosion.

In addition, the Park contains a great number of natural balconies where the chica grows, a hard wooded bush, leafless, to be found only among a few highlands.

There have also been identified two species of plants endemic to this Sierra de las Quijadas. One is the zampa, a small tree with violet flowers, and the other is a variety of the solo, with show a creamy colour.

It is also notable the great amounts of aerial plants that stand out at every step taken by the traveller.

The small bataraces woodpeckers fly among the spread quebrachos blancos and over the tops of the black carob trees, the little grey falcons take a rest before engaging in their hunting adventures. The breas, small trees of a green bark, provide a poor shadow, hardly enough for a puma and its offspring to find shelter from the heat during noontime. The sluggish land tortoises nibble at the cacti, their favourite meal. When the sun goes down, the grey foxes become momentarily visible. But they will disappear few moments later into the thickets. The same happens with guanacos pasturing atop the cliffs of the highlands.

Concerning the animal wildlife that lives in the Park, these are the endangered species: the moro cat, the land tortoise, the red vizcacha, the yellow nightingale, the red eagle and the picho ciego menor. These are in a critical state of survival: the gato del pajonal, the gato montés or wildcat, the puma, the red fox, the small gray fox, the guanaco, etc.

Among the most notable birds we can mention the peregrine falcon, the rhea, the condor, the black neck swan, the white swift, the monjita blanca (white nun), that chases the insects with which it feds by darting towards them, the bataraces woodpeckers, and the catitas serranas grandes, which form flocks that upset all the peaceful eco-system, while a group of comesebos andinos or boquenses flaunter with the bluish colour that so distinctively stains the head of their males.