La Leona Petrified Forest:
We were so glad we decided to add this to our busy itinerary, walking into this palaeontologic site was like walking into moon. Not exaggerating, this giant depression in the ground in the middle of nowhere consists of soil that has been modified by wind and water erosion, looks just like a scene from a different planet. The area consists of numerous tree trunks and fossils of prehistoric animals that underwent geological transformation over past 100 million years.
This history goes this way as explained by our guide. An intense volcanic activity at the end of mid-Jurassic period formed the Andean mountain. This activity buried then hot and humid Patagonia and its forests under a thick layer of ashes to start turning it into what it is today. Petrified trees present in La Leona were dragged here both by rivers and glaciers. Protected from climate by the hillsides, number of pieces of petrified wood and fossils have been preserved on the ground.
Show me the Trail 