La Leona Petrified Forest

This is a whole day excursion very different from the rest in the area. The site is located in the middle of the steppe, halfway between El Calafate and El Chaltén.

The activity starts in El Chaltén (or El Calafate) at 9.00 am, with a transfer by minibus to the Hotel La Leona, located next to the river of the same name born in the huge Lake Viedma.

At that point a short stop is made and then the journey continues for another 10 km towards the west following the southern margin of the lake as far as the slopes of Mount Los Hornos, in the Estancia Santa Teresita, where you will arrive around midday.

Here we discover a deep depression in the ground where 70 million year old petrified tree trunks can be found and from where the exploration walk among the fossils begins.

Throughout the walk it is possible to see a large amount of petrified tree trunks lying on the surface some with a diameter of up to 1.20 m. These remains are testimony of ancient times where the climate was very different from today and allowed the support of abundant large scale flora. Occasionally fossil remains of different types of dinosaurs are uncovered.

Halfway through the tour there is a stop for lunch. This area is protected from the wind by Mount Los Hornos and by the fact it is a natural depression in the ground. As it is in an area of steppe, it is very dry and the weather conditions are generally very pleasant.

At 2:00 pm, the return bus takes us to the Hotel La Leona where we can have a snack and finally from there we continue to the city of El Calafate, the Airport or to El Chaltén, arriving at all this destinations at about 4.30 p.m.