Route 68 – 4×4 adventure at high altitude

We became aware of this mountain route while staying at the campground at Barbarco (Argentina) – a small village close to the Chilean border.

When asking around for open and passable roads (where we may pass with a 4×4 vehicle), a fellow camper mentioned this route as an alternative and shorter route when returning to Route 40 (the main route we were following).  It should turn out to be an interesting proposition.

We had already planned to visit the village Aguas Calientes about 40 km west of Barbarco and our idea was to try out Route 68 on the return leg.

Photo from Aguas Calientes

After staying a day and a half at the thermal waters at Aguas Calientes, we started our Route 68 journey – 74 km on a narrow mountain road which is not yet neither on Google Maps nor on the Argentine map….

Knowing that images sometime explain better than words – here follow a video clip and photo from our 4 hours’ high-altitude Andes experience (we reached an altitude of 2700 m and met only one truck towards the end of the mountain crossing).  Challenging, but good fun when thinking back….. (and probably safest in company of more vehicles – just in case).