Argentina is one of our all time favourite countries. There is no other country where you can spend days offroading in the wilderness of the mountains and hardly see any people.
One of these awesome trips is near El Peñon in Artgentina's Catamarca region to the vulcano Cerro Galan and Laguna Diamante.
It's 75 km (47 mi) one way, so in total 150 km (95 mi) offroad, always above 4000 m (13100 ft) altitude, with the highest point at ~4800 m (15750 ft).
So almost the height of Mt. Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe.
2 million years ago, one of South America’s biggest supervolcanic blasts created Cerro Galán. Today there is a toxic gem inside the crater called Laguna Diamante. Its water is 5 times saltier than the ocean and extreme arsenic. However, that doesn't affect its mysterious beauty.
You can ride your bike or your car in the crater as long as you manage the difficult and steep track down from the rim and obviously uphill again on the way back. How cool is that??
On the last picture you can see the road leading up to the rim again.
It doesn't look steep on that picture, but it is and extremely washed out in some parts. We had to push the bikes up, what was quite challenging in that altitude 😁.